Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen | 
 enlarge | Author: Julie Powell
Creator: Author
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.98
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You Save: $25.28 (84%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  195 reviews
Sales Rank: 960949
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 1594831068
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5092
EAN: 9781594831065
ASIN: 1594831068
Publication Date: September 28, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Julie & Julia is the story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalize her marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, in a period of 365 days. The result is a masterful medley of Bridget Jones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate, mixed with a healthy dose of original wit, warmth, and inspiration that sets this memoir apart from most tales of personal redemption. When we first meet Julie, she's a frustrated temp-to-perm secretary who slaves away at a thankless job, only to return to an equally demoralizing apartment in the outer boroughs of Manhattan each evening. At the urging of Eric, her devoted and slightly geeky husband, she decides to start a blog that will chronicle what she dubs the "Julie/Julia Project." What follows is a year of butter-drenched meals that will both necessitate the wearing of an unbearably uncomfortable girdle on the hottest night of the year, as well as the realization that life is what you make of it and joy is not as impossible a quest as it may seem, even when it's -10 degrees out and your pipes are frozen. Powell is a natural when it comes to connecting with her readers, which is probably why her blog generated so much buzz, both from readers and media alike. And while her self-deprecating sense of humor can sometimes dissolve into whininess, she never really loses her edge, or her sense of purpose. Even on day 365, she's working her way through Mayonnaise Collee and ending the evening "back exactly where we started--just Eric and me, three cats and Buffy...sitting on a couch in the outer boroughs, eating, with Julia chortling alongside us...." Inspired and encouraging, Julie and Julia is a unique opportunity to join one woman's attempt to change her life, and have a laugh, or ten, along the way. --Gisele Toueg
Product Description
Julie & Julia is the story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalizeher marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, VolumeI, in a period of 365 days.The result is a masterful medley of BridgetJones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate, mixed with a healthy dose oforiginal wit, warmth, and inspiration that sets this memoir apart from mosttales of personal redemption.When we first meet Julie, she's a frustrated temp-to-perm secretary whoslaves away at a thankless job, only to return to an equally demoralizingapartment in the outer boroughs of Manhattan each evening. At the urging ofEric, her devoted and slightly geeky husband, she decides to start a blogthat will chronicle what she dubs the "Julie/Julia Project." What follows isa year of butter-drenched meals that will both necessitate the wearing of anunbearably uncomfortable girdle on the hottest night of the year, as well asthe realization that life is what you make of it and joy is not asimpossible a quest as it may seem, even when it's -10 degrees out and yourpipes are frozen.Powell is a natural when it comes to connecting with her readers, which isprobably why her blog generated so much buzz, both from readers and mediaalike. And while her self-deprecating sense of humor can sometimes dissolveinto whininess, she never really loses her edge, or her sense of purpose.Even on day 365, she's working her way through Mayonnaise Collee and endingthe evening "back exactly where we started--just Eric and me, three cats andBuffy...sitting on a couch in the outer boroughs, eating, with Juliachortling alongside us...."Inspired and encouraging, Julie and Julia is a unique opportunity tojoin one woman's attempt to change her life, and have a laugh, or ten, alongthe way. --Gisele Toueg
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| Customer Reviews: Read 190 more reviews...
 Maggots! November 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book has travelled with me from Arizona to PA, to TX, to NOLA, to PA, to NOLA, to GA, to PA, back to GA and finally back to PA again.... I have been "in the middle" of this book for almost two years. It is one of those books that never really grabs you. Some books grab you and pull you in and you can't put the book down, however, I put this book down many timees.
Julie & Julia is a very boring and unintelligible memoir to Julia Child (maybe) but more so a self-involved journaling/rambling of a person battling depression, cooking obsession and the beating of the "biological clock." Her half-a**ed attempts at recreating Julia Child's recipes left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
The author attempts to (and somewhat accomplishes) the re-creation of every recipe in Julia Childs renown cookbook (524 recipes) (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) in one year. She cooks things such as brains, liver, kidneys, marrow. The only humorous memory was that her Mother always said that kidneys always "tasted like piss." however some that the author cooked did not taste like piss, however her "piss smelled like kidneys." That was such a crude remark (and I am no priss mind you) I could not help but laugh.
The author wrote a blog and this book really made small mention of her blog, small mention of other characters. The only characters truly developed in this book is the author and her husband Eric. But even his character is truly never examined, just from the author's perspective minimally. This book was albout the author. My final impression of the book was that the author wants/wanted to have a baby, had to do something to occupy her mind besides thinking about having a baby or not being able to have a baby and the personal neglect in her kitchen can't help but be seen as depression.
I'm sorry but little flies flying around the author's kitchen constantly and finally towards the end of the book they discover maggots under their dish drying tray. They were very neglectful of the dishes, left them piled in the sink frequently and I'm sorry but this book was extremely bad and further, I could not imagine eathing ANYTHING from this author's kitchen knowing the lack of care taken to have a clean kitchen. She put forth about as much energy in writing a book.
 Hilariously yummy! November 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Oh. My. God. This was easily one of THE best books I have ever read! Who knew that hidden among the writings on food books was a gem of this caliber and magnificence.
