Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

Who hasn't been inspired, on the spur of the moment, to take up some momentous project? Julie Powell is one such person and thankfully, unlike most of the rest of us, she actually saw her project through to the end. As an almost thirty year old temp working as a secretary she was in a bit of a funk. While seeing her flipping through a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, her husband suggests starting a blog about working her way through all of its recipes. At that moment the Julie/Julia project was born. In one year she would cook her way through all 524 recipes and document the experience in blog form. This book is part recipes, part blog stuff, and a whole lot of craziness as she attempts to finish the project, not bite her husband's head off, and track down such exotics things as animal bone marrow.

I love a good memoir and this one definitely did not disappoint. Even if you have no interest (or in my case, skill) in cooking, it doesn't matter. It's more about being in a rut, not knowing what you want to do, and then embarking on something that will eventually change your life. Not that this was some kind of weepy sort our your feelings kind of thing. It's laugh out loud funny and if you love a good bawdy sense of humor and someone who doesn't mind saying fuck a lot, Julie Powell is a writer you should check out.

Unlike others who would have the tendency to paint themselves in only the most flattering light, Julie has no problem letting people see that sometimes she can be a foul mouthed, freaked out bitch (also known as my kind of people). Have you read any of the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking? We're talking, calves' brains, bone marrow, sweetbread, de-boning chickens, and homemade mayonnaise. How can you not freak out when dining on that stuff for a year? Often, usually after some sort of disaster, she thinks about quitting, but doesn't because she doesn't want to disappoint her blog readers. I'd guess that a lot of the bloggers I know have felt that way at some point, not wanting to read or finish a book, but feeling as though you owe it to the people who read the words you've written to write something. All you bloggers and blog readers out there will love Julie & Julia.

And yes, the story has been turned into a film to be released in August, featuring two of my favorite actresses. I can't wait!

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