Alex Prud’homme’s writing of his great-aunt Julia Child’s memoirs is elegant, enthusiastic, and entertaining. Fans of “The French Chef” will thoroughly enjoy the story of how she stumbled upon a love of French food and culture as a newlywed in France. Although abridged, the story flows well, slowly unfolding the triumph of publishing her masterpiece, MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING. Sadly, Flo Salant Greenberg’s reading fails to rise to the level of such a public personality. Her French pronunciations are lovely, and, overall, she carries the prose forward, but her readings of Child’s actual quotes don’t do justice to a woman who seemed generally unable to contain her enthusiasm in life. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
First of all, Jeremy Allen White was hot long before Carmy in his little white tee (YES, CHEF!). Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s proceed. FX’s first season of The Bear has come and gone, and like a delectable amuse-bouche, has left us wanting more. In just eight episodes, the show […]
Whether you’re headed to Paris next year for Fashion Week, going coastal on the Riviera, or planning to spend your holiday vacation drinking all the champagne in Champagne, the best preparation for your trip to France is to send your brain there ahead of time — figuratively speaking, of course. And when it comes to […]
If you’re hungry for a tasty pairing of good food and great writing, the menu’s pretty extensive. Cookbooks can be illuminating and educational—although food prep is a lotta work (it’ll cut into your reading time). There’s never a shortage of food memoirs, but while Bourdain’s kitchen confidences are savory and Child’s reminiscences salty and sweet, […]
These days, you can barely open a web browser or turn on the TV without being exposed to some type of food media. Between cronuts, kitchen nightmares, and celebrity chefs hawking their wares, you can’t be blamed for wondering what happened to actually loving food. Well, it’s still happening, right here in these books. Consider […]
I’m a huge fan of audiobooks, especially when they have a great narrator, and I can’t imagine a more perfect pairing of book and reader than Meryl Streep performing the late, great Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. Movie buffs are no doubt nodding in recognition, recalling that Streep is, in fact, so right for the role that she played the female […]