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One Aladdin Two Lamps
A woman is filibustering for her life. Every night she tells a story. Every morning she lives one more day. One Aladdin Two Lamps cracks open the legendary story of Shahrazad in One Thousand and One Nights to explore new and ancient questions: Whom should we trust? Is love the most important thing? Does honesty matter? What makes us happy?
Posing as Aladdin—the orphan who changes his world—Jeanette Winterson asks us to re-examine what we think we know, to look again at how fiction works in our lives, giving us the courage to change our own narratives and alter endings. As a young working-class woman with no obvious future beyond factory work or marriage, Winterson realizes through the power of books that she can read herself as fiction as well as a fact: “I can change the story because I am the story.”
Posing as Aladdin—the orphan who changes his world—Jeanette Winterson asks us to re-examine what we think we know, to look again at how fiction works in our lives, giving us the courage to change our own narratives and alter endings. As a young working-class woman with no obvious future beyond factory work or marriage, Winterson realizes through the power of books that she can read herself as fiction as well as a fact: “I can change the story because I am the story.”
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 18, 2025
About the author
Jeanette Winterson
117 books8,086 followersNovelist Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester, England in 1959. She was adopted and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, in the north of England. Her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing provides the background to her acclaimed first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. She graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and moved to London where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
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May 27, 2025
Oh we are SO back!
A gem from a favorite author when I needed it most--thanks Winterson. This is a phenomenal look at storytelling and I will be back to review it I promise.
But for now: AMAZING
Miss you all, hope everyone is well. Thanks to those who reached out.
A gem from a favorite author when I needed it most--thanks Winterson. This is a phenomenal look at storytelling and I will be back to review it I promise.
But for now: AMAZING
Miss you all, hope everyone is well. Thanks to those who reached out.
January 8, 2026
Listen, if a book takes itself THAT seriously, employing a declamatory style full of moral certainty, I expect complex, sharp, challenging thoughts - okay, even then the formal delivery would bother me, but to couple this sound with a bunch of banalities is really quite something. Winterson gives us a hybrid essay collection, structured around The Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights): Short excerpts or references to the tales, told in a contemporary style, are followed by personal essays about all kinds of topics, and I couldn't help but feeling that the classic tales are stand-ins for the gospel followed by the sermon, and I was transported to a weird mass. But not a Catholic mass, mind you: There is no opulence, no incense, no drama, just Protest work ethic and sparseness. Pass me the sacramental wine, I want to drown my literary sorrows.
One main point Winterson addresses again and again, which is also the hinge to "The Arabian Nights", is the assumption that the world is made up of stories, and that creativity changes the world (not that she goes into the theory behind this, it's more of a superficial argument that sees narrative as a weapon against the ills she mentions, like anti-women politics). The modulation around this bothered me, because we should be way beyond this simplistic take by now: What MAGA does is also narration, so we need to ask how narration needs to relate to the real world, how we judge narration, because to just applaud the creative act itself is not only simplistic, but outright wild at this point. Then, we could also debate her on some issues: The fear for women's exclusive spaces, the lazy arguments regarding the perils of the digital world (TikTok bad), a dubious faith in AI.
Sure, these are opinion pieces, and the author's strong convictions are part of Winterson's style. The thing is though: this reader has always been bored by the likes of Bertolt Brecht, because of the didactic and ultimately condescending (that's my strong take :-)) approach of epic theater. When it comes to declaring personal truths, Winterson is the same, and I find that annoying. Let me explain: I like nuanced essays with authors that truly ponder complex issues as opposed to surface-level declarations that reduce complexity. Jesus, here's another strong take by yours truly: The urge to reduce complexity is relatable, but it is also the root of many problems society is facing today. And I feel like books like this one cater to readers that enjoy feeling like they and their opinions are correct, which is a fuzzy, cosy, and also very unproductive feeling. Winterson does not aim to convince anyone, she is preaching to the converted.
To what end?
One main point Winterson addresses again and again, which is also the hinge to "The Arabian Nights", is the assumption that the world is made up of stories, and that creativity changes the world (not that she goes into the theory behind this, it's more of a superficial argument that sees narrative as a weapon against the ills she mentions, like anti-women politics). The modulation around this bothered me, because we should be way beyond this simplistic take by now: What MAGA does is also narration, so we need to ask how narration needs to relate to the real world, how we judge narration, because to just applaud the creative act itself is not only simplistic, but outright wild at this point. Then, we could also debate her on some issues: The fear for women's exclusive spaces, the lazy arguments regarding the perils of the digital world (TikTok bad), a dubious faith in AI.
Sure, these are opinion pieces, and the author's strong convictions are part of Winterson's style. The thing is though: this reader has always been bored by the likes of Bertolt Brecht, because of the didactic and ultimately condescending (that's my strong take :-)) approach of epic theater. When it comes to declaring personal truths, Winterson is the same, and I find that annoying. Let me explain: I like nuanced essays with authors that truly ponder complex issues as opposed to surface-level declarations that reduce complexity. Jesus, here's another strong take by yours truly: The urge to reduce complexity is relatable, but it is also the root of many problems society is facing today. And I feel like books like this one cater to readers that enjoy feeling like they and their opinions are correct, which is a fuzzy, cosy, and also very unproductive feeling. Winterson does not aim to convince anyone, she is preaching to the converted.
To what end?
September 8, 2025
And the story continues..............
And how we tell it changes per person, per time, the feelings change, the tempo changes, the angles change, because our needs change, we change and the story changes with us.
How we tell a story reflects who we are.
Why we tell a story reflects our needs.
What story we tell reflects our priorities, what we value.
When we tell the story reflects the point where we are in our lives.
Where we tell the story, the choice of our audience, reflects our position in the world, where we are and our relationship to our audience and what the needs between us are.
We do need a vision to walk towards, a vision for a better future than the facts of the now anticipate and Winterson is well on the way in helping us towards it.
Curiosity, imagination, using these to go around and examining all angles of a problem and imagining a solution. Using our minds to find a better end to a story. And ahmmm I mean using our minds, not scrolling and flitting about, jumping from one glittery click onto another.
I’ve been with Winterson walking with Atlas and Leika with occasional sightings of dear Hercules and I treasure these walks. Now I walked with her in another beautiful retelling. This time it’s with Shahrazad. Winterson is able to explore the stories and us so beautifully – fundamental truths – the stories are us – we are the story and like Shahrazad we can change the story.......................
What do you do when you realise that you’re already highlighted most of what you’ve read already, continue highlighting or just consider the book as one highly lit whole, a beacon in fact which connected with your mind and had you nodding and smiling and thinking and frowning and then smiling again with delight.
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley
And how we tell it changes per person, per time, the feelings change, the tempo changes, the angles change, because our needs change, we change and the story changes with us.
How we tell a story reflects who we are.
Why we tell a story reflects our needs.
What story we tell reflects our priorities, what we value.
When we tell the story reflects the point where we are in our lives.
Where we tell the story, the choice of our audience, reflects our position in the world, where we are and our relationship to our audience and what the needs between us are.
We do need a vision to walk towards, a vision for a better future than the facts of the now anticipate and Winterson is well on the way in helping us towards it.
“Imagination is the power of change”.
Curiosity, imagination, using these to go around and examining all angles of a problem and imagining a solution. Using our minds to find a better end to a story. And ahmmm I mean using our minds, not scrolling and flitting about, jumping from one glittery click onto another.
I’ve been with Winterson walking with Atlas and Leika with occasional sightings of dear Hercules and I treasure these walks. Now I walked with her in another beautiful retelling. This time it’s with Shahrazad. Winterson is able to explore the stories and us so beautifully – fundamental truths – the stories are us – we are the story and like Shahrazad we can change the story.......................
What do you do when you realise that you’re already highlighted most of what you’ve read already, continue highlighting or just consider the book as one highly lit whole, a beacon in fact which connected with your mind and had you nodding and smiling and thinking and frowning and then smiling again with delight.
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley
August 18, 2025
“Imagination is key. To see past the present, with its assumptions and constraints. To see round corners. For me, it was reading. It was literature. But all art is there to develop our imaginative capacity.”
In a world where everyone is becoming more isolated, societies are more polarised and technology and megalomaniacs seem to dominate the news - our worlds - Jeanette Winterson makes a call to arms by asking us - or is that pleading with us - to recognise the power of creativity, the mind expanding beauty of the novel , the might of story telling and the universal need for imagination in our lives.
It is a visit to the theatre as a young child to watch a pantomime - Aladdin - that opened up Jeanette Winterson’s world - an enlightenment of the possibility that stories that give us. Using Shahrazad’s stories from One Thousand and One Nights, we are taken on a magical carpet of tales : of wrong doers, genii, magic, survival and incredible characters.
But it is within these tales and the power of storytelling that we are asked to reflect on universal questions of love, belonging, trust , the human need for wanting more - greed and avarice- being truthful, and what do we actually mean by happiness.
Juxtaposing the tales against societal changes and global issues -poverty, feminism, oppression, the failure of politics- helping us to look at our own stories and the world about us.
This is a powerful and persuasive argument of the importance of reading and books to open up imaginations and minds to see alternative paths, build tolerance and compassion and ultimately build a future that embraces love and humanity. This is not idealistically naive but highlights what we have lost and could further lose but still have a chance to save. Attention is given to the closing of minds through scrolling world of social media and extremism hijacking lives. Those of us who lived BSM - Before the Smart Phone- know the difference and impact.
Articulate, captivating , hypnotic and also entertaining ( the retelling of Shahrazad’s stories are enthralling) This may be a book for the already converted - the lovers of fiction and creativity and the arts- but equally this may get a new audience( or all of us ) to further consider the power of storytelling and determining a different future where our personal story takes us all on a wider path of diversity and happiness and hope for the future .
Long live books - or at least the freedom to be independently imaginative
Quotes:
Social pressure can be avoided. Social media is unavoidable.
Literature allows complexity, but complexity doesn’t mean obscurity. Literature doesn’t mean boring. What we are hoping for – well, what I am hoping for – is a piece of work with the power to captivate us on many levels.
So no, your TikTok videos won’t bring you meaning, neither will social media’s weapons of mass distraction, that shrink the human mind to its smallest scope. Needing the next dopamine hit from the outside every few minutes is a miserable way to live. It’s a strategy of discontent, and it makes it harder to settle down with a text that asks for our complete attention.
I am aware that reading, the ability to read, the love of reading, might not be part of the coming human journey. We will have music. We will have visual art and moving pictures. We will have theatre. We will have storytelling. Will we have reading?
In a world where everyone is becoming more isolated, societies are more polarised and technology and megalomaniacs seem to dominate the news - our worlds - Jeanette Winterson makes a call to arms by asking us - or is that pleading with us - to recognise the power of creativity, the mind expanding beauty of the novel , the might of story telling and the universal need for imagination in our lives.
It is a visit to the theatre as a young child to watch a pantomime - Aladdin - that opened up Jeanette Winterson’s world - an enlightenment of the possibility that stories that give us. Using Shahrazad’s stories from One Thousand and One Nights, we are taken on a magical carpet of tales : of wrong doers, genii, magic, survival and incredible characters.
But it is within these tales and the power of storytelling that we are asked to reflect on universal questions of love, belonging, trust , the human need for wanting more - greed and avarice- being truthful, and what do we actually mean by happiness.
Juxtaposing the tales against societal changes and global issues -poverty, feminism, oppression, the failure of politics- helping us to look at our own stories and the world about us.
