Julie and Julia

With the age of 30 looming, Julie Powell feels she hasn't accomplished anything in life except acquiring a dead-end secretarial job and a great husband. She decides to add meaning to her life by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKINGâ over the course of a year. As we and Julie learn in this seamless abridgment, a perfect crpe makes a bad day better and surviving a pancaked soufflé means one can endure anything. The author, who has a pleasant contralto voice, reads with humor and a rhythmic pacing perfectly suited to the book. Her lively reading (and excellent French) bring drama to the scenes and pleasure to the listener. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2006
Life wasn't working out the way 29-year-old Powell had anticipated -working a dead-end job at a government agency; living in a cramped, dingy apartment in Queens; and worrying about a health condition that could make it impossible for her to have children. Reaching a point of emotional meltdown, she visited her parents' home in Austin, TX, where she rediscovered her mother's old copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A short time later, she made the instinctual, yet somewhat arbitrary, decision to give her life direction by making all 524 recipes included in the classic cookbook. She set out to do this in exactly 365 days while maintaining a blog that chronicled her culinary attempts. This very funny work reflects on Powell's experience, but listeners should beware: this is not for conservatives or those unable to tolerate a hearty smattering of the -f - word, nor is it a dignified tribute to Child. In fact, the strength of the author's humor resides in her blunt, irreverent tone and mordant descriptions of meals consisting of unconventional ingredients such as kidneys, brains, and homemade jelly boiled from calves' hooves, which she describes as making her kitchen -smell like a tannery. - Powell provides a well-executed narration of her entertaining memoir; recommended for all collections." -Dawn Eckenrode, Daniel A. Reed Lib., SUNY at Fredonia"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 13, 2005
Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming. Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog, but Powell expands on her experience and gives generous background about her personal life: her doting husband, wacky friends, evil co-workers. She also includes some comments from her "bleaders" (blog readers), who formed an enthusiastic support base. Powell never met Julia Child (who died last year), but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s. Her writing is feisty and unrestrained, especially as she details killing lobsters, tackling marrowbones and cooking late into the night. Occasionally the diarist instinct overwhelms the generally tight structure and Powell goes on unrelated tangents, but her voice is endearing enough that readers will quickly forgive such lapses. Both home cooks and devotees of Bridget Jones–style dishing will be caught up in Powell's funny, sharp-tongued but generous writing. Agent, Sarah Chalfant.

August 1, 2005
In her adolescence, Powell came across " Joy of Sex" and " Mastering the Art of French Cooking " and forever linked the two in her mind, finding something absolutely sensual about cooking. Years later, living in New York with her husband and coming to the awful realization that her temp job as a secretary was about to turn full-time, she devises the ambitious assignment of cooking 524 recipes in one year and chronicling the experience on a blog. As she moves from simple potato soup to more complicated crepes, Powell engages the help of her husband, brother, and friend, as well as the hundreds of fans she attracts to her blog. A recipe calling for bone marrow prompts a long and hilarious search for a local butcher, and a meal that "tasted like really good sex." The tougher the shopping and cooking assignment, the more sensual the experience, as Powell discovers incredible determination and hidden talents in cooking, writing, and living. This is a joyful, humorous account of one woman's efforts to find meaning in her life. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)