Story Circle Network

Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide

November 2006

Julie and Julia
Julie Powell

Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming...

  1. Just to get us started: What is your overall impression of the book? Think about some food-related adjectives you could use to describe what you thought about the book.

  2. Let's talk about the structure of the book. How is it organized? What was your reaction to including the fictionalized excerpts about Paul and Julia Child?

  3. There are several explanations in the book for why she undertook this project (p. 125, p. 160). Why do you think she did? Were you surprised by the outcome?

  4. What purpose did writing the blog serve?

  5. Have you ever tackled anything comparable to this just to see if you could do it, or what you would learn from it?

  6. You get the idea that writing the book didn't emerge until late in the project. Do you think that maybe she had this in mind from the beginning?

  7. She wrote quite frankly about herself, her husband, family and friends. Assuming that they were given the opportunity to vet the book, why do you think she was able to get away with it?

  8. Let's discuss her wonderful rationalization of Julia Child's reaction to her project. What did it allow her to do? Why, in view of her eruptive personality, did she seem able to handle this with such equanimity after the initial breakdown? What did you think of the pilgrimage to Julia's exhibit at the Smithsonian?

  9. What opinion, if any, of Julia Child did you have before reading this book? What are your thoughts now?

  10. Did you like Julie? Would you like to have dinner with her?

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