Sunday, July 27, 2008

My Life in France

I finished it! I finished Julia!



Wow, I had been working on this one for a long time. And as I said, it was a pleasant enough read--just not super intriguing or on-the-edge-of-my-seat exciting. Funnily enough, it wasn't until the last hundred pages or so that I really didn't want to put it down.

I never would have read this if it hadn't been for Amy Z.'s book club idea (which didn't work out, but I had already started it and didn't want to quit)--I know little about Julia Child. I know she has a funny voice, wears high-waisted bottoms, and cooks. But this book so opened my eyes as to what her passion is, and why she enjoyed cooking for a television audience--and, indeed, what got her interested in the cooking business in the first place. I always find it so fascinating to learn what happened to make an expert fall in love with their area of work.

This is going to be a must-read for Dad, too, I just know it. I had to return it to DBRL, but he'll get it someday. A good last line, too: Toujours, bon appetit!

The cover, adorably, is the picture from one of the Childs' annual Valentine's Day cards that they sent instead of Christmas cards; they were too lazy to ever get out Christmas cards in time. My favorite V-Day card (there are two or three pages within with many they made) was a photo of Julia and Paul, in a bubble bath, looking bemusedly at the camera (and covered strategically with bubbles) with a stamped word bubble coming out of their mouths saying "Wish you were here!"

I wish I could have known them. I might have even tried fish.


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