#23 My Life in France by Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme

[missingvolume]

This was a really great read. Not only do you find out about Julia Child's journey learning how to cook French food but you also get a slice of how life was in the 1950's as well. I did get hungry reading the book and I also broke down and got her cookbooks.  The book goes into quite a bit of detail about writing the cook book and was a surprise to me how many times it was rejected.  If you like bios or travel books about Europe this will be an enjoyable read.



                                                                         

Comments

[tinne.livejournal.com]

I just saw "Julie & Julia" the other night (more Julia/Meryl; less Julie, plz!) and told my husband during the movie that I have to read My Life in France. Soon. (She's a spy! She's a Cordon Bleu chef!) As it was, I pulled out my grandmother's 1966 edition of MTAOFC that same night and paged through it with fresh eyes.

I think the initial rejections and the process of getting published in the movie was pretty interesting too - plus, the meeting scene between Child and Beck with Irma Rombauer was hilarious. I stupidly gave my 1978, non-updated edition of "Joy of Cooking" to my brother and only have the later, sanitized version now. The one that left out the roadkill stews and improved the wildly-iffy recipes. The original "Joy" is an interesting read and a bit of 1930's Americana all on its own. I also had no idea that Rombauer and her daughter were hosed by their publisher, if true.