August 15 would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday; she died in 2004 just before the age of 92. Fans are whipping up recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking in her honour, but you could just kick back with her new biography instead. Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child (Knopf) is a tome by Bob Spitz that chronicles her path from birth to final days. Interesting tidbit: the day before she and Paul Child were to marry, the pair had a bad car accident, which caused serious lacerations to Julia’s face. She insisted on going ahead with the wedding and beamed through it with a fat white bandage on her forehead. That’s just the kind of woman she was.