Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory" was originally published in Mademoiselle magazine in December 1956 and was reprinted in The Selected Writings of Truman Capote in 1963. It was issued in a stand-alone hardcover edition in 1966, and it has been published in many editions and anthologies since.
The largely autobiographical story, which takes place in the 1930s, describes
a period in the lives of the seven-year-old narrator and an elderly woman who is
his distant cousin and best friend. The evocative narrative focuses on country
life, friendship, and the joy of giving during the Christmas season, and it also
gently yet poignantly touches on loneliness and loss. Now a holiday classic, "A Christmas Memory" has been broadcast, recorded,
filmed, and staged multiple times, in award-winning productions. It makes a great gift to give at Christmas.
The second is a lesser known book that was written by Janet A. Martin called The Christmas Swap. I bought this book last December at an adorable store near Charlottesville. It was published in 2007.
Here is the synopsis of the story for you:
When his wife tosses Frank Midland out of his farmhouse the weekend after
Thanksgiving, he meets two friends at a diner and discovers that they, too, are
banished from home by busy women already preparing for Christmas. The men hatch
a plan to swap wives for a day to teach them a lesson in perspective. But in the
six weeks before Christmas, the wives vow revenge with a plan of their own, and
the entire community of Clearview, Virginia becomes involved. Meanwhile, a
devious developer threatens to ruin the town center, a mysterious stranger
appears and reappears, a savvy newspaper photographer aligns with a talented
seamstress and her physically challenged son, and local citizens are spellbound
by reports of an illusive and rare white fawn. As the Swap moves forward, plans
go awry, secrets are spilled, and lives are transformed, while Frank and his
friends discover surprising lessons in perspective they had never imagined This
book is about love in all its wondrous variety of husbands and wives, parents
and children, people and animals, citizens and their community all tied to a
small town struggling to preserve its rural soul.
I think we watch too much television, play too many video games and spend far too much time on the computer and need to read more books, enjoy the silence of nature and the goodwill of family and friends. Bless all those people in CT who had their lives upended today, again, by gun violence in America. Pray for all of us please today!
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