by Julie Powell, Audio Version, Read by the Author
If you are a serious foodie looking for a fix this may not be the book for you. If you are a foodie that loves to cook but often struggles to find ingredients, understand culinary terms or improvise with equipment, you will enjoy Julie Powell’s account of her quest to make all of the recipes from Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking in one year. Ms. Powell had moved to NYC from Texas to be an actor but ended up temping as a secretary after 9/11. She felt stagnant and unclear about her career path and so embarked on the cooking quest as a way to challenge herself. The book draws upon her blog entries for that year and is as much about her life, relationships, and personal struggles as it is about cooking. The book has the feel of a blog and is unpretentious, funny and honest. FYI, there is a lot of cursing in the book so if you are uncomfortable with more earthy expressions of frustration this is not the book for you. Recommended with the reservations noted above.
