Book 89: Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

This book was pretty much exactly what I expected and wanted when I bought it: a light, fun, easy read. I'd never heard of this book before I'd heard of the movie, and being me, I naturally wanted to read the book before I saw the film. I'd read a few reviews which said that in the movie Julie comes off as rather boring compared to Julia, and also that she is whiny and ego-centric. I'd also heard that this doesn't quite do justice to the book version of Julie. Is she a little self-centered? Yes - but most bloggers that write books tend to be self centered or at least portray themselves as such, usually making fun of themselves and going for the humor at their own expense. The whole point is that these people are basically average who just happen to get a book deal due to luck and some entertaining writing (obviously, it takes a little more, but you get what I'm saying).

Julie sounds like fun. Her husband sounds absolutely amazing. The fact that she's a Buffy fan, of course, makes up for several flaws she might have. Julia isn't a huge character in the book (Julie writes a few short, page long scenes of what her life may have been like, but unlike the movie, it isn't a split between the two women - it's Julie's story), and while Julie seems to have the perfect husband, some of the things she writes also show that she maybe doesn't quite appreciate him and that they have occasional rough patches. Of course, I googled her afterwards because I was curious about how her marriage ended up given some of her comments in the book . . . It's hard for me to say much else given that. However, I enjoyed the book, and will definitely check out her next book Cleaved when it is published and released in paperback. If I remember her by that point in time - I said it was fun, not necessarily classic lit or anything Earth shattering that's going to leave a huge and lasting impression here.