panThis is the 1816 novella that the classic Christmas ballet is based on. There are significant differences between the story and the ballet, not the least of which the main character is not Clara, but Maria. Clara is merely one of Maria's dolls. This story is weird and dark in that special way only early 19th-century German kid lit has. Also, how old is Maria supposed to be? So confusing.
pickI‘ve read & watched dozens of adaptations of this but this is the first time I‘ve read the original, & I loved it! But how much of that is bc I grew up loving it & how much is because it genuinely has the kind of magic that makes something spawn dozens of adaptations? It totally does! But it also has some disturbing elements. What I loved was how many connections I saw to other creative pieces. Both ones that inspired this & ones inspired by this.
“During the long, long day of the of twenty-fourth of December, the children of Doctor Stahlbaum were not permitted to enter the parlor, much less the adjoining drawing-room.” #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
One of my seasonal traditions is reading or watching a version of The Nutcracker. We had an intricate pop-up version of it when I was little that my mom would read me around Christmas and she was always as entranced as me because she was a former ballerina. This year I saw that the original Hoffman version is one of the Hoopla bonus borrows this month so I‘m kicking my readathons off with it. #WinterReadathon #MidwinterSolace #WinterCosyReadathon
#twofortuesday @TheSpineView Thanks for the tag, @DarkMina 💛. 1) The Nutcracker is my personal favorite! 2) it‘s cliche but Santa is my favorite. He was one of my imaginary best friends growing up 😅. I don‘t really know who to tag so if you would like to be included please let me know in the comments.
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King | 
