In 1967, living in Paris, I was delighted to find a copy of a book about French cooking in English (I couldn't cook and read French at the same time). The book by Julia Child and her French collaborators hassince been hailed as a classic. I still use it for pate brisee (with accents), boeuf bourguignon, and the dry marinade for roast pork. From time to time I read itwith the thought of trying something new one of these days.A few years back there appeared a blog by a woman cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Subsequently a book appeared, Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. Now a Nora Ephron movie is on the horizon.I grabbed a copy of Julie and Julia in a bookstore the other day to see what it was like to cook the great bookfrom beginning to end.But that's not the story--really. The author,a bored, unhappy Texan transplanted to New York, who hates her job, and drinks too much, has taken a classic cook book and used it to create a self-aggrandizing and vulgarmemoir that feeds offJulia Child, turning a silk purse into a pig's ear.Will the movie restore Child'sluster and wit? I guess we'll see next week.