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I haven't read too many books that have made me laugh out loud, but Julie Powell's desire to prepare all of Julia Child's recipes from The Joy of Cooking proves to be a topic of supreme genius. Whether it is tracking down a specific type of bone marrow in NYC or attempting to boil a lobster for the first time, Powell writes with such charm and wit I almost entertained the idea of French cooking. (That lasted about five minutes. While I love cooking and gourmet, French food just isn't my thing!)

The movie is coming out soon - Meryl Streep is going to play Julia Child and it looks like she gets the job done. I will definitely have to check out the movie.

I think the premise of Julie and Julia is intriguing. What a fun idea to try cooking all of Julia Child's recipes. I enjoy cooking, but I enjoy reading cookbooks and food magazines even more. Maybe I'll live vicariously through Julie. I have this book on my to-read list. We'll see if The Joy of Cooking ends up on the list down the road.

Lisa wrote: "I think the premise of Julie and Julia is intriguing. What a fun idea to try cooking all of Julia Child's recipes. I enjoy cooking, but I enjoy reading cookbooks and food magazines even more. Mayb..."

Definitely read this book. It is one of my favorites and Julie is so likeable!

I found a library edition of this at a book outlet last week for $2.50. I did a little happy dance. It doesn't take much to thrill me.

Have you read it before?

No, it's just been on my TRL for awhile.

Hilarious. As much as I love Meryl Streep, I think the movie is going to be terrible. I don't think this book should have been made into a movie.

I just finished reading; figured I better do it before the movie came out.

I liked the snarky commentary by Julie as she undertakes the massive project of cooking all of Julia Child's recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Humorous, but not always appetizing!

I've had this sitting on my shelf for a year. I really enjoy foodoir's. I think this is my next book. I, too, would like to read it before the movie comes out. (I tried to read the Soloist before I saw the movie; by the time I finished it, the movie was gone from the theatres. So I should get cracking on this soon.) Thanks for the great reviews of the book.

It was a really quick read. Julie sometimes comes off as annoying and self-absorbed, but she's also witty and self-deprecating. I laughed; I cringed; I said yuck, a lot! I did not however finish the book and become inspired to cook from MtAoFC; not even one single recipe. :)

My understanding, now that I've read more about the movie, is that the movie combines 2 books - Julie/Julia and Julia's My Life in France. I haven't read Julie yet but My Life in France was wonderful, at least it was for me - I'm a big Julia C. fan. I have the 2 volumes of MtAoFC, but more as a reference, I've never made anything from them. But if you are a foodie, the layout of the cookbooks is really interesting and unique from other cookbook styles.

I think it looks like a great movie and I'm planning on seeing it right when it comes out. I probably won't then read Julie/Julia (see my comments in the made into movies discussion).

One of my face2face book clubs picked this for the December book, so I will be getting started on it soon. I didn't see the movie (because I hate seeing movies before the book).

I believe I am alone in my opinion. I did not care for this book. I read the book then saw the movie, in both I liked the parts with Julia Child. The rest? I thought Julie was whiney and obnoxious, ruined the book and movie for me. All the book did for me was create an interest in the life of Julia Child. So a better book in my opinion is My Life In France, a really good book about Child's life and her love affair with her husband. I really did try to like Julie and Julia, I promise.

I'm reading this book now for my local bookclub. So far(page 79) I find parts of it amusing, but I wish she had talked more about the cooking part of it and less detail about her job, moving, and all the other little issues.

Patti wrote: "I believe I am alone in my opinion. I did not care for this book. I read the book then saw the movie, in both I liked the parts with Julia Child. The rest? I thought Julie was whiney and obnoxious,..."

Have to agree with you, Patti. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't comment on how they compare, but... I was expecting a story about Julie cooking all the recipes in MtAoFC -- and I expected there would be a bit of her personal life talked about in between the recipes. Instead, it's a long drawn out, self-centered story about Julie's whiny life and her family and friends and their sex lives, with occasional bits about cooking Julia Child's recipes. This book is entertaining when she talks about her shopping and cooking disasters and successes -- but I ended up skimming the parts about her regular life as it was just boring.

I loved the book and thought an entire movie could have been made with Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. How charming were they??? That was the only part of the movie I really paid attention to - I was doing other things while viewing.