Julie & Julia- A delicious journey!

Advantages: Award worthy performances,strong screenplay
Disadvantages: the subject might not appeal to many

...Julia and Julia is director Nora Ephron's adaptation of two books:one written by Julia Child and another by Julie Powell.Any film that takes life from life itself is usually good and this film is no different. The film tells the story of Julia Child,the author of the famous cookbook and Julie Powell,a simple working woman who decides to make Julia's recipes by herself and decides to write a blog about it.The two stories(one set in 1940s when Julia was young and another set in 2002 when Julie is reading Julia's book) run parallely on screen and unfolds gradually on screen. Both women share lot of similarities in their respective lives and the director lays it down beautifully for the viewer to experience. If you feel this is a film for women,you are certainly mistaken.Yes,the central characters are women and it involves cooking...

aadnan613 20.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Julie And Julia (DVD)

Port out starboard Home POSH- 'East of the Sun' by Julia Gregson

Advantages: Easy to read, good characters and a bit of history thrown in
Disadvantages: A little rose coloured look at India i suspect

...East of the Sun by Julia Gregson ISBN 978-1-4091-0251-9 WHAT ATTRACTED ME?: Once again I was the cover of this book, a beautiful peacock in the foreground and Indian border down the bottom. The colours are green and muted yellows and gold for the border. It looked reminiscent of a romantic image of colonial India. THE AUTHOR: The author Julia Gregson was a former Hardie Amies model and she moved to Austrlia where she took up journalism. This took her to New York, Los Angeles, India and Vietnam as a foreign correspondent for magazines. She was inspired to write this novel by her husband telling her about the Indian ?Fishing Fleet? of young women who came out on the liners to look for suitable husbands as there were so many available men compared to women in India in the 1920s. THE STORY: The heroine of the novel is Viva Holloway who...

catsholiday 19.09.2009 (22.09.2009) · Read review
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Review of East of the Sun - Julia Gregson

Julia Donaldson rises to the occassion

Advantages: Great adventure, lovely story, great illustrations
Disadvantages: Not sure what age group it targets

...much he is needed, no matter what his size. I don't want to spoil the story for those of you who haven't read it, but one day while the snail and the whale are going along their merry way, disaster strikes and the whale becomes beached in a bay. As is to be expected, it is the wee snail who manages to save the day by rescuing his travel companion. About the Author/Illustrator Julia Donaldson is understandably one of the most popular and successful Children's writers of today and has enjoyed recognition for her work. The Snail and the Whale won the Blue Peter Best Illustrated book to read out loud award and her well-known Gruffolo books have earned her the best pre-school award from the Book Trust as well as the much sought after Gold Award. She excels at creating simple rhymes which kids can easily follow and chant with you and writing...

ally2kc 26.06.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Snail and the Whale - Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler

Julia Donaldson as we know and love her

Advantages: Short sweet story with a moral!
Disadvantages: Nothing really

..., the first being the age-old "do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" and of course the second moral being that it doesn't take money and fine clothing to make you feel like the "smartest giant in town." The appreciation of your friends and a simple homemade gesture is all it takes. Although this book is nothing too out of the ordinary, it is a lovely book that my son enjoys. The illustrations are colourful and uncomplicated making them more appealing to younger children (approx 2-4) and easier to follow. It isn't a particularly taxing book so it is great for just before bedtime. All in all while this is a fairly predictble story, it is reliable, as all Julia Donaldon books are and enjoyable. Certainly worth the RRP of £5.99 (£4.79 at Amazon)...

ally2kc 07.06.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Smartest Giant in Town - Julia Donaldson

My Favourite Julia Donaldson Book

Advantages: Beautiful Illustrations, Great Rhyming Verse, Toddlers will love it!
Disadvantages: NONE!

