Some of My Favorite Books

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Who said (or wrote) this first? Julia Child, Nora Ephron, Julie Powell?

Okay, so I'm reading along last night in Heartburn and on page 113, a passage stopped me in my tracks. Granted I was lying in bed so I didn't have far to stop, but tell me if this sounds familiar to anyone else:

"...What I love about cooking is that after a hard day, there is something comforting about the fact that if you melt butter and add flour and then hot stock, it will get thick! It's a sure thing! It's a sure thing in a world where nothing is sure; it has a mathematical certainty in a world where those of us who long for some kind of certainty are forced to settle for crossword puzzles."

This almost identical passage was voice-overed by Julie Powell in the movie Julie and Julia, right? Right! I think Julie was making a chocolate cream pie dealie and Nora is surely referencing a gravy-type thing since she mentions stock, but it was the same concept, almost exactly, if I recall. So, since Nora Ephron, who wrote 1) the book I'm reading now, Heartburn, in 1983 AND 2) the screenplay for the movie Julie and Julia sometime much later, like in 2006, did Nora write it in this book first then decide to "borrow" her earlier words to let Amy Adams as Julie Powell, who wrote first the blog The Julie/Julia Project, then the book Julie and Julia, say in the movie? Did she? I wonder?

Or could Julie Powell have stolen the concept from Nora Ephron and written these words in her book, Julie and Julia? I read that book too but don't remember it, per se.

Or is there a chance that Julia Child wrote it in one of her cookbooks or memoirs? I've never read any of them but Nora Ephron references Julia Child all over the place in Heartburn so maybe??? Did Nora AND / OR Julie 'steal' from Julia?

Who wrote/said it first? If anyone knows, please let us know!

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