If you can snatch up Child's book: My Life in France, you'll have one on the shelf that will please you for a very long time I expect. JC was blessed with an enormous intellect that was well infused with boundless enthusiasm.The book was written with Alex Prud'homme, Paul Child's grandson, whose account reads as though Julia herself is before the reader, recounting her adventures in Le Havre, 1946; slogging through the kitchen while rejection and failure nipped at her heels; and her indomitable and formidable iron will that did not allow her to quit. It's a very good read, and a good buck-up for the spirits to boot.