50 in '10: #6
Feb. 13th, 2010 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Title: My Life in France
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
Length: 302 pages plus index
I requested this book from the library after having watched Julie and Julia on the way to England over Christmas, and I must say that it was the longest hold I've ever had... I was number 45 in line for the book! (The Julia half of aforementioned movie was the good half, BTW, and I hope Meryl Streep wins an Oscar for her performance as Julia Child. She was marvelous!)
I was mainly curious about how close the film was to the truth, and reading this posthumously published autobiography... mm, close in spirit, I think, but not religiously faithful in detail. A lot of things were omitted or mixed up or jumbled together, as is Hollywood's wont, to make a good half-a-movie. And overall this was a good, enjoyable read. The first half is very much about a woman discovering her love of cooking, and the second half about the birth pains of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, though these obviously overlap some. While reading it, I could clearly hear the author's voice, which was wonderful. Though I did have one minor quibble... when she described cooking as not an acceptable hobby for a middle-class American woman of the fifties. Um, she mentions her family having cooks through her childhood, and describes the series of maids she and her husband had in Paris. I'm sorry, but having servants doesn't fit my definition of "middle-class." That quibble aside, I really liked this book and it got me interested in checking out some of her cookbooks from the library, though I also think that a good deal of the cookery she describes would not appeal to me. Too heavy, too rich, perhaps. But not all of the recipes can be like that, so who knows... maybe someday.
Verdict: recommended.
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
Length: 302 pages plus index
I requested this book from the library after having watched Julie and Julia on the way to England over Christmas, and I must say that it was the longest hold I've ever had... I was number 45 in line for the book! (The Julia half of aforementioned movie was the good half, BTW, and I hope Meryl Streep wins an Oscar for her performance as Julia Child. She was marvelous!)
I was mainly curious about how close the film was to the truth, and reading this posthumously published autobiography... mm, close in spirit, I think, but not religiously faithful in detail. A lot of things were omitted or mixed up or jumbled together, as is Hollywood's wont, to make a good half-a-movie. And overall this was a good, enjoyable read. The first half is very much about a woman discovering her love of cooking, and the second half about the birth pains of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, though these obviously overlap some. While reading it, I could clearly hear the author's voice, which was wonderful. Though I did have one minor quibble... when she described cooking as not an acceptable hobby for a middle-class American woman of the fifties. Um, she mentions her family having cooks through her childhood, and describes the series of maids she and her husband had in Paris. I'm sorry, but having servants doesn't fit my definition of "middle-class." That quibble aside, I really liked this book and it got me interested in checking out some of her cookbooks from the library, though I also think that a good deal of the cookery she describes would not appeal to me. Too heavy, too rich, perhaps. But not all of the recipes can be like that, so who knows... maybe someday.
Verdict: recommended.
