April 3

My Life in France
By Julia Child with Paul Prud'homme

Julia writes of the years she and her husband Paul lived in Paris and Marseilles, where he was assigned to work for the US Information Service (a former branch of the State Dept) after the second world war.  Julia had spent her childhood in Pasadena, attended Smith College, and had had no experience in gourmet cooking.  Julia and Paul's first stop en route to Paris was Rouen, where they had a meal at the 14th century restaurant, La Couronne, an experience that changed Julia's life.  She ordered Sole Meuniere, was mesmerized, and vowed to learn how to prepare such a delectable feast.  Once in Paris, she found a cooking school where the methods and measurements, and even the cooking surfaces, were all new to her.  But she started with the basics - and the rest is history.  We meet her cookbook coauthors Simone Beck and Louiselle Bertholle, as well as celebrities like James Beard.  We walk with her through the streets of Paris and, later, drive to the south of France.  Besides chronicling Julia's cooking roots, the book also offers a sweet story of the early years of a long and loving marriage.

This very readable and enjoyable memoir was co-authored by Alex Prud'homme, who published the book shortly after Julia's death in 2004.  The book also inspired the movie "Julie and Julia".