Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days

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The writing was beautiful. Even in a story I didn't particularly enjoy, I highlighted many quotes that spoke to me, really beautiful thoughts that gave me pause. Here are a few: Winterson's 2012 novella The Daylight Gate, based on the 1612 Pendle Witch Trials, appeared on their 400th anniversary. Its main character, Alice Nutter, is based on the real-life woman of the same name. The Guardian's Sarah Hall describes the work: The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2018". gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018 . Retrieved 8 June 2018.

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days

Lyrical, filled with fantasy and warmth, I feel Jeanette Winterson is the ideal writer for Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days. She intertwines the short stories with recipes and reflections of herself on Christmases past. I found the pieces on Ruth Rendell, the famous thriller writer, and reflections on the deceased adoptive mother of Winterson which we know from Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, especially moving. Kate Kellaway (25 June 2006). "If I Was a Dog, I'd Be a Terrier". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014 . Retrieved 6 December 2008. Maya Jaggi (29 May 2004). "Saturday Review: Profile: Jeanette Winterson". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013 . Retrieved 4 December 2008.

An extended autobiographical article in The Guardian, Friday 28 October 2011: Retrieved 1 November 2011. Sometimes the thing we long for, the thing we need, the miracle we want, is right there in front of us, and we can’t see it, or we run the other way; or, saddest of all, we just don’t know what to do with it. Think how many people get the success they want, the partner they want, the money they want, and turn it into dust and ashes – like the fairy gold no one can spend. Read these stories by the fire, in the snow, travelling home for the holidays. Give them to friends, wrap them up for someone you love, read them aloud, read them alone, read them together. Enjoy the season of peace and goodwill, mystery, and a little bit of magic. Ritual is a way of altering time, by which I mean a way of pausing the endless intrusion of busy life…The reason I suggest making some of this small meal yourself is because ritual has an anticipatory relevance – we prepare for it, practically and psychologically; that’s part of its benefit.’

Christmas Days with Jeanette Winterson, Mary Portas and - BBC Christmas Days with Jeanette Winterson, Mary Portas and - BBC

Winterson, Jeanette (21 September 2023). "Jeanette Winterson: I didn't believe in ghosts… until I started living with them". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 22 September 2023. The more Winterson I read, the more I realise the importance of knowing her life story and how that relates to her recurring themes. As an added bonus, there are recipes included in between each chapter. I enjoyed the commentary and history that went along with them. There's very few I'd actually make, but they were fun to read. yes all unpasteurised. I could write a long essay here about bacteria, but it’s Christmas and bacteria aren’t that festive. So look up the pros and cons of pasteurisation once we’re past Twelfth Night, and see if I aint right.” She moves from the profundity and beauty of " An angel, fast as thought and bright as hope, turning eternity into time" to satirical regret that cooking has become like cycling (requiring unnecessary and expensive equipment, and being too competitive), rather than being appreciated as " an everyday ordinary miracle". That sort of segue is typical of this book.

Podcast

Friends plan to meet up at a remote cottage for Christmas. A traditional spooky-house story, clichés and all, but with many echoes of madonna and child, and lost children.