Se siete fan di Nightmare Before Christmas, è molto probabile che amerete questa raccolta di racconti a tema natalizio, dove le lucine sfavillanti nel Natale si mischiano con fantasmi, morte e assassini. Sì, lo so, la copertina è bellissima e trae in inganno rispetto al reale contenuto del libro (che forse non avrei preso se non avessi già letto altro dell’autrice).

Difficile fare una classifica dei racconti che mi sono piaciuti di più perché è uno di quei rari casi in cui sono rimasta affascinata da ogni singola storia, così apparentemente lontana dallo spirito natalizio, eppure allo stesso tempo così pertinente. Anche nelle storie meno spaventose, c’è un filo di realismo e tristezza che dà carattere allo spirito natalizio, che altrimenti finisce spesso per essere vuota retorica.

Mi sono piaciute anche le ricette che si alternano con le storie: mi riferisco al modo in cui sono introdotte, visto che non ho provato a riprodurne nessuna! Questo genere di ricette di solito è introdotto con ricordi idilliaci, con al massimo un pizzico di nostalgia. Winterson le usa per raccontare pezzi di vita e, se conoscete un minimo la sua vita, sapete che per molto tempo è stata tutt’altro che idilliaca.

Ecco, Dodici racconti di Natale forse si gusta più a fondo se già si conosce Jeanette Winterson: vi consiglio Non ci sono solo le arance (romanzo autobiografico) o Perché essere felice quando puoi essere normale? (la sua autobiografia), che vi aiuteranno a contestualizzare meglio il suo Natale. Certo, da brava scrittrice, Winterson ve ne dà un’idea lo stesso, ma conoscere prima che tipo era Mrs Winterson vi aiuterà a godervi Dodici racconti di Natale. ( )

Maybe my expectations were a bit too high, buuuuuut: this. fell. so. flat.

As expected, some stories were hits (I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere of "Dark Christmas') and others were misses... BIG misses ("Christmas Cracker" was just lame). Perhaps what I find most interesting about this book is the fact that I enjoyed the introduction (Christmas-tide) more than any story inside; it examined the traditions, customs, and origins of the modern Christmas holiday.

Overall, I felt like this collection was mediocre and lacking in originality. ( )

This is a great way to spend the 1w days of Christmas. Stories that are heart warming and imaginative also give micro histories in places. ( )

Twelve stories, each followed by a recipe; these are introduced by a little story as well. The number twelve is no coincidence. In the days before department stores put up trees the day after Halloween and supermarkets stocked their shelves with tins of Christmas cookies, “Christmas” was a celebration that began on Christmas Eve and ended twelve days later, on Epiphany (you’ve heard of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, no doubt.
If you live in northern latitudes, you get why people needed a feast of light and jollity each year when the sun disappeared and seemed as if it might never return.
I cheated and read this during Advent, not waiting for Christmas. I don’t think the author would mind. She seems to mix a reverence for tradition with an open-hearted tolerance. And she writes well. I love the light-hearted style and the inventiveness of these fairy tales, ghost stories, love stories. I didn’t even mind the sentiment.
As good as the tales are, the recipes are special in their own way. I often laughed out loud. Cookbooks are usually so clinical. Winterson’s descriptions have the feel of life lived in kneaded dough and an equal delight in the best of fresh, organic produce and the tins and powders that were long the staples of the British kitchen.
If there is a theme running throughout these stories and recipes, it is that Christmas is a miracle that has the potential to reconcile warring opposites if we but recognize it. ( )

This is such an engaging surmise, a short, seasonal story followed by a seasonal recipe, complete with story. I listened to it on audio book, with the stories read by a narrator, the recipe and associated memories by the author. This works really well. The short stories are a wide range, all with a seasonal flavour. But, be warned, I spent a lot of the time with tears flowing down my face - this is not a fancy free and sugar sweet reflection on Christmas, it is about life, with all its love and loss writ large, Christmas just has a way of bringing all of life to a head. Emotion is often closer to the surface at Christmas and this just makes that really plain. It is reflective, thought provoking, sad but with moments od lightness and humour. Which is, afterall, what real life is.
I've not read any of her other works, and she does cover some of her past and her relationship with both her parents and remembrance of Christmases past. ( )