My thanks to my goodfriend's who read and reviewed this book so beautifully and in doing so brought me back 40 years to Christmas of years ago when neighbours and older people impacted so much on my childhood.

I too as a child growing up in a house of boys had a lovely old lady who lived next door and to whose house I escaped when I wanted to be pampered and spoiled, a lady who impacted so much on my childhood and from who I learnt so many skills from baking to knitting and cooking and this book just brought me right back to Christmas time when gifts composed of homemade produce that was shared and gifted among neighbours and when giving and receiving meant so much more than in today's society.

A short story with so much memories and good in it. Might not be everyone's 5 star read but it sure gave me a lovely warm feeling and put the true spirt of Christmas right back where it belongs.

A beautiful story filled with the kind of memories that I hope everyone has of their childhood Christmas seasons!
Cherish what you have before the time is gone, enjoy all the little things!

5***** and a ❤
This autobiographical novella is a wonderful, touching story of family love. Capote is at the peak of his writing ability here. Our hearts embrace Buddy and Sookie. The date listed is when our book club discussed it, but I've had this book for ages and I read it every December on my birthday.

Update: December 2010
This autobiographical story is based on Capote’s own childhood, living with relatives in Alabama. It’s a memory of the innocence of childhood and the anticipation of something special. It is also a story of love and respect, as well as of loneliness and want.

One crisp November morning 7-year-old Buddy hears his cousin Sook (whom he calls Friend) declare, “It’s fruitcake weather!” With that pronouncement, the two set off on their annual campaign to bake dozens of fruitcakes for “friends.” Sook is an elderly woman with a child’s mind, and she and Buddy are constant companions (and each other’s only friend). It is during the Great Depression and times are hard. It takes them all year to save the pennies, nickels, dimes for their Fruitcake Fund, and the other relatives in their household look upon them with derision. Still, nothing can dampen their spirits as they bake and mail the fruitcakes, hunt deep into the woods for the perfect Christmas tree, make the ornaments and decorations that will make it look “good enough to eat!”

Capote was a gloriously talented writer and he is at his best here. The reader feels the anticipation of a child, smells the piney woods, shivers in the crisp morning, and is comforted in the warmth of love.
His writing is never so brilliant as when he is mining his childhood for stories such as this. The emotion is evident and genuine. His descriptions are gloriously vivid without overwhelming the story. The lessons learned – about kindness, tolerance, family, love and forgiveness – are gently told but ring loud and clear in the reader’s heart.

I leave you with one quote from the story. Sook and Buddy are enjoying the outdoors and she has a revelation …
“You know what I’ve always thought?” she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. “I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are” – her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone – “just what they’ve always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes.”

I don't really have words.
A beautiful, heartbreaking story.
The illustrations by Beth Peck - full of warmth and charm.

Read it!

"Oh my, it’s fruitcake weather!"

This has to be one of the sweetest, most nostalgic of little stories I’ve ever read. I loved it! Seven-year-old Buddy and sixty-something Miss Sook are distant cousins and best friends. They share a house with one another, along with various other relatives, and have a precious bond due to the fact that Miss Sook, despite her age, is like a child herself. This story recounts one of Capote’s Christmas childhood memories of this unlikely friendship. Surely, we all have a memory or two of holidays long-gone that seem to endure more than others. Perhaps a certain tradition that we hold dear to our hearts is recollected when we catch a glimpse of something familiar, or hear a certain song, or maybe even smell a particular aroma of a savory or sweet treat baking in an oven. Buddy’s special Christmas memory captures the pleasure of preparing fruitcakes with Miss Sook, creating homemade gifts for one another, and sharing the companionship of a beloved dog. What I delighted in most about A Christmas Memory is that Capote tells the story in such a way that I feel like I’ve ‘been there, done that’ – although I’ve never in my life baked a fruitcake! I don’t even like fruitcake – perhaps because I’ve never tasted one made with such love (and just the right whiskey, to boot!). I might even go so far as to make one myself… or not! In any case, I highly recommend this little treasure to anyone that loves to reminisce about the good old days. I will make the reading of this short story an annual tradition in my house. A new 5-star favorite :)

A sweet story about a child and an older woman, Miss Sook, who spent together some special years in Alabama. Come November, Miss Sook will declare "it's fruit cake time" and will proceed to purchase all the many ingredients needed, with the money she and the seven-year-old Buddy saved throughout the year.
It's a very melancholic story.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays from the very hot Perth, Western Australia.