This is a powerful and persuasive argument of the importance of reading and books to open up imaginations and minds to see alternative paths, build tolerance and compassion and ultimately build a future that embraces love and humanity. This is not idealistically naive but highlights what we have lost and could further lose but still have a chance to save. Attention is given to the closing of minds through scrolling world of social media and extremism hijacking lives. Those of us who lived BSM - Before the Smart Phone- know the difference and impact.
Articulate, captivating , hypnotic and also entertaining ( the retelling of Shahrazad’s stories are enthralling) This may be a book for the already converted - the lovers of fiction and creativity and the arts- but equally this may get a new audience( or all of us ) to further consider the power of storytelling and determining a different future where our personal story takes us all on a wider path of diversity and happiness and hope for the future .
Long live books - or at least the freedom to be independently imaginative
Quotes:
Social pressure can be avoided. Social media is unavoidable.
Literature allows complexity, but complexity doesn’t mean obscurity. Literature doesn’t mean boring. What we are hoping for – well, what I am hoping for – is a piece of work with the power to captivate us on many levels.
So no, your TikTok videos won’t bring you meaning, neither will social media’s weapons of mass distraction, that shrink the human mind to its smallest scope. Needing the next dopamine hit from the outside every few minutes is a miserable way to live. It’s a strategy of discontent, and it makes it harder to settle down with a text that asks for our complete attention.
I am aware that reading, the ability to read, the love of reading, might not be part of the coming human journey. We will have music. We will have visual art and moving pictures. We will have theatre. We will have storytelling. Will we have reading?
January 31, 2026
Feels like a university lecture in which you are only half-listening because you already did the associated reading that week.
Who is this book for? Progressives don’t need to be told to imagine teaching children non-Western history and shouldn't be surprised by the fact that British women couldn't open their own bank accounts until the 1970s. MAGA or UKIP types are unlikely to pick up a non-fiction essay collection by Jeanette Winterson.
"The radical right is intolerant. Why don’t Christians love their neighbour?" Winterson wonders. You could wave towards the entire sections of the library that explain this or waste four hours on this book.
The transformative power of storytelling is well-worn ground. Winterson gives us paragraph after paragraph explaining how stories allow readers to escape reality and forge their own. I understand that this theme is autobiographical as Winterson relates the experience of reading to moments in her unhappy childhood. Unfortunately, many folks from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Stephen King have given us superior takes on the power of storytelling.
One Aladdin, Two Lamps is an essay collection with uncontroversial and frequently dull insights like: “Political movements make scapegoats of outsiders”. It concludes with the worst section, Winterson's naive ideas on AI. I'll try to be generous imagining that she had written these portions pre-2023.
Even Winterson's take on the One Thousand and One Nights stories themselves lacks oomph. It feels like Winterson is again "explaining" each story rather than remixing it. If you want these stories really transformed, why not pick up One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling by Hanah Al-Shaykh instead?
Who is this book for? Progressives don’t need to be told to imagine teaching children non-Western history and shouldn't be surprised by the fact that British women couldn't open their own bank accounts until the 1970s. MAGA or UKIP types are unlikely to pick up a non-fiction essay collection by Jeanette Winterson.
"The radical right is intolerant. Why don’t Christians love their neighbour?" Winterson wonders. You could wave towards the entire sections of the library that explain this or waste four hours on this book.
The transformative power of storytelling is well-worn ground. Winterson gives us paragraph after paragraph explaining how stories allow readers to escape reality and forge their own. I understand that this theme is autobiographical as Winterson relates the experience of reading to moments in her unhappy childhood. Unfortunately, many folks from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Stephen King have given us superior takes on the power of storytelling.
One Aladdin, Two Lamps is an essay collection with uncontroversial and frequently dull insights like: “Political movements make scapegoats of outsiders”. It concludes with the worst section, Winterson's naive ideas on AI. I'll try to be generous imagining that she had written these portions pre-2023.
