Congratulations to Kathy, a fellow Francophile and blogger, who won last week's Freebie Friday giveaway of Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken."
This week you have a chance to win "As Always, Julia," a fascinating collection of inter-continental letters between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, her friend and unofficial literary agent.
The book builds on the Child-mania triggered by the book and movie Julie & Julia. The letters touch on many topics, including politics (McCarthyism) and travel, but the most interesting -- of course -- provide insight into Child's budding cookbook career and her time in the kitchen. I was drawn in by the letters even though I'm no cook -- on Thanksgiving, I ruined an old family recipe by using two tablespoons of salt instead of sugar. (You'd think that someone would have invented a dark red or deep blue salt by now, so innocents like me would be able to avoid these mistakes.) I was also struck by the length of their letters. In this era of bite-sized emails, texts and tweets, it's easy to forget how rewarding it once was to receive a thoughtful, well-written, multi-page letter.
For chance to win, leave a comment about what you're reading and answer this question: What was the best book you read in 2010?