Rating: 5/5 || Recenzia pe Secretele Cărților || Cumpără cartea



O poveste emoționantă
Am auzit de foarte multe ori discuții despre O amintire de Crăciun de Truman Capote, însă nu aveam nici cea mai vagă idee despre ce este această carte. În preajma sărbătorilor de iarnă am avut ocazia să o lecturez într-o ediție bilingvă pe care Editura Arthur a propus-o pentru toți copiii care ar trebui să descopere o poveste emoționantă.

Personajele noastre principale sunt un băiețel și prietena sa cea mai bună, o bătrânică care este o verișoară distantă. Cei doi sunt extrem de săraci și locuiesc împreună cu niște rude care nu îi au la suflet mai deloc, tratându-i într-un mod inuman.

Cei doi prieteni au alături un câine mic pe nume Queenie iar viața lor se învârte în jurul lucrurilor mărunte și frumoase. De-a lungul fiecărui an aceștia încearcă diverse metode pentru a câștiga câțiva bănuți din care mai apoi să își cumpere cadouri de Crăciun sau zile de naștere.



Banii nu te fac bogat
Sărăcia în care trăiesc băiatul și bătrâna nu îi fac să se simtă inferiori, dar ei au cu siguranță o dorință de a-și putea oferi unul altuia un trai mai bun.

Scrisă cu o emoție aparte, O amintire de Crăciun este o poveste de viață care ne învață cât de importante sunt legăturile între oameni în momentele grele pe care destinul ți le pune în cale. Cele două persoanje, asemenea unor zmeie rătăcite se regăsesc și vor rămâne mereu aproape, firul destinului lor fiind unit.

Finalul cărții a fost unul trist, cartea devenind instant una dintre acelea care te atinge la suflet și te face să suspini în liniște cu gândul la bunătatea pe care o oferă unele persoane în ciuda traiului lor.

Această carte este în ediție bilingvă așa că vă puteți exersa engleza și veți descoperi și cum scrie în original autorul Truman Capote pe care l-am cunoscut și eu cu această ocazie. Trebuie să recunosc că mă descurc bine cu engleza, dar această carte a părut un pic greoaie pe alocuri, fapt pentru care am citit-o lent și cu atenție (am descoperit și multe cuvinte noi de care nu aveam habar).

Cu toate că a trecut demult Crăciunul, puteți citi această carte emoționantă în orice zi, mesajul fiind același pentru cititor. Vă invit să descoperiți și voi cât de frumoasă poate fi o poveste care s-a născut din simplitate, bunătate și sărăcie.



Citate:

n  
"După masa de seară ne retragem într-un colț îndepărtat al casei, în camera noastră, unde prietena mea se culcă într-un pat de fier vopsit în roz, culoarea ei preferată. Patul e acoperit cu un macat pestriț. Cuprinși de sentimentul plăcut al complicității, scoatem pe furiș punguța de mărgele din ascunzătoarea secretă și o deșertăm pe cuvertura bălțată. Dolari în bancnote, strânși sul și verzi ca bocancii din luna mai, monede întunecate de cincizeci de cenți, destul de grele ca să țină închiși ochii unui mort, monede frumoase de zece cenți, cele mai vesele și singurele care zornăie cu adevărat, monede de cinci și de douăzeci și cinci de cenți, lustruite de timp ca pietricelele din pârâu, dar mai ales o grămadă respingătoare de monede de un cent, răspândind un miros amar.[...]" (p.14)

"Dimineața. Chiciura înghețată poleiește iarba. Soarele, rotund ca o portocală și portocaliu ca luna în nopțile de caniculă, se leagănă la orizont și topește chiciura pădurilor argintate de iarnă. Se aude țipătul unui curcan sălbatic. Un purcel sălbăticit grohăie prin tufișuri. În curând, la marginea unui râuleț iute și adânc până la genunchi, suntem nevoiți să abandonăm căruciorul. Queenie trece prima pârâul și înoată spre malul celălalt, lătrând în semn de protest împotriva curentului iute și a apei reci, prevestitoare de pneumonii. O urmăm ținând deasupra capului încălțările și echipamentul (o secure și un sac de pânză groasă). Încă un kilometru. Înfruntăm ghimpii care se răzbună nemilos pe noi, plantele agățătoare și scaieții ce se prind de hainele noastre, acele de pin ruginite, împestrițate cu ciuperci strălucitoare și pene lepădate de păsări. Ici și colo o sclipire, o bătaie din aripi, o izbucnire de triluri ne reamintesc că nu toate păsările au zburat spre sud.[...]" (p.28)