Even Winterson's take on the One Thousand and One Nights stories themselves lacks oomph. It feels like Winterson is again "explaining" each story rather than remixing it. If you want these stories really transformed, why not pick up One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling by Hanah Al-Shaykh instead?
January 27, 2026
“Let’s put it like this. I can change the story because I am the story”, writes Jeannette Winterson in this wonderful book; and if you want my opinion, she is right. Because what if none of the things we’ve been told about ourselves has any basis in reality? What if everything is just made up? What if we have the power to re-enterpret everything that we know and write the story on our own terms? “One Aladdin Two Lamps” is not a book that can be easily defined. It is a blend of memoir, cultural critique via commentary of social issues, essay and philosophical meditation. Winterson uses the structure of Arabian nights and invokes Shahrazad’s myth, the woman that managed to postpone her execution through storytelling. She reimagines those old tales using them as a meta-narrative and looking at them through a contemporary lens. She courageously blends personal experiences related to her strict upbringing by Mrs Winterson and her life as a middle class lesbian woman, reflecting sincerely on her own life and highlighting the importance of literature in reinventing ourselves. And through all that she makes an open suggestion to all of us; to read ourselves as a fiction book and shape our identity through the limitless options and possibilities we have. To view life with a renewed imaginative vigor.
This is a book about Aladdin and Shahrazad. Villains and heroes. What they mean as mythical archetypes and how we are linked with them. How their stories can be reinterpreted and become inspiring. The power of deconstructing a story as a force of change. About narrative agency and value shaping. The stories we choose to believe and who controls them. How they are shaped by the world or supremacy narratives. Their outcomes, human subjectivity and biases. A story about literature and storytelling. Multiple beginnings and infinite ends. Books showing that other worlds are possible and escapism. Envious manipulators and unreliable narrators. About the fact that literature helps preserving identities, questioning norms, giving strategies to live a better life through liberation and self invention. Literature as a way to create inward resources that help us respond to the big questions of life. It is also a book about culture and politics. Misogyny, gender war, racism and socially structured inequalities justified by basic biology. Ada Lovelace and other brilliant women that are not widely known but who did amazing things. Religion, patriarchy and authoritarian tendencies. About technology, AI and social media overload. Tolerance and the study of human thought. A story about imagination as opposed to reason. The sovereignty of imagination and its enduring power. How it helps transcend ourselves, reinvent who we are and envision futures otherwise unimaginable. About shape shifting and the states of becoming and being. Mostly though this is a book about the possibility to reinterpret your personal narrative and do not accept fixed identities or destinies. Being trapped in your story and breaking free. About our power to control narratives and decide about our own story, having in mind our personal growth. The deep love we, humans, have for storytelling. The big questions of our life that remain unanswered.
Why should you read “One Aladdin Two Lamps”?
Because you will think how stories change and how their heroes can live forever.
Because you will realize that the narrative of our life starts before we are even born but we are always able to change it.
Because you will accept that even the most basic fact comes with a story attached.
Because you will acknowledge that we read literature because we want something to happen to us, we want the story to change us.
Because you will reflect on the importance of living in the present as opposed to using your memories to reconnect with the entirety of your life.
Because you will understand that stories are not a form of escapism but a way of deeper understanding of the world.
Because you will start asking on a daily basis important questions like whose story is this, why are they telling it, should I believe them and who is to be trusted?
Favorite quotes:
“Stories have a way of escaping. Recombining. Defying neatness”.
“Any writer will tell you that if you change the centre of a story, that shift of emphasis automatically affects the beginning, and likely the end”.
“Women were not allowed to hold professorships. Or hold anything much at all. Except a baby”.
“Stories are there to change what is into what if?”.
“Reading deeply is not time wasted. Reading is time set apart to get closer to ourselves”.
