My Life in France by Alex Prud'Homme, Julia Child (2006, Hardcover)

This is a must have for all serious cooks. Anyone who knows anything about the culinary world, knows Julia Child!

This book is a wonderful recounting of Julia Child's days in France. In her own words, Julia tells her captivating story of where she fell in love with French food and found her "true calling." You can tell she poured her heart and soul into this book.

My life's ambition has been to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, so I must say I had a huge bias for this book. Although her time at Le Cordon Bleu only accounts for a very small portion of the book itself, it was a major influence on Julia's life.

This book is filled with beautiful black-and-white photographs and Julia's engaging manner of story telling bring these years to life for the reader. By all accounts, she lived a life of privilege, although the descriptions of some of the places she lived would make you wonder. If you ever get a chance to visit the Smithsonian in DC, they have actually moved Julia Child's kitchen there and have set it up exactly as Julia had it. It is not the fancy, gourmet kitchen one would expect.

Julia was a very down to earth person and it is reflected time and again in her book. You also get a sense of the deep love she had for her husband. This is truly a wonderful book, you won't want to put it down.