...by Truman Capote.
This one is technically a short story--actually, you can get the entire text online here: http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/capotechristmas.html
I think. Unless I'm missing something...
Anyway, here's a synopsis from Amazon.com:
A Christmas Memory is the classic memoir of Truman Capote's childhood in rural Alabama. Until he was ten years old, Capote lived with distant relatives. This book is an autobiographical story of those years and his frank and fond memories of one of his cousins, Miss Sook Faulk.
Thanks for the submission, Sharon!
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4 comments:
I read this story in a half hour. It was a fun read. It was touching. I liked that it wasn't sickeningly sweet like most Christmas stories.
A great little story! There's nothing like a scrimping-and-saving Christmas tale to put the feeling back into our overindulgent holidays. And the rich abundance of the fruit and nuts lovingly gathered for the fruitcakes made me wonder if maybe I shouldn't try harder to enjoy fruitcake. I mean, I like most of the things that go *into* a fruitcake, so why not the finished product? Maybe I should give it another try. Next year.
The descriptions were amusing and beautiful and strange. The baby buggy full of unshelled pecans, the dotty, whimsical old lady, and I loved that they made kites for each other when they couldn't afford anything fancy. I love kites.
I think what made the story special was that the childish Christmas excitement felt by both the boy and the old woman was the excitement of surprising others with rich and unexpected gifts -- what they received was almost immaterial to them. And their fruitcake list consisted mostly of people they barely knew, but whose small impacts on their lives they wanted to honor with a brick of baked love. It was their one chance each year to give extravagantly to those who least expected extravagance, and it filled them with not a saint's solemn joy but a childish, giddy glee. I love that. I want more of that in myself.
O where, o where have my book buddies gone?
Ooooooh wooooooe.
So what's the January book? I'm about a third of the way through Animal Farm and not sure I'm ready to continue tackling Jane Eyre which I thought I'd do next. Suggestions?
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