#13 My Life in France, by Julia Child

414 pages, autobiography

Well, after the distaste left in my mouth reading about Julie Powell, I decided to grab Julia Child's autobiography, My Life in France. Although this book was also used to gather material about Julia Child's life for the movie Julie & Julia, I decided to count it as my first foray into the world of biographies. Reading the forward, you learn that Julia dictated this book to her grand-nephew, and he is responsible for the actual writing. That being said, anyone who has watched reruns of The French Chef can see Julia Child's personality behind every word contained within the covers of this work.

My Life in France touches on Julia Child's childhood, young adult experiences, time in college, early beginnings in the OSA (the predecessor to the CIA) and how she met her beloved husband Paul. These experiences were described in what was more of a 'highlights' section in the first chapter. The remainder of the book is like a delightful romp through France (mostly). Julia - via Alex - regales the reader with delightful vignettes of dinner parties, cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu, traveling through the French countryside, shopping at open air markets and embarking on and completing the journey to publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The final chapters describe Julia and Paul's final station with the US Government in Norway, their return to America, Julia's time on the delightful public television cooking show, The French Chef, and the writing of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II -the sequel to her masterwork with Simone Beck and Luisette Bertholle.

Reading this book was actually very enjoyable. Julia Child led an amazingly interesting life. She lived in Sri Lanka, China, France, Germany and Norway. She spoke English and three other languages, learned in her travels with her husband because of his service in the US Government. Her continuous and monumental love and support of her husband, even in the face of highly stressful circumstances was inspiring, as was the fact that she began work on The French Chef when she was 50 years old.

I loved experiencing France (one of my favorite places) through her eyes. And her stomach! As someone who has a tendency to remember travels based on the delicious new food I tried in my destination, I could easily identify with this habit of Julia Child's. Her description of the smells and tastes of Paris and southern France is so vivid that I felt like I was there. Reading this book was a very rewarding experience. Julia Child is a delightful personage, and hearing her words was as enjoyable as it was inspiring. I give this one a 5 out of 5.