Julia Child - My Life in France

[Loprraine]

"Elizabeth David."

That was the info I meant. Always n the lookout for great books.!

[ChefJune]

I just finished reading "My Life in France." For me it was a very fast read, and a bit sad. I felt as though I could hear Julia talking, relating some of these tales I had heard from her before.

I think Paul's grand-nephew did a wonderful job capturing her voice. It's a wonderful "last book" for America's best-loved cooking teacher.

[VegLover]

I know this is an old thread but I am currently going through a Julia Child obsessive stage in my culinary life... I just got 'My Life in France' in the post from Amazon last week and read it from cover-to-cover instantly.

My, what an interesting woman! The book is extremely good, although it's hard not to be a little envious of the fact that Julia and Paul ate out at the best restaurants and drank the best wine more times in a month than I do in 5 years ;-) But she was there with a purpose: to enjoy, to savour, to learn.

I've got 'From Julia Child's Kitchen' at home, and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get my hands on Mastering the Art of French Cooking I and II one day... to pricey for me at the moment as we have very little income coming in right now so I can't justify to myself spending so much money on them at the moment. At least it gives me something to aspire to :-)

If you haven't read 'My Life in France' yet, I highly highly highly recommend it! From what I read in the intro, her husband's great-nephew (who worked on the bio with her) pretty much took any text he wrote from conversations with Julia and from the tons of letters in the family archive.

[Katie H]

Yes, VegLover, it is a wonderful book and I, like you, was impressed with all that Julia was. She's an inspiration to the world in so many ways, not just for food-related areas.

Another book you might consider reading is As Always, Julia - The Letters of Julia Child & Avis Devoto. I just picked it up at my area Sam's Club and can't wait to read it. I know when I begin reading I won't want to put it down.

You might try searching in your area thrift stores and used book stores for the Mastering books. I've been lucky to find many desirable books at those places for literally a dollar or two. You'll get a bargain and satisfy "your" Julia habit.

[Addie]

If you Goggle "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking", you can find a lot of copies, first edition, on line for under $20 US$. Both volumes, I and II. When our local library was cleaning out some of their inventory, my sister was able to pick up both volumes. They became her bedtime reading every night. If I had known how excited she could become over that set, I would have given her my first husbands set that I gave him as an anniversary gift. When he died, I put them out in the yard sale I held one day. They were both a 'first edition.' Some of her more simple recipes can cover mulitple pages.