“But that is the way with stories. They know more than we do. They do more than we know”.
“Humans are subjective by nature. We are not just telling the story. We are part of the story we tell”.
“Every act of evil is an imitation. Every creative moment is an invention”.
“Reading interrupts the interruptions”.
“What you risk reveals what you value”.
“Imagination is our only way to see beyond the present emergency. Imagination allows compassion, even to those who do not deserve it. Imagination is willing to tell the story again. Imagination is the power of change”.
This is a book about Aladdin and Shahrazad. Villains and heroes. What they mean as mythical archetypes and how we are linked with them. How their stories can be reinterpreted and become inspiring. The power of deconstructing a story as a force of change. About narrative agency and value shaping. The stories we choose to believe and who controls them. How they are shaped by the world or supremacy narratives. Their outcomes, human subjectivity and biases. A story about literature and storytelling. Multiple beginnings and infinite ends. Books showing that other worlds are possible and escapism. Envious manipulators and unreliable narrators. About the fact that literature helps preserving identities, questioning norms, giving strategies to live a better life through liberation and self invention. Literature as a way to create inward resources that help us respond to the big questions of life. It is also a book about culture and politics. Misogyny, gender war, racism and socially structured inequalities justified by basic biology. Ada Lovelace and other brilliant women that are not widely known but who did amazing things. Religion, patriarchy and authoritarian tendencies. About technology, AI and social media overload. Tolerance and the study of human thought. A story about imagination as opposed to reason. The sovereignty of imagination and its enduring power. How it helps transcend ourselves, reinvent who we are and envision futures otherwise unimaginable. About shape shifting and the states of becoming and being. Mostly though this is a book about the possibility to reinterpret your personal narrative and do not accept fixed identities or destinies. Being trapped in your story and breaking free. About our power to control narratives and decide about our own story, having in mind our personal growth. The deep love we, humans, have for storytelling. The big questions of our life that remain unanswered.
Why should you read “One Aladdin Two Lamps”?
Because you will think how stories change and how their heroes can live forever.
Because you will realize that the narrative of our life starts before we are even born but we are always able to change it.
Because you will accept that even the most basic fact comes with a story attached.
Because you will acknowledge that we read literature because we want something to happen to us, we want the story to change us.
Because you will reflect on the importance of living in the present as opposed to using your memories to reconnect with the entirety of your life.
Because you will understand that stories are not a form of escapism but a way of deeper understanding of the world.
Because you will start asking on a daily basis important questions like whose story is this, why are they telling it, should I believe them and who is to be trusted?
Favorite quotes:
“Stories have a way of escaping. Recombining. Defying neatness”.
“Any writer will tell you that if you change the centre of a story, that shift of emphasis automatically affects the beginning, and likely the end”.
“Women were not allowed to hold professorships. Or hold anything much at all. Except a baby”.
“Stories are there to change what is into what if?”.
“Reading deeply is not time wasted. Reading is time set apart to get closer to ourselves”.
“But that is the way with stories. They know more than we do. They do more than we know”.
“Humans are subjective by nature. We are not just telling the story. We are part of the story we tell”.
“Every act of evil is an imitation. Every creative moment is an invention”.
“Reading interrupts the interruptions”.
“What you risk reveals what you value”.
“Imagination is our only way to see beyond the present emergency. Imagination allows compassion, even to those who do not deserve it. Imagination is willing to tell the story again. Imagination is the power of change”.
May 20, 2026
I bought the hardcover, and I am listening to the audiobook on Libby. What a treat!
January 25, 2026
As a Jeanette Winterson fan, I was excited to read this book until it became obvious fifty pages in that it's a dud.
Through a loose retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, she tackles various social and political issues that have defined the twenty first century, whether it's the dangers of AI, the alienation of social media, or the global rise of fascism as well as the rollback of women's rights, while championing for the importance of creativity and storytelling. It's undeniably ambitious yet doesn't work in the slightest.