...I have a two year old son and we own almost all of Julia Donaldson\'s books. At night time, before bed my wife and I read him 3 books and he almost always picks out at least one of her books to read. Without a doubt, this is my favourite Julia Donaldson book and quite possibly my favourite bedtime book to read him. As with her other works, the story is written in rhyming fashion. Despite not being illustrated by Axel Scheffler, illustrations are nonetheless still beautiful. My little boy loves listening to this book and pointing at the items he can recognise and say, such as moon, nana (banana) and so on. The story itself is about night monkey and day monkey who are meant to be awake at opposites times of the 24 hour day. It tells the tale of the monkeys when they get woken up at the wrong time of the day and their lack...

eeyore220376 14.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Night Monkey, Day Monkey - Julia Donaldson

French Cuisine not only for Americans

Advantages: great story
Disadvantages: Meryl Streep's performance

...One summer evening we were walking in the town centre and I saw the poster of Julie and Julia. I saw that Maryl Streep is staring the film so I wanted to watch it. I read several reviews on it but not seen until last week. Julie and Julia is a drama comedy written and directed by Nora Ephron. I decided that I won?t watch another film where the director and the screenplay writer is the same person but I couldn?t resist to Meryl Streep. She is such a brilliant actress and I really like her films, so I walked in the trap again. Nora Ephron is an American screenplay writer, producer, film director and novelist. She is famous for the screenplay of When Harry Met Sally. She wrote and directed Sleepless in Seattle and wrote, directed and produced You?ve Got Mail. The classification of Julie and Julia is 12 years and over. The running time is...

D_i_a_n_e 18.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Julie And Julia

Food Frenzy

Advantages: nice story, nice scenes of Paris
Disadvantages: Meryl Streep annoyed me a bit

...Julie Powell?s life is in a bit of a rut. She is nearing her 30th birthday and sick of living in a poky little apartment in a bad part of town and dealing with abuse from the public over the phone in her job in a government department. There is one thing in her life which gives her pleasure and that is cooking, there?s nothing she likes more after a long day at the office to come home and read through her cookbooks and whip up some delicious morsels for her husband and friends. There is one old cookery book in particular that she loves, The Art Of French Cooking by Julia Child and she sets herself the challenge of cooking all the recipes from this book over the course of a year while writing a blog about her experiences in the kitchen. Things do not always go smoothly over the year, her relationship with her husband starts to suffer...

wigglylittleworm 07.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Julie And Julia

With passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible

Advantages: Brilliant cast and acting, sweet, funny film and tasty food
Disadvantages: A little long and not to everyone's tastes (the film not the food)

...Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia tells the memoirs of two different women who are separated by time but share a love for food. In the 1950's, Julia Child moves to Paris with her husband where she begins to take cookery classes in a bid to fill her uneventful days. Surpassing both the expectations and cooking skills of her teacher and the other chefs in her class, Julia decides to write a French cookery book for Americans. In 2002, call centre worker Julie Powell moves into a tiny apartment over a Pizzeria in New York. While her friends' high-flying careers are brandished in front of her, Julie becomes unhappy with her job and new home. So, with the help and support of her husband, Julie takes on a challenge to cook every one of Julia's recipes in a year while documenting her successes and fails in an online blog...

frankiefromings13 25.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Julie And Julia

The Gruffalo

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...This book, by the wonderful partnership of author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler, really is a modern classic. It is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is so popular that a stage show has been made of it. ?The Gruffalo? is the story of a little mouse going for a peaceful stroll in the wood. The mouse would be having a lovely time apart from the fact that various creatures keep stopping to chat to him and attempt to lure him back to their homes so that they can eat him! The mouse invents a terrible creature, the Gruffalo, who he claims he is going to meet and who, handily, would be very happy to munch his way through any of the mouse?s predators. What the clever little mouse doesn?t bargain for is a real Gruffalo turning up! This book is written in rhyme, like Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler?s other books...

princesslaura 08.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson

Oh help! Oh no! It's a Gruffalo

Advantages: Funny, Clever, Charming and Rhyming
Disadvantages: Squeaky, Growly voice needed

...The Gruffalo "Oh help! oh no ! it's a gruffalo!" The Gruffalo is written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It is a fantastic childrens book with amazing illustrations. The Gruffalo is used in nurseries, playgroups and schools Julia Donaldson is best known for her prize-winning picture books, but she began her career as a singer and a songwriter and even spent time busking round Italy and france. She continues to perform her stories, songs and plays to sell out audiences and is the most celebrated writer for young children in Britain today. Axel Scheffler is a star of children's book illustrations. His many books have been published in over 30 countries and he has brought to life characters as varied as a dim-witted butterfly, a scruffy giant, an intrepid snail and a Ticklemetoo not to mention a Gruffalo...

debmercury 07.03.2008 (08.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson