Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously in Pick-a-Shelf

Oct 18, 2009 Suzanne rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir

A rare instance of when I liked the movie better than the book! I loved the movie and expected to love the book. Not so much. I honestly don't consider myself a prude, but I was getting a little tired of the language and gratuitous sex. Wasn't the book supposed to be about cooking?

The movie was a pretty even mix of Julia Childs / Julie Powell and the book was 95% Julie / 5% Julia. Too bad. Julie was not nearly as interesting. I would have to say Julie was self-absorbed, petty, and whiny. ...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Tien rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: food, usa

I was enthralled by the idea: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. I enjoyed the movie. I was neither enthralled by the book nor enjoyed (much) of the book. Dare I say it, “I like the movie better”. *oops, I did it!*

It was a bit all over the place and I think the cooking bit only makes about 50% of the book, if that. Reading this book was nearly like listening to a stranger bitched about life. I’m sure she didn’t say it enough; she’s a secretary who can’t really cook. Oh no, I didn’t ...more

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Jun 22, 2010 Debbie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Well, the title of the book pretty much tells you what this one is about. There has been so much talk about this book and the movie that was made, I saw the movie and really enjoyed it so I tracked down a copy of the book and was a bit disappointed. This is still a great concept to me, with the popular Julia Childs recipes and even the addition of some of her personal letters, but I was a bit shocked that Julie was portrayed differently in the movie than the book. Can't really put my finger on t ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Lindsey rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: food, library-books, nonfiction, audiobooks, memoir, 2015, 2015-winter-challenge

Cool concept - I love challenges like this. But yeah, most of the book I was pretty disgusted. There was nothing uplifting about this one. This became a one star when she started laughing about brutally murdering a lobster with a knife. That poor lobster. Made me sick to my stomach. Any book that does that to me is an automatic one star (unless it's fiction trying to illustrate how terrible the villain is).

I'm sure the movie is better than the book. ...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Ozma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Okay, so the author is totally crazy, and she doesn't hide it. But this was enjoyable after I got into (around page 100, which seems like a bit!). At first, hearing about her friends was annoying, but I started to like it. Especially when Julie describes one of her friends making a horrible mistake. She writes a line something like: "Have you ever watched one of your friends make the wrongest choice ever?" I don't have it exactly, but it was poignant. I think I've been there. Not a perfect book ...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Tara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really did not have much interest in the book until it was a choice for a challenge, but I really liked it. I learned more about Julia Child through letters and excepts about her life. The best part about this book is that Julie is not a chef, so her antics are more like my own.
I thought she had a nice writing style, but if you have issues with swearing you may want to pass this one up.
I actually want to see the movie now.

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