#10 Julie & Julia by Julia Powell

Movie books, 307 pages

Well, I must be easy to read or something, because I received three (well, two gifts plus one from myself) copies of the movie Julie & Julia for Christmas this year (thank you Dad & Andy). Also from my dad, I received a copy of the books Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so I decided to use this as one of the books for my little book reading project.

First, let me say that the movie was actually quite nice (the parts about Julia Child were, at any rate). It was an interesting way to not make a biopic about Julia Child's life; comparing the life of Julie Powell to that of Julia Child -- even though I couldn't really understand why I would care that Juile Powell decided to undertake this project (maybe it was because Julia Child was someone I knew of while Julie Powell just as well may have been fictional to me?). I would definitely watch the movie again, if only for the delightful portions with Meryl Streep as Julia Child. I thought that Julie Powell, was whiny and irritating, and hoped that I would like her more in the book.

Well, if I hoped to like Julie Powell when I read the books, I was in for a shock. Julie Powell in the movie is actually less whiny than the Julie Powell in the book. Also, there are far fewer snatches of sanity by way of Julia Child vignettes in the book - I was really glad that they beefed that part up in the movie. In spite of Julie's negativity, I did enjoy the book, to a point. I love to cook and entertain, and I really got where Julie was coming from when she talked about the scandalous delight of making some delectable dish to seduce someone, or how food and cooking can be kind of sensuous in a way. I totally identify with the joy that a person gets when they can cook and serve really good food to people who are really important to them. To me, those parts of the book were the parts that really shone. I know that there has to be some kind of conflict that is resolved to make a story compelling, and I don't expect something I am reading to be without adversity or free of a main character reaching the breaking point. There just seemed to me to be too much in Julie Powell that I really didn't care about.

If you are interested in this story, just see the excellent movie adaptation of the book. It has far more to offer. I give the book 2 out of 5 stars.