My goal is to read one book per month. While this does not sound overly ambitious right now, I know that when school starts back up it might be a stretch. I love to read though which is why I set this goal in the first place. I am going to try my very best to make it happen.
I can scratch my August 09 book off of the list now that I finished reading Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. I was inspired to read this after I heard the premise of the movie. A secretary, unhappy in her job, concocts a plan to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her goal is to finish this in one year’s time and to blog about her misadventures along the way. The secretary, in this case, is the author, Julie Powell. Anyone who knows me knows that I love memoirs. So, not only was the premise intriguing, but also the notion that the story was true. Yeah! Another memoir. I was in heaven to know this would be my next read!
See? This nerd really would rather read than fish...
I am not quite sure that Julie & Julia requires a synopsis more elaborate than the aforementioned, but if I can gently persuade someone to read this by providing more insight then, by all means, I must divulge:
Working as a temp in New York City has proven to be particularly unsatisfying for Julie Powell. Although hired on as a secretary with a governmental agency, she cannot shake the desire to calm her obsessive energies with something more substantial than being the office peon. Together with her supportive husband Eric, the two devise a plan, later coined the Julie/Julia Project, to occupy Julie’s spare time. The project involves pumping out 524 Julia Child recipes from one iconic cookbook and documenting the trials, tribulations, and triumphs on a blog. With support from her family, friends, and bleaders (her affectionate name for her loyal blog readers) Julie accomplishes more than she ever thought possible.
Powell’s writing is incredibly hilarious. Hilarious, that is, if you enjoy potty-mouths. Being that I appreciate the occasional f-word in my leisurely reads, I found myself laughing out loud. From her accounts of her time spent working in an office full of republicans (as one of the few democrats) to her experiences mutilating lobsters, Powell tells a funny, yet inspirational story. Yes, that's right. Julie & Julia is inspirational. Not inspirational in Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love leave-your-husband-to-go-find-yourself sort of way, but in a way that encourages cultivating one’s passion.
I look forward to reading Powell's follow up book which is also a memoir. Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession is slated for release is December 2009. Christmas present anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment