Review 
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
2005
307 pages
“365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen”
An almost 30-something temp in NYC who was frustrated with life goals and her career path, decides to tackle Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year and blogs about it. Hilarious.
I took notes and jotted down a few terms/words…
pg 60 – ‘not simple, maybe, but easy.’
pg. 92 – Where are we going? How did we get here? IMPATIENT for more Julia anecdotes
pg 136 – baked cucumbers?
I would have liked a LOT more Julia in this book. Many chapters begin with real letters written by Paul Child during the days he was courting Julia or excerpts from Julie Powell’s mind of what she imaged might have been happening those days… These were good and too infrequent. Like being allowed a finger taste of an awesome recipe and being denied a true portion.
Of course, I loved the non-Julia parts (which we can say here are the ‘Julie’ parts) and if it had more Julia/Paul stuff, then it would have been too long and I probably would have never ever read it. I dislike long books. (raspberries to those of you who are gleefully pointing at The Pillars of the Earth on my tbr. RASPBERRY!) I am thinking of reading another Julia Child bio… someday.
So. Other than a feeling of ‘uh oh, where’s she going with this?!’, I did enjoy the ride. But I was often thinking to myself, “Self, where the heck is she going here?” and even more frequently wondering, “Hey Self? Did you follow how we GOT here?!” Like a good writer, she did sum up each chapter with a return to the theme at the start. For a book that supposedly chronicles a time span, the book feels disjointed and jumps around and back and forth and all, HUH?! Wha?! But still very fun.
I wish I could say I was inspired to attempt even one of the crazy recipes in Child’s cookbook. Would it be acceptable to say I’m inspired enough to have my husband try one?! It’s wild to consider that Ms. Powell attempts this project when she wouldn’t even eat eggs. She learns. I must say, I was very impressed. I also have a few movies to put on my watch list: Laurel Canyon, True Romance. How did I miss these?
FOUR STARS. I would not mind at all to be invited to dinner for any recipe cooked up by Julie Powell and I’ll bring the gimlet makings…
I am SO looking forward to the movie!
WORDS
bleaders – what Julie Powell called the readers of her blog.
jalousie – type of window: a window with glass louvers. 
prolix – tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length.
vertiginous(ly) – dizzy: having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
savarin (as in ‘pan’) – a sponge cake baked in a ring mold.
I really want to read this book. Thanks for the great review.
It’s fun! You are so welcome. Thanks for the complement.
Oooh – that one does sound good after reading your review. I didn’t know they were doing a movie too. Now I better hurry up and get it.
It’s OK, Teeni – you have time. The movie is due in August. Thanks for visiting me here!
Just found your blog and I’m hooked. Anyway, I’m such a huge fan of Julia Child’s My Life in France that I suggest it everywhere but it really is that good. You should give it a try cause Julia was one amazing lady. She made me wish I could travel back in time and maker her my BFF. And your blog = awesome.
uh, wow! Thanks! How did you find me? I’ll look for Julia’s book.
Bleaders. Love that!
I know! And Julie Powell explained it well. All the mania of checking who’s commented when you post, etc.
Hurray! I loved this book, and I admit, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie (although I’ll have to wait til it’s On Demand, or at the library or something, I don’t get out to the theater that often). I especially loved the fact that she wrote about how messy her kitchen got. I don’t have a dishwasher, so my kitchen is always a wreck. This made me feel better about that!
I cannot imagine A., the amount of work this must’ve been for her, and B., eating half that stuff. Brains? Really? Ew.
Anyway, this was a book I’d just happened on by chance, and I thought, Wow, what a cool idea. What a fun book it turned out to be.
I agree, quite fun.
I loved these little mini reviews. And I love when people are honest about books — like your thoughts on Edgar Sawtelle. I’ve seen a few people mention that they are “slogging” through it so I’m thinking I’ll skip it even though it was on a lot of “best” lists. And I love that you called the one Devereaux — sounds like something I would do!
Mini-reviews are great, aren’t they? TSOES was actually well-written, I guess. I like that you think I wrote a good review but I really thought the fault of not liking it was with ME and not the book. I even noted some really great sentences. ah, whatever. NOT my fave book of the year, let’s leave it at that.
I actually just picked up a copy of this at the big Borders sale last week. It sounds like a fun read.
Yea, it was on sale, wasn’t it? LOVE THAT.