Claus: The Legend of the Fat Man by Tony Bertauski

Our Christmas meeting was held at Hannah's house and it was a mini meeting of just 3 of us.

We liked this book, we thought the plot and the way it was written lent itself to being a film, it was a lovely festive story but we felt it was probably aimed at young teenagers because of the use of large font to emphasise passages and some of the phrasing.  It was an easy read but the editing errors let it down, very simple spelling mistakes which should never had made it to print made this book feel quite amateurish.  We liked the short chapters which meant it could be read in short bursts but some of them were just a page long and that added to the young feel of this book.

Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 6/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 6/10
Who to slap: The editor
Where's the cheese: How Santa Claus got his name

Overall: 7/10

We chose our next book from the following:

• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
• May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
• The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

We chose 'Warm Bodies' by Isaac Marion which we will be reading for our February meeting.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 9th January, 8pm at Bar Copa unless someone wants to host.  As this is the first meeting of the New Year, we will be deciding on our Book of the Year 2012.

Tideline by Penny Hancock

This month's meeting was at Kate's, I was unable to go but it sounds like I missed a corker.  I've heard rumours of discussions lasting past 10pm and very cute cats.

Here is Kate's summary of this month's book:

Sonia lives on her own in the River house, her childhood home which holds many memories from early days with her brother who she worshiped and adored, more than most sibling relationships! Sadly her brother dies in a tragic river accident and Sonia always feels guilty about this. As an adult she is now married to a man who used to be her lecturer and who she doesn't love, they have a daughter who no longer lives at home.

One day Jez (who is in london for college interviews, staying at his Aunt's house who is a friend of Sonia's) comes to the river house to collect a music album. Jez is young and beautiful and Sonia feels an urge to keep him and worship him. Sonia gets Jez drunk and keeps him in the music room for a night that turns into a week whilst his family and girlfriend and the police worry about where he is and whether he is alive.  Jez's aunt eventually starts to suspect Sonia and in desperation she kills her, and dumps her body in the river. Knowing she doesn't have much time before people catch her, Sonia decides to plaster-cast Jez's body to have a permanent reminder of his perfect body at this moment in time. But does Jez get away alive, and does Sonia get caught??

Concept: 7.5/10

Plot: 8/10
Ending: 8.5/10
Cover: 2/10
Page turner: 8/10
Who to slap: Greg

New category for cheesiest line in the book:
Where's the cheese? - ''he chose to come to the river house, she chose to keep him there, forever"

Overall: 7/10

We chose our next book from the following:

• The Adventures of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
• Claus: The Legend of the Fat Man by Tony Bertauski
• Christmas Pudding by Joseph Connolly
• The Lady and The Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

We chose 'Claus: The Legend of the Fat Man' by Tony Bertauski which we will be reading for the December meeting, hence the Christmas Lunch theme.

Our next meeting will be at a venue to be decided (I think Susie has offered but need to check with her first) on Wednesday 14th November at 8pm.