Julie and Julia

365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

By: Julie Powell

Narrated by: Julie Powell

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The bestselling memoir that's "irresistible....A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef" (Philadelphia Inquirer) that inspired Julie & Julia, the major motion picture directed by Nora Ephron, starring Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.

Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell reclaims her life by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. It's a hysterical, inconceivable redemptive journey—life rediscovered through aspics, calves' brains and cré me brûlée.

©2005 Julie Powell (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"Hilarious and ferociously articulate. Powell wrote candidly and vividly about her antic adventures with Child's recipes... But perhaps more importantly, she wrote about food in a rich and raucous context, about putting pot-au-feu on the table through plumbing crises and existential desperation; about both Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom and the difficulties of finding marrow bones."—Entertainment Weekly

"Bracingly original, JULIE & JULIA is clearly the work of a writer who has reclaimed her soul."—People

"Powell is not a domestic goddess; she's emphatically, unembarrassedly a domestic mortal. But she is also a genuinely gifted thinker and writer about food."—Time

Surprisingly Good Story

Would you consider the audio edition of Julie and Julia to be better than the print version?

Not really. I see them as equals. It was nice to hear the authors' inflections on certain passages, though. I would have enjoyed it either way.

Have you listened to any of Julie Powell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It did make me laugh. I had never heard the word 'beshat' before, and I thought that was the most clever thing.

I know there's a ton of backlash...

It's an entertaining book. I was drawn in right away; I felt like a friend of Julie's, rooting her on through her story. Yes, I got this audiobook after seeing the movie, which I also enjoyed. Without cynicism, it's a fantastic, absorbing audiobook.

Movie is better

The book is one f home after another which I usually don't mind but her , self doubt and negativity get old . Although I did enjoy the references to Buffy the vampire slauer

very entertaining and also very interesting

Love the language that Julie uses to describe her adventures and also the specifics of the food!

Mediocre - never got why she was doing this

I wanted to really like this because I’m a home cook. She seemed more interested in herself than she was in the recipes. I didn’t learn much. However, I was sorry to hear about her passing.

Such a waste

I was so looking forward to this title and so disappointed when I listened to it. I loved Julia Child and her cookbooks and couldn't wait to read of one person making all recipes to Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. In the first hour and half (out of nearly 6 hours) of this audiobook she address 2 recipes! When she says at 1:20 minutes into the the audio "Day 38 recipe 46", I wanted to scream, "What about the other 45 recipes!" She is obsessed with 9/11 as she worked as a temp secretary for some some federal agency after the attack. The language can be foul at times and I'm no prude. I really don't want to hear about pink dildoes and c*ock (not the rooster) in a book on Julia Child's recipes. Nor do I want to hear her bashing GW Bush (and I'm no fan of this president). This simply isn't the forum for that. She's also a frustrated actress and her reading style shows this. She even goes so far as to refer to Julia Child as JC. If you want to know about Julie Powell's life over a one year period then this is for you (which you could read for free on her blog). But if you want the insight on what it is like to make all of Julia's recipes from her first book in one year, skip this one. And why is this audiobook abridged?

waste of a credit

save your credit for a better book. just a total waste, between the story and performance

Uggh...

If you like listening to 6 hours of a yuppy, stuck up b*tch complain about her pathetic life, by all means download this book.

This woman is intolerable to listen too.

I loved the movie, but this book should have never been published.

First time the movie is better

I love this movie so was excited to read the book as they’re always better; and more excited that Julie Powell was narrating. If you like this movie- don’t read/listen to this book. The real Julie Powell is whiny, negative, horrid to her husband and can’t go 20 minutes without reminding you that she’s a democrat. Literally- her reminders that she’s a democrat are constant; and add absolutely zero to this story that has nothing to do with politics and she herself never goes into anything political; just needs all readers to know she’s a democrat in the middle of talking about cooking vegetables. Don’t waste your time and keep the image of the likable Julie played by Amy Adams as the only one as the movie is adapted from the book excellently with only her obnoxious and selfish personality removed.

Save yourself the time

Julie comes across as one of the most pretentious individuals on the planet. She also writes about her husband as if he were a pathetic creature without much worth. Skip this book.