Julie Powell was like many failed actresses who had moved to New York before her...stuck in a dead end job. She was unhappy in her secretarial work for some government agency as are many people who labor at such menial occupations.
On the cusp of her 30th birthday, Julie recognized the trivial existence she had been inhabiting and determined that she needed some purpose in life. She was beckoned to what would be become her Bible for the next year...Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Julie resolved to cook her way through this intimidating collection of recipes within one year. Not only did she take on this daunting task, she decided to blog about her experience, which resulted in a group of followers, several interviews, and an eventual book deal.
What follows the introduction into the premise is 300 astonishing pages of anger, pain, laughter, frustration, adoration, and...butter. Julie deliciously (and sometimes disgustingly) describes, in detail, her journey into the foray of French cooking. We are thrilled with her when she accomplishes tasks such as bone marrow scraping and crepe flipping. We are aggravated alongside her through the poaching of eggs and the ever elusive task of mayonnaise making. We are enraptured with tart-a-palooza and squirm our way through aspics. We are even with her when she attempts culinary seduction by way of pecan spice cake with pecan icing.
Not only is there are relationship built with Julie but through her, and the apartments in her brain pan, we come to know Julia Child as a culinary genius and one Hell of a woman. I was even saddened when in the final pages of the book I learned that Julia Child died on the eve of her 92nd birthday.
This book is not strictly about food, though that is the central theme, but is also about people. We get to know Sally and are somewhat creeped out by the David's, we worry over Isabel's life altering choices, and enjoy Gwen's sexy IM romance. We are thankful for husband's as supportive and composed as Eric and wish Julie's mother would just calm down. What is there to say about Heathcliff other than...that's Heathcliff.
What can I say to express the sheer pleasure and delight that filled me with each turn of the page? I laughed, I cried, and I toiled. This book is inspirational to say the least. I was ravenous through the majority of its duration and my cravings would change as we grew deeper into the cookbook, beginning with potato soup and ending with a stuffed, pastry-wrapped duck. I found myself overflowing with the hunger to cook. I kept walking to my kitchen bookshelf to find and flip through my copy of Julia Child's The Way to Cook. Not only have I found myself wanting to create culinary masterpieces, I also was inspired to write. Julie Powell's voice is blunt, brutal, and honest. She has no qualms about using the word f*** whenever she sees fit, and sometimes even if it doesn't fit. She does not sugar coat her life to make it seem more desirable. She offers the reader nothing other than her self and her life. Take her as she as or do not take her at all...and balls to you if you don't like her!
All in all, this was quite a delectable read. I recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh and or if you simply want an uplifting, yet down and dirty read. I cannot wait to see what Julie comes out with next. Bon Appetite!!!
Too Funny to Pass Up! October 30, 2008
This the true story of a women just 30 who struggles with the idea of working to live, not being able to carry a child, and an oh too boring existence. She lives in NY city where she works for a local Government agency as a secretary. She absolutely hates her job, which she finds no purpose in what so ever. When she realizes that she is unable to have children, she begins to question everything, mainly her purpose. She takes a trip to visit her mother and father back home, to get some much needed R and R, and comes across her mother's Art of French Cooking book. She takes it home with her and begins to cook, she writes a blog about the adventure, as she decides much to the dismay of family and friends to cook every recipe in the book by years end. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but it's a great read and this is why.
She is a great comedic writer, it reminded me a whole lot of Bridget Jones, I laughed through out.
She holds nothing back, letting you inside all aspects of her thoughts and memories, which are always amusing.
She is highly relatable, if you are a late 20's to mid 30's women you should find this book humorous and enlightening.
The book took me a few weeks to read, it was not a page turner suspense, but it was great on lunches or lazy Sundays. Its just too funny and real not to read!
 Fun AND taught me about cooking. Well, a little about cooking... October 16, 2008
I had such fun reading this book. I had never heard of Julie Powell and the first time I heard of her blog was in this book. From the very first chapter, though, I was engaged with the book because I felt she was so like myself: 29(well, I'm 30 now, as she turned in the book)and diagnosed with PCOS - as I was myself last year - married, and not entirely satisfied with her life. I was hooked from Chapter 1. I enjoyed reading about her messy life and the messy lives of her friends every bit as much as I enjoyed reading about her hilarious anecdotes about her cooking experiences. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, certainly, but why would you expect this book to be entirely about cooking. This is a memoir - no one's life is ever just about one thing, and if this book HAD been only about cooking, it would not have been nearly as much fun. Or even a true memoir, for that matter. I think it is hilarous that some reviewers criticized Julie for being an amateur cook - I believe that was the point of the project: to tackle something new and different.
I say thanks, Julie, for inspiring me to find a project to commit myself to - to find purpose in something I can be passionate about.
 Better as a Blog October 13, 2008
The premise had promise. The execution was shallow, narcissistic, and naive. In short, it brandished every hallmark of the blog it once was.
But, let me be clear: I actually would have loved it as a blog. From a book, I craved more thoughtful prose and structural and thematic sophistication.
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