book data
122 ratings,
3.45
average rating, 38 reviews
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published
July 1st 2007
by Ecco
binding
Hardcover, 256 pages
isbn
0061136646
(isbn13: 9780061136641)
description
Julia Reed went to New Orleans in 1991 to cover the reelection of former (and currently incarcerated) governor Edwin Edwards. Seduced by the city's s
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| The House on First Street | 1 | 4 | 01/25/2009 06:40AM |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 220)
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5 stars (16)
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4 stars (46)
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3 stars (43)
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2 stars (11)
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1 star (6)
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avg 3.45
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
Jennifer Stoller
This little book is a love letter to New Orleans. After traveling the world as a journalist, author Julia Reed moves into the garden district of NO right before Katrina. This is her story of rebuilding. I think I would have rated this book 4 stars if I had any knowledge whatsoever of NO. She is a big name dropper for restaurants, bars, parades, and important people about town. She seems to know everyone!
My favorite line comes when she finds out her house has only one broken wi...more
My favorite line comes when she finds out her house has only one broken wi...more
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Read in July, 2008
Reed went to New Orleans in 1991 to cover politics. A Southerner by birth, she lived a peripatetic but always interesting life filled with parties, stories, tall tales - all of it accompanied by food.
At age 42 she marries (for the first time) and the newlyweds buy a historic house in the Garden District. For anyone who's rehabbed a house, worked with contractors and construction crews the book will strike a chord. A chord of terror given the lack of work ethic - let alone job skills...more
At age 42 she marries (for the first time) and the newlyweds buy a historic house in the Garden District. For anyone who's rehabbed a house, worked with contractors and construction crews the book will strike a chord. A chord of terror given the lack of work ethic - let alone job skills...more
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Read in February, 2009
This was a fun, easy-to-read book which was exactly what the title suggests - one person's experience of New Orleans, including a look at the weeks following Katrina. It's not really about Katrina and doesn't offer any broad insights into the many factors that contributed to the catastrophe, but does provide some tidbits and commentary about some of the idiosyncracies of New Orleans and Louisiana that played a role. Overall, an entertaining read.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
Being set in New Orleans, there are some familiar faces in this book. Including my awesome 3rd grade reading teacher that I still think of as one of the most amazing single women I've ever known. Who knew that she was a childhood friend of the author?
Julia Reed definitely inhabits a distinctively privileged position in NOLA as a resident of the Garden District, yet her occupation as a journalist gives her a far wider perspective. Her stories of New Orleans color and flavor made me e...more
Julia Reed definitely inhabits a distinctively privileged position in NOLA as a resident of the Garden District, yet her occupation as a journalist gives her a far wider perspective. Her stories of New Orleans color and flavor made me e...more
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Read in June, 2009
I heard this author interviewed on NPR and she made the book sound better than it was.
This book is just ehh, gives some great restaurant reviews if you're visiting NOLA and the author makes her thoughts about how the post-Katrina situations were <poorly> handled very clear. There are a lot of characters in this book, some of which I had trouble keeping straight and it was very jumbled in parts.
This book is just ehh, gives some great restaurant reviews if you're visiting NOLA and the author makes her thoughts about how the post-Katrina situations were <poorly> handled very clear. There are a lot of characters in this book, some of which I had trouble keeping straight and it was very jumbled in parts.
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Reed is an excellent writer, as well as a famous one. Hers in one of many post-Katrina memoirs. I enjoyed her writing style, although the subject matter (her embattled renovation of a mansion in the Garden District, peppered with anecdotes about how many awesome meals she gets from famous New Orleanian chefs she knows) mostly made me sick with envy. I will be sure to glare at her house the next time I'm down there.
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Read in February, 2009
I really enjoyed New Orleans, so I am curious about people's stories who live there. parts of this book I loved, and some where just ok. Julia Reed is a fantastic writer, however, so that made the book more enjoyable after all. Now I want to go back!
