Julie and Julia - Julie Powell

Title: Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
Author: Julie Powell
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 356
Date read: September, 2009

Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell resolved to reclaim her life by cooking, in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life--lived with gusto.

Yet another of those delightful non-fictional books that reads like fiction. When I saw the trailer for the movie, I knew I wanted watch it, and when I heard it was based on a book (or two actually, but I haven't found the other one yet) I had to read it first.

And it was well worth it. The book is utterly charming, and I giggled my way through it. It's clear from the writing style that Julie Powell got most of her practice through her blog, and I think that's part of what makes it so accessible. And it's got some gorgeous quotes, like this one, from page 259:
My husband cooed as he dug into his plate of delicious flambéed crepes. If there's a sexier sound on this planet than the person you're in love with cooing over the crepes you made for him, I don't know what it is.

If you've got any interest in cooking at all - even if you believe you're really bad at it - I recommend you read this book. Stay away from it just before dinner time though, because it'll invariably make you hungry for good food, and there's just something utterly UNsatisfying about heating up left-overs when you've just been reading about Rognons de Veau à la Bordelaise or Tournedos Rossini.

Bon appetite.