Julie and Julia caught my attention when I saw it mentioned by Amy of Beauty Joy Food, who is one of my favorite food bloggers, because she often includes travel and social commentary among the recipes and food porn pictures.

The book, based on the author’s blog, is about a young married woman who has become a career temp, and decides, seemingly on a whim, to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cookery in a year. Described within these pages, with much wryness and just enough pathos to be interesting, are the details of the attempt, intertwined with vignettes that may or may not actually have occurred in Ms. Child’s life. If you’ve ever succumbed to tears when faced with the prospect of deboning a duck, or wondered what, exactly, one DOES with consomme, this book is for you – and even if your idea of cooking is pressing 3:00 START on the microwave, this is an entertaining read for it’s own sake.

A warning though – parts will make you hungry.
And parts will take your appetite completely away.