Yes, I know, it’s March and you’re wondering, why has she titled this as a Feb book review? Well, actually, this book was a part of my February book club destination challenge- Paris, and with everything going on this month- a new project at work, baby duties and having guests over at home, I wasn’t able to finish this on time to complete my challenge, but then that’s life right? So I finally managed to finish the book and here is my review 🙂
My Rating: 3 Stars (this was a very difficult decision and I’ll tell you why)
Book & Author: My Life in France by Julia Child & Alex Prud’homme
Genre: A Chef’s Biography/Non Fiction
I have to begin with why I’ve rated this book 3 stars. If you’ve read my rating process article (link here), then you’ll know I give higher ratings to books where I learn something and which are interesting too. So although, there was a lot to learn from this book, I didn’t find the book interesting enough. And the only reason I wanted to provide more stars to this book was because it is about Julia Child and I truly admire and respect the woman.
That said, although I’m really interested in eating good food, I haven’t started being interested in the art of cooking yet, and that is what most of this book is about really. To add to that, the book has been edited by Alex Preud’homme, and he has tried to keep some humor in the book (thanks to Julia Child’s real quotes), but in most parts it reads like a documentary and the worst part is that a lot of recipes and sentences are written in French without an English translation to support it! I felt lost most of the time due to that, and I think that was the reason I took so long to finish this book really.
The book ends with the quote above and I loved this. I hope to inculcate this learning in my life soon too and enjoy the art of cooking. There were also some amazing things in the book that I didn’t know about – I mean, Julia Child is an amazing woman, but I didn’t know her passion to cook and to know French cooking was so great that she took almost 10 years with her partners Simca and Louisette to complete their first cookbook! She was almost 40 when she finished her first book! Isn’t that inspiring? It just says, if one is passionate about something, time and age doesn’t really mean anything. You can achieve anything at any time in your life! Such a beautiful take away! Oh, and all the descriptions about their tasty and leisurely meals- that is what life should be like, not the hustle bustle fast food life that we live in today. I intend to take that as my second takeaway from the book- to try and relax and slow down and enjoy my meals, as much as possible 🙂
So, what did you think of my review? Have you read any of Julia Child’s books and cooked from them? How was your experience?
Starry Eyed Enigma 