cover image The Christmas Cookie Club

The Christmas Cookie Club

Ann Pearlman, , read by Gabra Zackman. . Audioworks, $29.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7435-9828-6

Complete with an enhanced CD featuring real cookie recipes, Pearlman's effort tries hard not to be that lump of coal that it really is. A group of women dubbing themselves “The Christmas Cookie Club” gather together each holiday season to share new recipes, drink countless bottles of wine, and trade gossip. Zackman delivers a competent but overly sappy reading that does little to ameliorate the cliché-ridden material. An Atria hardcover. (Oct.)