Aspettando Natale

Aspettando Natale
published by Einaudi
(as seen on my iPad)

I find it difficult to read "Christmas stories" at any other time of the year than now, but this collection of stories published by Einaudi is one for any month of the year.  Aspettando Natale is a collection of Christmas stories by Italian authors and published by Einaudi.

The authors range from Dino Buzzati to Cesare Zavattini, and their stories range from the humorous to the bizarre and some are even poignant and moving in their simplicity.

Many of the authors poke fun at Christmas, some even ridiculing it.  For example, in Dino Buzzati's Una torta e una carezza, he shows a darker side of the holidays while the elderly, Signora Tata, works to bake her famous cake (one that even the spirits of the holidays wait each year for!) that her friends seem not to want anymore ("Be'...a me personalmente non mi serve.  Vado a sciare io, il ventisei!"), but the arduous baker continues her work. I won't spoil the ending of this story for you -- needless to say Buzzati has an unexpected ending for the old woman -- a message that surely won't be lost on many readers!

Christmas stories such as these can be illuminating insights into Italian history and culture as well as an understanding of a tradition that is, while the same holiday for the most part here in the USA, is celebrated quite differently.  Definitely a book worth reading this holiday season!

Purchasing links:
Available as an ebook via iTunes, ibs.it, and most other sites (bookrepublic.it, ultimabooks.it).

Or order it as a paperback from ibs.it.