jeanette winterson christmas days review

There are isolated houses, unsolved murders, hotels with questionable histories and avenging brides. Winterson is especially good at ghost stories, and there are some amazing ghost stories in this collection. While the stories in Christmas Days cover a lot of ground subject-wise, at the heart of them all is a shadowy snatch of darkness (whether from violence, grief, or loneliness) and an effort to transcend it. That kind of story arc especially appeals to me at this time of year, when I’m reading under a blanket in my battered leather chair.

They aren’t particularly wintery books, but they all acknowledge an overarching darkness and the triumph of light (or logic, or goodness) over it. I do a lot of re-reading this time of year- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sherlock Holmes, The Dark is Rising, fairy tales, Dracula and The Lord of the Rings (especially Return of the King) tend to get a lot of action this time of year. Instead, I’m going to have myself a ramble on the kind of books I love to read around Christmastime, which can pretty much be summed up by Jeanette Winterson’s new collection.Ĭhristmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Daysis the book equivalent of a dark, frosty-windowed night, and the cosy home that protects you from the cold. Last year, I wrote this post on my other site about why winter is the most comforting, productive time of year for me, so I won’t rehash that. I LOVE winter in all of it’s quiet, cold, freezing, icy, white, profound, dark, cozy, blinding glory. It’s the first day of winter! Hooray! I love winter.

Jeanette winterson christmas days review