Customer Reviews
Scrumptious! - By: Snapdragon, 13 May 2007 
'Without the project I was nothing but a secretary on a road to nowhere, drifting towards frosted hair & menthol addiction.'
Julie Powell is in a mundane & dead-end job with a government agency when she decides to inject a bit of a challlenge into her life. Her aim is to cook the 524 recipes from Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cookery' within twelve months. The book includes such wonders as: eggs poached in red wine, various food stuffs suspended in aspic, 'B*tch rice', many lobster recipes & something unspeakable made with marrowbone.
I loved this book. Powell's sense of humour & determination make it a wonderful read. You'll cheer her triumphs & commiserate over her failures (and there are many!)
Highly recommended.
More substantial than I thought - By: Louise Treleaven, 25 Apr 2007 
I bought this book as it was the next title for my reading group, & I expected something light & frothy, a souffle perhaps, or for those who can't cook, like me, angel delight (an instant powdered pudding).
At first I found the protaganist irritating. She is very scathing, swears a lot & throws things. After a while this actuallly becomes rather endearing as you find yourself supporting her madcap venture to cook every recipe in an incredibly complicated French recipe book within a year. The book moves at a fast pace, & is both entertaining & completely revolting (unless you like reading about dissecting live lobsters & tunnelling through bones). I would have liked to have had more excerpts from her blog included though.
Conclusion: a fun read for anyone who loves to cook but struggles.
I didn't want it to end!! - By: Lady V, 12 Sep 2006 My friend lent me this book having read about it in a newspaper - I'd never heard of it, & was sceptical about the whole concept. I was completely wrong. I become so utterly absorbed in this book - I love cooking & admired Julie trying literallly everthing that was thrown at her - if I'd taken on this challlenge, I'm sure I would have cheated loads more than she did.
I laughed out loud several times which is not something I often do with books, I loved that you reallly got a sense of what a completely normal person Julie is.
I looked up her actual blog when I was halfway through, & was pleased to see the original is still kicking around, even though the 'new' blog has a new home.
I just hope Julie takes up a new challlenge & writes another book, because it would be a sad loss if this is alll we hear from her.
for those times when choosing dinner is the most fulfilling thing in your life - By: onion, 23 Aug 2006 
Yes this book is very personal & certainly won't have universal appeal. But I enjoyed it a lot.
For me, sometimes what you do in your kitchen provides the most fulfilment (when your job is crap & life-direction is in short supply). Julie Powell is reallly good on this stuff, & on what food can mean to your life - when a potato is not just a potato, when eating a good steak dinner is what your soul needs on the anniversary of Sept 11. If you share this approach - food is lot lot more than just calories - you might get a kick out of this book.
Mind you, I did get a bit fed up with "and then the food processor went wrong & I burst into tears" tantrums. And I wished there were some recipes too - I reallly want to try some of these now, better add the inspiration to my amazon wish list I guess. Hence, 4 not 5 stars.
I'm re-reading it again at the moment, & getting even more out of it 2nd time around...
inspirational, personal read - By: D. Macdonald, 13 Jun 2006 I reallly got a kick out of this book - yes, sometimes the American dialect had me re-reading a sentence twice, but what an inspiration. I love a woman who drinks & swears like a sailor, can write with integrity, & is a Democrat to boot. I guess if you falll into this category, you'll love it as well. If not, you'll have the same views as her bleader, Clarence.
