Notes from a Stylist has joined a book club

Having a reputation as a slow reader is somewhat of a noose round the neck when joining book clubs. Here in Stepford I seem to have agreed to join the 3rd club in my 'slow reading' career and have also steamed in to offer to host the next club night as part of my induction. Suffice to say I have not fessed up to the number of times I had to pay the 'un read' fee at my last club - I think it was a quid if you failed to read the book, but by the time I left, I was possibly sponsoring the Christmas drinks night, but its all about the camaraderie right?

So not only have I been signed up to host next week (during fashion week - don't know how I managed to agree to that), but the book we were given to read was utterly dull. I currently have managed to get to page 135 of 348 and am under the gun to complete it. Not helped this morning by my book club buddies announcing that some had completed it, others were only 60 pages off - it's going to be a long weekend.

Back in the day when book clubs were the thing to join and I had just signed up to my first one, given my sluggish reading skills, I managed to cobble together a team of back up readers who were fast, efficient with their feedback and above all else, actually intellectual. It was a dream scenario, attempt to read the book, fail miserably, call in back up readers and then sound like a literary supremo come book club night. Sadly in Stepford I haven't quite amassed the back up crew that I need.

Each book club has its own set up and in this one the plan is we all debate what the next book choice might be, so I spent a few hours googling what might be new, out there and more importantly something my comrades might not have read.

I came up with 'Skippy Dies' by Paul Murray - no clue why... most of my book choices are based on the attractiveness of the cover, shallow I know but true. I happened to google the book yesterday to discover what the buzz is and was saddened to see that the headline cropping up the most was not about this book and its quirky title but about  the creator of 'Skippy' - yes that fab Australian TV show way back when, had in fact passed away.

This new fact will focus my addled brain and at least make me give this book the attention it deserves...