Book Review - Julie & Julia, My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

The second book I read whilst I was hiding from the world last weekend was Julie & Julia, My Year of Cooking Dangerously, by Julie Powell.

I first read about this book in a book review in the Sunday Times at least a year ago. The reviewer seemed over-awed that a blog on the Internet could be turned into a book and become a best seller. It took me about 10 minutes on Saturday to work out why - this book is compulsive reading. The quote on the cover, "Bridget Jones meets The French Chef" says it all. The only thing missing is Bridget's daily tally of calories, cigarettes and booze. Julie Powell is funny and chatty. She seems like someone you'd like to have as your friend.

To summarise the premise of the book and her blog, in a fit of depression/madness Julie accepts her husband's challenge to cook every recipe in Julia Child's, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and to blog about it. The blog is still up on the Internet, here. Although Julie has moved on and now blogs elsewhere.

The book is different to the blog - it both elaborates on some episodes and compresses others. Frankly, I'd recommend buying the book, reading it, and then reading the blog. You'd be missing out otherwise.

I'd give the book an 8.5 out of 10.

- Pam