"The wind is blowing, and nothing will do till we've run to a pasture below the house where Queenie has scooted to bury her bone (and where, a winter hence, Queenie will be burried, too). There, plunging through the healthy waist-high grass, we unreel our kites, feel them twitching at the string like sky fish as they swim into the wind. Satisfied, sun-warmed, we sprawl in the grass and peel Satsumas and watch our kites cavort. Soon I forget the socks and hand-me-down sweater. I'm as happy as if we'd already won the fifty-thousand-dollar Grand Prize in the coffee-naming contest." (p.40)n

I am seven; she is sixty-something. We are cousins, very distant ones, and we have lived together - well, as long as I can remember. Other people inhabit the house, relatives; and though they have power over us, and frequently make us cry, we are not, on the whole, too much aware of them. We are each other's best friend.

Só mesmo um grande escritor para aquecer o coração no Natal a um Scrooge como eu. Um conto delicado e comovente, para ler em qualquer altura do ano.

We pay him with nickels and dimes and pennies. Suddenly, as he jangles the coins in his hand like a fistful of dice, his face softens. "Tell you what," he proposes, pouring the money back into our bead purse, "just send me one of them fruitcakes instead."



Romanian review: Interesantă ideea de a publica această scurtă povestire într-o ediție bilingvă. Sincer, dacă nu era bilingvă, aș fi cumpărat-o probabil în engleză de la altă editură, deci cei de la Arthur au fost inspirați.
Eu am citit-o în engleză, iar mama mea în română, și ne-a plăcut la fel de mult amândurora.
Într-o lume consumeristă, în care Crăciunul a devenit foarte comercial, uităm adesea care sunt lucrurile cu adevărat importante și ce ar trebui să sărbătorim de fapt.
A fost o poveste tristă, emoționantă, dar şi o lecţie de viaţă.
Dacă citeşti această recenzie de Crăciun, îți urez un Crăciun fericit alături de familie!



English review: Interesting idea to publish this short story in a bilingual edition. Honestly, if it hadn’t been bilingual, I probably would have bought it in English from another publisher, so kudos to Arthur (the Romanian publisher) for the smart decision.
I read it in English, while my mother read it in Romanian, and we both enjoyed it equally.
In a consumer-driven world, where Christmas has become very commercial, we often forget what truly matters and what we’re actually celebrating.
It was a sad, moving story, but also a life lesson.
If you’re reading this review at Christmas, I wish you a merry Christmas with your family!

4,5 ⭐

Este relato contiene todo lo que yo le pido a una buena narración navideña: emoción a raudales, nostalgia, ilusión infantil y muuuchos pasteles.
Se trata de un relato semiautobiográfico del propio autor y de su mejor amiga de la infancia. Es una oportunidad única para conocer un registro de Capote diferente al que nos tiene acostumbrados y que sorprende por su ternura. Además de la excusa perfecta de sumergirnos en una no-tan-típica Navidad sureña. Pero por encima de todo, es una celebración de la amistad, más allá de cualquier convencionalismo social. De encontrar tu alma gemela en quien menos cabría esperar. ¡No os lo perdáis!

RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJIBM...

Christmas Read No. 3

All I want for Christmas is… ¿you?
Of course not. All I want for Christmas is a slice of fruitcake, please. :)

“Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!”

——-

This short story has been really important to me since I read it out loud to my family after we had dinner last night. Clearly, the story itself is quite meaningful, enjoyable and a little nostalgic, which was perfect for this day.
Thus, in order to appreciate it more (if that’s possible), I decided to pick it up again today, but this time in its original language, and I can tell it was the best decision ever.

In my opinion, it’s a very well written tale, that it’s impossible not to sympathize with the three only characters who are part of the story. The ending is remarkable, and somehow reminded me of when my parents and I used to visit my grandma on Christmas Day when I was a child. Now, unfortunately my grandma is not with us anymore, but my memories are and will be still with me, just like A beautiful Christmas Memory.

——-

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are having a great day with your family, friends, and people around you that you love. :)

I wish all your dreams come true!

A most heartwarming holiday tale of Buddy and Sook unlikely friends in this day and age, but their bond is strong. Buddy calls her "My Friend". Buddy's parents divorce and he ends up living with a hermit like Uncle and Aunts. Buddy and Sook have moments of magic that instill some wonderful and cherished memories from Fruitcakes to Kites. A re-read of this book during the Holiday Season is a must!