For one, Jeanette Winterson readers tend to have similar politics to her already so she is simply preaching to the choir. Not to mention she is tackling too many topics at once yet doesn't anything remarkable to say about any of them. I also struggle with her misguided optimism about AI: she believes AI will strictly be used to alleviate our workload so we can spend time on things that matter, but it's been obvious from the get-go that big tech has far more nefarious plans in mind. It seems like all those money she received from speaking at tech conferences did get to her in the end.
A disappointing, scattershot read from an author I hold in high regard.
Thanks to Grove Press for a free review copy.
Through a loose retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, she tackles various social and political issues that have defined the twenty first century, whether it's the dangers of AI, the alienation of social media, or the global rise of fascism as well as the rollback of women's rights, while championing for the importance of creativity and storytelling. It's undeniably ambitious yet doesn't work in the slightest.
For one, Jeanette Winterson readers tend to have similar politics to her already so she is simply preaching to the choir. Not to mention she is tackling too many topics at once yet doesn't anything remarkable to say about any of them. I also struggle with her misguided optimism about AI: she believes AI will strictly be used to alleviate our workload so we can spend time on things that matter, but it's been obvious from the get-go that big tech has far more nefarious plans in mind. It seems like all those money she received from speaking at tech conferences did get to her in the end.
A disappointing, scattershot read from an author I hold in high regard.
Thanks to Grove Press for a free review copy.
January 31, 2026
I continue to love Winterson’s writing and I commend her for much of her work in this new piece. She dives beautifully into the intricacies of literature itself, the act of storytelling and the intrinsic nature of being a conscious human. To love, to struggle, to preach, to learn. And though there are some wonderful excerpts throughout the book which illuminates the reader’s mind- most notably those provoking thought on love, relationship, the woman, and art- much of the book remains informative and referencial. Tackling a multitude of political issues, it loosens its direction at times, lacking a focus that I craved from Winterson. I appreciated the mix of retelling (fiction) and non-fiction as a new means of exploring such ideas posed in this book; as opposed to the typically structured essay. It is a well thought starting point for the reader to then continue building upon. I suppose I’m saying that this book cannot exist by itself as a monumental work, but rather the starting point of so much change.
November 26, 2025
In One Aladdin Two Lamps, Jeanette Winterson uses the story of Scherherazade, the ultimate teller of tales, to navigate experiences women have in the modern world.
I confess, I have not read One Thousand and One Nights and my knowledge of Scheherazade is limited to Aladdin and Ali Baba, both of which stories I can guarantee are not the pantomime/Disney tales we have become used to.
The tales that Winterson uses to illustrate her points are cleverly interwoven with personal memoir, political doctrine and religious beliefs. Certainly, a lot of it was very illuminating.
The last Winterson I read was "Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit" so it was a delight to read her prose again. This book made me want to a) read One Thousand and One Nights; and b) read more Jeanette Winterson.
Clever, interesting and well written. Definitely recommended.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
I confess, I have not read One Thousand and One Nights and my knowledge of Scheherazade is limited to Aladdin and Ali Baba, both of which stories I can guarantee are not the pantomime/Disney tales we have become used to.
The tales that Winterson uses to illustrate her points are cleverly interwoven with personal memoir, political doctrine and religious beliefs. Certainly, a lot of it was very illuminating.
The last Winterson I read was "Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit" so it was a delight to read her prose again. This book made me want to a) read One Thousand and One Nights; and b) read more Jeanette Winterson.
Clever, interesting and well written. Definitely recommended.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
March 22, 2026
A brilliant book. . .will stab the hearts of those with ears to hear, eyes to see, and spirits that ring round that same frequency. About stories, one chapter title says it aptly: I Can Change the Story. I Am the Story.
