Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for the holiday season!
Review: "A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor" are a wonderful trio of short stories, combined into a lovely book. Truman Capote wrote my favorite book, "The Grass Harp," so I was looking forward to these three stories and I was not let down. Each story is full of warmth, love, and has a moral within them. If you're looking for a new holiday story, then you must read these stories. I recommend.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for each Christmas
Review: A Christmas Memory
Each Christmas for the last 5 or 6, I am taken back to a two hundred year old home in CT, where I first heard Sister Cassidy read aloud to us A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote. To say read aloud is not quite right, for when you are surrounded by sepia toned pictures, large floral throws, sipping hot cocoa with goodies to munch, and the reader, who could be the main character herself and all ready has a lilt to her words, you know you are in for a delightful memorable experience. Of course we all know that the best Christmas gifts are not in satin tied cellophane, for they are as Capote remembers, time spent with loved ones, memories of kite flying, and cousins like Sook, who may give you a "dime wrapped in toilet paper." This story is a wonderful remembrance.
This book is my favorite gift to give.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: Capote has a knack for creating characters and/or showing us those who were real around him as a child, and later as a grown up. His "childhood" years works are vastly different from his grownup ones. Compare THE GRASS HARP and this book, A CHIRISTMAS MEMORY with IN COLD BLOOD or ANSWERED PRAYERS. C.M. is a sweet book, untouched by Capote's ugly side; his cynical and vengeful side. Don't get me wrong: I still love ALL his works, but this one, along with OTHER VOICES and a few of his short stories simply tug at the heart with such ferocity and emotion that they should not be missed. Also recommmended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and OTHER VOICES
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for the cold seasons.
Review: Every year, on the first chilly day of autumn, I get this book off the shelf and read "A Christmas Memory." The story is a beautiful, elegiac account of Miss Sook's seasonal ritual of fruitcake-baking and gift-giving, which she and Truman Capote shared. The story encapsulates the spirit of the season. And the spirit carries me through my own fruitcake-baking for the season. The other Christmas story in this collection, entitled "One Christmas," is probably my favorite short story of all time; the ending always makes me cry as few writings can. The story is a perfect, crystalline window into Truman Capote's soul as shaped by his sad childhood. Utterly heartbreaking. If you are looking for a gift for someone who celebrates Christmas and does not have the good fortune to have read these beautiful stories, this is the perfect little gift. Do not be tempted to read these stories any other time of year. Keep these stories sacred to the season.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: I do love these people. I had a Miss Sook too and she taught me to be kind. I gave this book to my new daughter-in-law who really does like to bake and eat fruitcake, and does not use them for doorstops. Miss Sook and Buddy are very real to me. I am tired of what goes for good writing these days. I gratefully pick up Mr. Capote's books when I need to read lovely words. I sit down, turn off the phone, and have some PEACE as I read these stories. Raise a glass to Miss Sook and Truman Capote, wherever they may be, and they are somewhere good. You have to be somewhere, you can't be nowhere. Cheers.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for the cold seasons.
Review: I love this book! Plain and simple. I always save it for the holiday season though and never read it at any other time. It's become a holiday tradition. The three short stories all take place in holiday seasons during the depression and feature the same setting and characters, so they form a nice group for a single volume. "A Christmas Memory" is my favorite short story ever. I've read it every Christmas for six or seven years now and I have the same powerful, emotional reaction every time. I smile, laugh, cry, and daydream about my own memories every time I read it. No other story affects me like this one, and I think everyone will see a little of themselves or their childhood somehwhere in these pages. The other two stories are very well done. I'd probably rave about them much more if I could value each on its own merits, but they do get lost in the glare of "A Christmas Memory." Excellent literary work, but I really value the beauty, simplicity, and truth in these stories. Highly recommended for a holiday evening with hot chocolate, a lit tree, and Xmas carols playing.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read during the holiday season
Review: I love this book! Plain and simple. I always save it for the holiday season though and never read it at any other time. It's become a holiday tradition. The three short stories all take place in holiday seasons during the depression and feature the same setting and characters, so they form a nice group for a single volume. "A Christmas Memory" is my favorite short story ever. I've read it every Christmas for six or seven years now and I have the same powerful, emotional reaction every time. I smile, laugh, cry, and daydream about my own memories every time I read it. No other story affects me like this one, and I think everyone will see a little of themselves or their childhood somehwhere in these pages. The other two stories are very well done. I'd probably rave about them much more if I could value each on its own merits, but they do get lost in the glare of "A Christmas Memory." Excellent literary work, but I really value the beauty, simplicity, and truth in these stories. Highly recommended for a holiday evening with hot chocolate, a lit tree, and Xmas carols playing.
Rating:
Summary: Holiday Classics
Review: I read these holiday stories of Truman Capote's each year to get in the Thanksgiving/Christmas spirit, and consider these stories to be Americana classic. Beautifully, sensitively written.
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Summary: Three polished and charming stories
Review: The three stories in this little book--it's a hardback only slightly bigger than a paperback, and barely 100 pages--are skilfully told and charming; all are based on Capote's southern childhood. "A Christmas Memory" is the most straightforwardly nostalgic, told in the present tense, and covering the Christmas rituals the narrator, a little boy, shares with Miss Sook Faulk, an eccentric little old lady who appears in all three of these tales. The narrator of "One Christmas" is six years old and the child of divorced parents. He travels to New Orleans by bus to spend Christmas with his father, and the story is about his coming to terms with reality, as much as he can. The third story, "The Thanksgiving Visitor", is the tale of how Miss Sook invited the school bully to Thanksgiving dinner one year, and what happened. All three are perfectly formed short stories. The first two are sad, or at least nostalgic; the third, the longest of them, is surprisingly upbeat. Capote was witty, precise and talented, and these three stories are a wonderful showcase for his talents. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Share the memories
Review: This book was given to me last year by my dearest book friend and I read it right away and loved every page. As the holiday season approached us again this year, I was very upset because I could not find this book but when I unpacked my decorations, there is was. I was so grateful to see this collection, I sat down and re-read it and treasured it just as much the second time around.
The three stories in this collection are about Buddy as a child remembering very important times in his life and the people or person who made them special.
It is very refreshing to read stories about a simpler time and the true meaning of love and friendship. Share this book with someone you love.
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