Book 40 of the new year is...

 
TITLE Julie and Julia
AUTHOR Julie Powell
PREMISE 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment
THOUGHTS I'm quite sure everyone knows what Julie and Julia is about, but since the summary is rather overly succint, here it is: one frustrated office worker dealing with all the grief and all its less dignified manisfestations decides that her life needs an overhaul and decides to cook her way through the legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by the Julia portion of Julie and Julia. The book is good. Not great, but if anyone loves to read and eat at the same time, like I do, this book is the one for it. There isn't a climax, per se, since this is really just a recording of cooking dangerously, and be warned, there are plenty of meltdowns and deja vu scenes. But I found it refreshing. It may just be my vague fascination for cooking, and because the stove- any stove, actually- seems to combust whenever I get withing a five foot radius of it, this book is like sitting on the counter of a warm kitchen watching a friend- albeit one that tends to break down and swear and probably also drink too much than can possibly be good for her cook Bouef Bouiginion. And I didn't check the spelling of that, so it's probably wrong. But Julie and Julia is a good book, and makes rewatching the movie somehow a better experience. It's a re-read.