Julie and Julia - Julie Powell

First, let me say that I love to cook. I love it. I am not a particularly fantastic cook--though I do make pretty incredible French toast--but I absolutely love to cook. So naturally, when the movie Julie and Julia came out on DVD, I got it immediately. At the time, I didn't know that it was based off of a book; thus, this was the first movie-based-on-a-book with which I saw the movie before reading the book. But I have finally read the book, and it was wonderful.

For those of you who may not have heard of Julie and Julia, it is a book about Julie Powell's grand cooking adventure in which she cooked through all 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook in one year. Along the way, she records her thoughts on a blog and gains many followers, especially as she gets interviews with the New York Times, CBS, and others. But mainly, the book is about her life and her cooking during this "year of cooking dangerously."

The Philadelphia Inquirer called this book a "kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef." As I know nothing about either of those, I cannot testify to that. However, I will tell you that Julie and Julia is incredibly funny. I read it in one day, unable to put it down (despite looming chemistry and AP English homework). Today, I'm pretty sure I've convinced several that I'm absolutely loony by bursting into laughter in the middle of class. Julie not only makes me laugh, but inspires me--to be a more adventurous cook, to bone a duck without fear, to become a lobster murderer. (Okay, maybe I'm not quite up to that last one...yet.) At any rate, I definitely recommend Julie and Julia to anyone, whether you cook or not. Bon appetit!