“There is something about peeling a potato. Not to say that it’s fun, exactly. But there’s something about scraping off the skin, and rinsing off the dirt, and chopping it into cubes before immersing the cubes in cold water because they’ll turn pink if you let them sit out in the air. Something about knowing exactly what you’re doing, and why. Potatoes have been potatoes for a long, long time, and people have treated them in just this way, toward the end of making just such a soup. There is clarity in the act of peeling a potato, a winnowing down to one sure, true way.”
I kept hoping for more passages like this when I read Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen by Julie Powell. Maybe that’s why I kept reading. I like good food writing. I like well-written blogs and books. I was hoping for an amalgamation of the two.
Julie Powell was 29, married to her high-school sweetheart, in a dead end job and searching for some meaning and structure in her life. She struck upon the idea of cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 and blogging (search Google for The Julie/Julia Project to read) about it. Along the way she gathered a little fame and notoriety. By the end of the year she had a book deal and a renewed lust for life. Lucky Julie.
This was a quick read and while it was at times laugh out loud funny, I kept hoping for more food writing, something that would indicate that Julie had any real feel for the food she was preparing. I wish there had been less about the trials and tribulations of Julie and Julie’s circle of family and friends. And I could honestly have done without the descriptions of problematic plumbing and maggots in close proximity to food, as well.
Anyway, I’ve come to a realisation. My bookshelves simply cannot cope with the number of books I have on them. I’ve decided that as I finish reading a book I have to ask myself two questions: “Will D find this interesting?” and “Am I going to read this again?”.
If the answer is yes to either of those questions, the book will stay on my shelves, fighting for space but secure in the knowledge that it will be read. However, if the answer to both questions is no, I’m going to give the book away.
The answer to both questions, in relation to Julie and Julia, was an emphatic no. So I’m giving it away.
I could sign up for Bookmooch — and I may well at some future point — but first I want to try something.
Following Make Tea Not War’s lead, I’d like this to be a bookcrossing kind of thing. I pass this book on to someone who, after they have read it, releases it into the wild or passes it along to someone else.
What do you think?
Do you want to read Julie & Julia?
If so, leave me a comment. We’ll take it from there.
OneTwo warnings though — if you are a vegetarian on ethical or moral grounds or if you’re a germophobe this is probably not the book for you.
Me! Me! I’ve been dying to read it! Is is selfish that I took Ms Make Tea’s book too? I am passing it on though to Ms Magic Healing Hands and promise to put Julie and Julia up for grabs when I’m done. Oh, please, say it can be me?
(Am I sounding keen enough?)
Well, I think Charlotte is a better candidate for this book than me – but I’m intrigued that vegetarians might not like it! Is it like that bit in Jamie’s Italy where he goes and butchers animals?! I actually found that quite interesting but I’m a vegetarian for mainly medical reasons. I’m not squeamish about meat (luckily, since I have to feed these carnivores!) I like the idea of a book crossing. I’m off to read that site now.
Helen: I eat meat and I’m generally not squeamish about how the meat comes to be on my plate (couldn’t afford to be as a farmer’s daughter and being witness to how it got there on more than one occasion). However, there are a couple of reasons I don’t eat lobster and the taste is only one of them. It’s only a small part of the book but I still found myself squirming uncomfortably when she wrote about cooking lobster.
I guess that’s what I was trying to get at. If the reader has moral or ethical objections to the consumption of meat due to the way the animals are killed there are some passages that may just not be appealing. Up to the individual, I guess, but I thought it only fair to make the warning.
Charlotte and Helen: We’ll talk about where the book goes tomorrow, promise (but enthusiastic appeals may just hold sway
)
Perhaps Helen should have it first, since you’re on the same continent, and then she can send it to me.
I vow to send it on to someone deserving!
No, honestly, Charlotte should have it first. I’ve got a staggering pile of books here which I just keep adding to by the day. I think I may be a bit nuts when it comes to accumulating books.
Ooh, lobster, I know what you mean. We used to catch lobsters and crabs when I was little and cook them. I still have big issues with eating lobster and crab meat. I don’t like the idea of cooking lobsters at all. Horrible, horrible.
Charlotte — looks like it’s yours
I’ll email you to arrange postal details.
[...] get my hands on it since I like blogs, and cooking, and blogs about cooking, so I was thrilled when Kerryn kindly offered to put it in circulation. Julie & Julia is about one woman’s attempt to [...]