The Christmas Cookie Club - Ann Pearlman
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The Christmas Cookie Club - Ann Pearlman
Member Name: kaitlinsmummy
Product:
The Christmas Cookie Club - Ann Pearlman
Date: 19/09/12, updated on 26/09/12 (48 review reads)
Rating:
Advantages: A feel good empowering book for women.
Disadvantages: Could be a bit gushy at times!
I have a real penchant for books that are either set around or based on Christmas, so when i dug this book out of my "to read" pile, i wasn't really sure how i had overlooked it up until now!
The book is described as "the perfect recipe for friendship this Christmas"....i do love a feel good book!
The book in question is - "The Christmas cookie club - Ann Pearlman".
Every year on the first Monday of December Marnie (the main character) and her twelve closest friends meet, each having to bring wine, a food dish and homemade cookies, enough for the rest of the group and also a local hospice.
What actually happens is a chance to meet and catch up with each other, with the cookies being a physical representation of the year they have just gone through, so the choice of cookie has to be personal to each person.
What ensues is a wonderful and at time heartwrenching tale of women and their lifes, which as you know will always be hard, as real life usually is!
Marnie lost her husband to leukemia in his early 30's, and after a second marriage full of betrayel is struggling to commit to her new partner.
Couple that with her two daughters being pregnant, one a gymslip mum of sorts, trying to make a go of it with a young wannabe rapper, and her eldest who is pregnant for the fourth time, with her last baby being stillborn, Marnie still feels she has a lot to be thankful for, with that being her wonderful circle of friends, who are all struggling with problems, but will come together under the guise of the cookie club, and offer love and support to each other.
When i read the synopsis i originaly felt this would be a fluffy little read, one that would leave me feeling all warm, fuzzy and Christmassy inside, what i actually read was a book that not only seemed to be written for women by a woman, but also showed the strength in numbers theory, which many of these characters needed, due to some the stories told within the book bringing me to tears time and time again, the worst being that of Charlene, whose construction worker son died by falling from a great height and being impaled on a spike, this story in itself was heartwrenching enough.
Coupled with all the other stories in the book (beautifully written, and formatted in a way as not to overpower, set out into chapters with their recipe for their chosen cookie to kick it off), this was a really emotional book to read, and though it didn't leave me feeling fuzzy, it did leave me feeling empowered, feeling that such adversities in life can be overcome, with a little help from friends.
There are some feel good stories too, i particularly liked the addition of Marnies daughters partners Mum in to the mix, a stronge black woman who wanted to show the virtues of her youngest son, and dispel any fears Marnie may have about her daughters partner, and also telling a background story of herself, again a woman who was in a very similar situation to Marnie, i did feel a real connection to these women when reading their stories.
If there was any bad point i could make about this book it could only be the gushing that came every chapter or so, i know these women are incredible, and many have overcome real problems in their lifes, but the book could have done without the written word of how wonderful these characters are, with the emotion of the book potraying this fact simply through the feelings the reader has themselves.
As you may have gathered i really loved this book, i loved the inclusion of the cookie recipes, which to some extent gave me an insite into each charcter, but also the inclusion of information on random baking goods, ie sugar and vanilla, though more to catch my breath from the last chapter!
The book is almost entirely set in the time span of the party, which could have been a little dull, but with plenty of different characters whose stories must be told, i found it interesting all the way through.
I thoroughly recommend this book!
Pricewise this has a RRP of £6.99, but can be purchased for less via www.amazon.co.uk
Thanks for reading x
ISBN 978-1-84739-839-0
The book is described as "the perfect recipe for friendship this Christmas"....i do love a feel good book!
The book in question is - "The Christmas cookie club - Ann Pearlman".
Every year on the first Monday of December Marnie (the main character) and her twelve closest friends meet, each having to bring wine, a food dish and homemade cookies, enough for the rest of the group and also a local hospice.
What actually happens is a chance to meet and catch up with each other, with the cookies being a physical representation of the year they have just gone through, so the choice of cookie has to be personal to each person.
What ensues is a wonderful and at time heartwrenching tale of women and their lifes, which as you know will always be hard, as real life usually is!
Marnie lost her husband to leukemia in his early 30's, and after a second marriage full of betrayel is struggling to commit to her new partner.
Couple that with her two daughters being pregnant, one a gymslip mum of sorts, trying to make a go of it with a young wannabe rapper, and her eldest who is pregnant for the fourth time, with her last baby being stillborn, Marnie still feels she has a lot to be thankful for, with that being her wonderful circle of friends, who are all struggling with problems, but will come together under the guise of the cookie club, and offer love and support to each other.
When i read the synopsis i originaly felt this would be a fluffy little read, one that would leave me feeling all warm, fuzzy and Christmassy inside, what i actually read was a book that not only seemed to be written for women by a woman, but also showed the strength in numbers theory, which many of these characters needed, due to some the stories told within the book bringing me to tears time and time again, the worst being that of Charlene, whose construction worker son died by falling from a great height and being impaled on a spike, this story in itself was heartwrenching enough.
Coupled with all the other stories in the book (beautifully written, and formatted in a way as not to overpower, set out into chapters with their recipe for their chosen cookie to kick it off), this was a really emotional book to read, and though it didn't leave me feeling fuzzy, it did leave me feeling empowered, feeling that such adversities in life can be overcome, with a little help from friends.
There are some feel good stories too, i particularly liked the addition of Marnies daughters partners Mum in to the mix, a stronge black woman who wanted to show the virtues of her youngest son, and dispel any fears Marnie may have about her daughters partner, and also telling a background story of herself, again a woman who was in a very similar situation to Marnie, i did feel a real connection to these women when reading their stories.
If there was any bad point i could make about this book it could only be the gushing that came every chapter or so, i know these women are incredible, and many have overcome real problems in their lifes, but the book could have done without the written word of how wonderful these characters are, with the emotion of the book potraying this fact simply through the feelings the reader has themselves.
As you may have gathered i really loved this book, i loved the inclusion of the cookie recipes, which to some extent gave me an insite into each charcter, but also the inclusion of information on random baking goods, ie sugar and vanilla, though more to catch my breath from the last chapter!
The book is almost entirely set in the time span of the party, which could have been a little dull, but with plenty of different characters whose stories must be told, i found it interesting all the way through.
I thoroughly recommend this book!
Pricewise this has a RRP of £6.99, but can be purchased for less via www.amazon.co.uk
Thanks for reading x
ISBN 978-1-84739-839-0
Summary: A Christmassy book with a difference.