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
New Orleanians past, present, and future
Well, I, too, live on First Street in New Orleans, so my opinion may be biased. I personally know almost everyone she talks about in the book. She also spends a lot of time talking about local restaurants and my husband is a local chef - so, needless to say I have a lot in common with the author. That aside, I think that it is a must read for anyone interested in the real-life accounts of New Orleanians living through the horror of The Storm. There are so many things that she talks about tha...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
New Orleans fans, home renovation fans
I love books about home renovation, New Orleans is one of my favorite settings for a story, and I'm a fan of Julia Reed's writing -- I adored Queen of the Turtle Derby -- so this book arrived on my reading list with a pre-approved stamp. Thankfully, it lived up to the label. Not only did I enjoy the warts-and-all renovation tale, but completely related to Julia's long journey to trade uncommitted single life for married domesticity. Add in the intrigue of Hurricane Katrina, along with Julia's...more
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Read in May, 2009
I learned that there really is no middle class in new orleans. This really did come across as very marie antoinette-ish. there were people who lost EVERYTHING in Katrina and this author certainly cannot relate.
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Read in December, 2008
Reed recounts the story of renovating a home in New Orleans pre-Katrina through about the first year following Katrina. She is a bit of a name dropper, from wine to notable people, which can get old.
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04/11/09
JoAnn/QuAppelle
added it
Read in April, 2009
Got halfway through this and gave up. I could not stand this author's flakiness any more, not to mention her incessant name-dropping.
I rarely give up in a book when I have gotten as far as I did with this one, but trying to struggle through this was holding me back from reading anything else.
I rarely give up in a book when I have gotten as far as I did with this one, but trying to struggle through this was holding me back from reading anything else.
01/11/09
Kim
added it
Read in October, 2008
While I like Julia Reed and she did a good job at covering the hurricane and aftermath, I got tired of all her name dropping.
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Post Katrina New Orleans. If you love food and very quirky people, you will like this one.
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This book is a quick read and for those who like New Orleans it will be enjoyable and you will probably recognize a lot of restaurants (because Julia Reed seems to eat out all of the time) and places. She and her husband buy and begin a lengthy renovation project on their Garden District home when Katrina hits. She does have some interesting descriptions about what it is like after the storm and the city's efforts to rebuild but she is down on people rescuing pets. Overall this is a light boo...more
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Read in October, 2008
I'm a big fan of the author's, so it's not surprising that I enjoyed this book. Reed's writing style is friendly and fun and she seems like the type of person you'd want to have cocktails with. The story of her putting down roots, renovating her house, and dealing with Katrina is interesting and touching. Reed is a food writer (among other things), so she spends a good amount of time focusing on food, drink, and restaurants. "The House on First Street" makes me think I'm due for an...more
Read in June, 2009
This is a quick, enjoyable read with lots of useful facts and historical tidbits about New Orleans. I chose to read it now since I am about to visit the city for the first time post-Katrina. The only two things that bothered me about this book were the fairly frequent grammatical mistakes and the feeling that she tried to stuff every single person she knew, every place she had been, and everything she had done into this small book. At times this resulted in an awkward, jumpy and somewhat nonsen...more
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Eh, I thought this was OK. I was a little annoyed at the gorgeous house, waiting to get finished while the rest of New Orleans is falling apart. . .She did an OK job connecting the two, but my final thought was that I really didn't care too much about the fact that her husband's mercedes was safe when there were bodies on the curb post Katrina. I did like (as usual) the sections about the southern food and I think I'll get her other book that's more recipe oriented.
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Read in March, 2009
recommended to Alyson by:
Ann Salisbury
I read this book three days before seeing Julia Reed speak at an exclusive men's club in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama and two weeks before I completed my own move to New Orleans. Where this book could have been overly sentimental or tasteless, it was instead heart-wrenching and incredibly humorous. Rarely does a book make me laugh out loud more than once, but The House on First Street did it.
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