I have to admit, I decided to review Julie and Julia because a movie starting Amy Adams (so cute) and Meryl Streep (an icon) based on the novel was recently released.
I didn’t expect to like the book as much as I did, and that was because I had some preconceived notions about the book. I assumed it would be full of boring cooking stories (yawn) but this wasn’t the case. The first night I opened it, I read near 100 pages. Based on Julie Powell’s true story, using references from her blog posts, Julie & Julia is much more than “a book about cooking”.
The first few pages interested me right away, as Julie had just left a doctor’s appointment where she was told she has PCOS and her fertility may be in jeopardy. As someone who has dealt with fertility issues in the past, I feel a sisterhood to women who have been through that struggle. Julie is almost 30, in a boring secretarial job (been there, done that) and is looking for something to give her some purpose. By fluke, while at her mothers, she begins flipping through Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” (or MTAOFC as it’s referred to by Julie) and decides to conquer all 524 recipes in the book, in a year, and blog about it on the way.
As the Project, as she calls it, unfolds readers are treated to a great read about one woman’s adventure into cooking, but the novel is so much more than that. Written with the same warm commentary as Bridget Jones Diary or Confessions of a Shopaholic, the book reveals Julie’s thoughts about her job, her marriage, her friends, and her family. By the end of the book, I felt like I really knew Julie Powell, much like readers of any blog feel like they are friends with the blogger (the true testament of a good blogger I think, is making readers feel that familiarity with you).
Julie Powell makes no apologies and writes with abandonment. I smirked when reading about her first foray into cooking lobsters because, well, I’m terrified of the creatures myself and don’t eat any seafood partly for that reason. As Julie Powell writes, “In the end I just dumped them out of the paper bag into a pot with some boiling water and vermouth and vegetables. And then freaked the f*ck out.” Loving Jule Powell!
5 readers are going to win a copy of Julie & Julia by Julie Powell! To enter, let’s make it fun – share with me one cooking disaster you’ve had.
For additional entries:
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Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. This giveaway will end on September 28th at 9:00pm CT. I will use Random.org to choose the winners, email the winners, and post the win here. Giveaway is open to Canadian and US addresses.
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