mka0204's review against another edition
2.0
I stopped reading it. I thought Julie was really self-absorbed, and wasn't very entertained by her 'adventures' in cooking. Maybe I just didn't get it - so many of my friends read it and liked it....
marissa_k_mason's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
_sarah_reads_'s review against another edition
3.0
I don't regret reading this book, it was entertaining, but I don't know that I would recommend it. On the plus side, the author is a huge Buffy fan, so I was able to relate to her on that level. But overall, I had a hard time with the tone of the book--it felt like she was trying too hard or something. She came off sounding like a less sophisticated, less witty, less interesting Nora Ephron.
rebeccatc's review against another edition
2.0
This book is a good example of the fact that writing that may be good enough for a blog is not necessarily good enough for a book. This book, based on the gimmick of a woman cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, reads like a hastily and sloppily compiled set of blog venting sessions. Julie often sounds like the most boring person you know who insists on telling you every detail of her day, including her petty marital spats, her encounters with the inconveniences of public transportation and, even less exciting, the weather. She must have had a minimum word count to meet because she also goes off on tangents about her friends that are obviously filler. While there are definitely parts of the story that are funny, Julie herself is so self-absorbed and self-indulgent that I really didn't care what happened to her. Her motivation was never really clear and it didn't seem that she had really grown in any way by the completion of the project. This is one of the rare instances where I enjoyed the movie more than the book, mainly because it was more Julia and less Julie.
beccacraven's review against another edition
2.0
This book has inspired me to learn more about Julia Child. Julie Powell was pretty insufferable through the whole thing, though.
books_plants_hikes's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly just really didn't enjoy this book very much. I'm not saying what Julie did wasn't wonderful but it certainly wasn't enjoyable for me to read about. Maybe because I find my center in being outdoors, seeing new places, hiking and climbing.
mbhammons's review against another edition
1.0
Couldn't even finish this one. The movie is one of my favorites but I think they did a much better job of making Julie Powell likable than she actually is. She has the mouth of a sailor and spends the entire time talking just about how everything is about her. Definitely not going to pick this one up again. :/
sarasofraz's review against another edition
5.0
Julie and Julia has truly been one of my favourite movies for so so so very long. And finally I got myself to read the book. I had been waiting for this moment, savouring it. I knew I would absolutely adore the book once I read it, and I also knew I would only get to read it for the first time once, so I waited. Yesterday, as I was waiting for a friend in a cold and dry January day by a bus stop, I decided to take a look inside a bookstore that was behind it. As I was passing the "food" section I stopped - saw the title and decided to give in.
As soon as I came home from my outing with my friend, I sat down with the book, and barely stopped until late late in the night when I could not keep the book upright or my eyes open. Then today all day I had to finish my assignment for uni - which took almost all day, but finally, I got to open the book up again and start devouring Julies stories. Now, exactly five hours later, I have finished it.
I just want to say that it was perfect, just like the movie.
Such books only come once in a while and nothing should be as treasured as a really good story.
As soon as I came home from my outing with my friend, I sat down with the book, and barely stopped until late late in the night when I could not keep the book upright or my eyes open. Then today all day I had to finish my assignment for uni - which took almost all day, but finally, I got to open the book up again and start devouring Julies stories. Now, exactly five hours later, I have finished it.
I just want to say that it was perfect, just like the movie.
Such books only come once in a while and nothing should be as treasured as a really good story.
thriftygeek's review against another edition
3.0
Having seen the movie and read the original blog, it was nice to read the story behind it. I think one of my favorite scenes is during this epic blackout in New York and her husband, friends, new friends, and herself had an impromptu dinner party in the dark, finding a light moment in all the dark. Some cons to the book were the language, but that I can overlook, and some scenes that contain subject matter I was uncomfortable with, they were harder to overlook.