This week Julia Child would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday, and a new biography of the inimitable Child has just been published to glowing reviews.  

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child
by Bob Spitz
Published to coincide with what would have been her 100th birthday, this biography of the iconic Julia Child captures another side of Julia's complex personality: her fierce diligence in mastering the science as well as the art of cooking through detailed experimentation and her concern to translate the preparation of complex French recipes for readers in America. (Annotation from BookLetters)