Appetite for Life
by Noel Riley Fitch
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Book Summary Information
Author: Noel Riley FitchEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-04
ISBN: 0385493835
Number of pages: 592
Publisher: Anchor
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780385493833
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Appetite for Life
Book Review: FOR MY $$$ THE BEST OF THE BUNCH
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read the reviews & am sorry there were so many negitive ones.
The biggest complaint seems to be that the book is poorly written.
(Well... I for one do NOT have a problem with parenthetical expression. In fact, I am a proponent & an advocate of this handy device. I am, not only, a continual, continuous , constant , incessant, perpetual & perennial PRACTIONER.....I bought the company!) But I digress.
Anyway, I've read two other books about J.C.(My Life in France and Backstage with Julia) and THIS one was my favorite. The backstage book focused on the author & didn't appeal to me.(However, it WAS useful for the last stages of Julia's life & her death, as the big book was written some years before Julia's death.)
My Life in France is a lovely book but glosses over some of the "warts" in Julia's life.
No, this biography is the one I'm adding to my bookshelf. (And being from Pasadena myself I loved the neighborhood details & could picture EXACTLY where she lived & played as a child).
Incidentally, I ran into Julia a couple of times. Once here is Pasadena at the local cookware shop and again, years later, at the farmer's market in Santa Barbara. She was a cooking icon and an amazing woman.
One question: Why is reviewer Mark Wilden from Frisco SO HOSTILE??
People can check out this book from their local library
& it won't cost them nothin' but a little time.
By the way, Mark, anyone who likes Bluegrass is OK by me.
Summary of Appetite for Life
Julia Child became a household name when she entered the lives of millions of Americans through our hearts and kitchens. Yet few know the richly varied private life that lies behind this icon, whose statuesque height and warmly enthused warble have become synonymous with the art of cooking.In this biography we meet the earthy and outrageous Julia, who, at age eighty-five, remains a complex role model. Fitch, who had access to all of Julia's private letters and diaries, takes us through her life, from her exuberant youth as a high-spirited California girl to her years at Smith College, where she was at the center of every prank and party. When most of her girlfriends married, Julia volunteered with the OSS in India and China during World War II, and was an integral part of this elite corps. There she met her future husband, the cosmopolitan Paul Child, who introduced her to the glories of art, fine French cuisine, and love. Theirs was a deeply passionate romance and a modern marriage of equals.
Julia began her culinary training only at the age of thirty-seven at the Cordon Bleu. Later she roamed the food markets of Marseilles, Bonn, and Oslo. She invested ten years of learning and experimentation in what would become her first bestselling classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Now, her career is legend, spanning nearly forty years and still going strong. Generations love the humor and trademark aplomb that have made Julia a household name. Resisting fads and narrow, fanatical conventions of health-consciousness, Julia is the quintessential teacher. The perfect gift for food lovers and a romantic biography of a woman modern before her time, this is a truly American life.
Noel Riley Fitch's savory new biography, Appetite for Life, reveals a woman as appealing as the good food and serious cooking she popularized. As a California girl and Smith College undergraduate, Fitch writes, Julia McWilliams was notable for her high spirits and voracious appetite. Performing intelligence work in Asia during World War II, she met Paul Child, and their marriage of mutual devotion and affection endured until his death in 1994. His postwar assignment took them to France, where she discovered her true calling.
Fitch reminds us that Child championed fresh ingredients at a time when frozen foods and TV dinners dominated American supermarket shelves, and that she demystified haute cuisine with her earthy humor and casual attitude toward mistakes. This affectionate portrait of the remarkable Julia Child reflects her fervent belief that the pleasures of the table are a natural accompaniment to the pleasures of life.
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