One Aladdin Two Lamps travels through the world of fiction and storytelling on the magic carpet of that grand mistress Herself, Shahrazad. Jeanette Winterson brings out the stories that show the power of mind changing in the words, the weave of the tale and the tone of the telling. Then the author weaves in her own life, observations and wisdom won from the fictions in 1001 Nights and other books in history. In fact, she delights me with her generous book dropping. Every time I read her I walk away with my TBR rather longer. . .and my wallet rather lighter.
If you love story-telling, storytellers, Aladdin, and that brave girl with the death sentence - this is recommended reading for you. If you've followed how women are portrayed in humanity's stories and how that has or hasn't changed through the millennia this one of Winterson's works is a worthy read. There's a dollop of the body politic as it relates to women, as well. Her works lean toward the academic and this one does slightly, but is wry, playful and clever -yet appreciative of all layers of particularity we tote from moment to moment and carry with us from page to page.
This won't appeal to everyone, just as any book has its tribe. I find it re-readable and delightful. Have just found my copy of One Thousand and One Nights, and it's bedtime. 'night.
*A sincere thank you to Jeanette Winterson, Grove Atlantic | Grove Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #OneAladdinTwoLamps #NetGalley 26|52:6b
One Aladdin Two Lamps travels through the world of fiction and storytelling on the magic carpet of that grand mistress Herself, Shahrazad. Jeanette Winterson brings out the stories that show the power of mind changing in the words, the weave of the tale and the tone of the telling. Then the author weaves in her own life, observations and wisdom won from the fictions in 1001 Nights and other books in history. In fact, she delights me with her generous book dropping. Every time I read her I walk away with my TBR rather longer. . .and my wallet rather lighter.
If you love story-telling, storytellers, Aladdin, and that brave girl with the death sentence - this is recommended reading for you. If you've followed how women are portrayed in humanity's stories and how that has or hasn't changed through the millennia this one of Winterson's works is a worthy read. There's a dollop of the body politic as it relates to women, as well. Her works lean toward the academic and this one does slightly, but is wry, playful and clever -yet appreciative of all layers of particularity we tote from moment to moment and carry with us from page to page.
This won't appeal to everyone, just as any book has its tribe. I find it re-readable and delightful. Have just found my copy of One Thousand and One Nights, and it's bedtime. 'night.
*A sincere thank you to Jeanette Winterson, Grove Atlantic | Grove Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #OneAladdinTwoLamps #NetGalley 26|52:6b
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November 5, 2025
Art is there to focus our attention.
When I read, I get out of my current situation and inside a very different situation. It doesn't matter whether I identify or recoil. Whether I agree or I don't.
My first book by Jeanette Winterson was „why be happy when you can be normal“ and I loved that I took a little biography of the author with me to really understand this new release.
If we simply airlift a human from a terrible place to a better one, the terrible place comes along too, because it is already imprinted in the circuitry of self. To untangle and reset that terribleness is no small task.
Jeanette takes us on a journey, a journey through one thousand and one nights in the voice of Sharzard who tries to escape her cruel death by a angry sultan.
To me, it's not astonishing that most women could not contribute to society - what's astonishing is how much women have contributed since we've been able to educate our minds, earn our own money, vote in elections and build independent lives.
While Sharzard tells us stories about journeys, forgiveness and development, we get commentary and little essays by Jeanette looking at our modern times.
But going below the surface, into the deep water that is the substance of these tales, is to meet the same kinds of dilemmas faced in our world, the same judgements, whether reckless or just.
The balance between
punishment and mercy.
I enjoyed this little journey and i especially enjoyed Jeanette Wintersons writing.
When I read, I get out of my current situation and inside a very different situation. It doesn't matter whether I identify or recoil. Whether I agree or I don't.
My first book by Jeanette Winterson was „why be happy when you can be normal“ and I loved that I took a little biography of the author with me to really understand this new release.
If we simply airlift a human from a terrible place to a better one, the terrible place comes along too, because it is already imprinted in the circuitry of self. To untangle and reset that terribleness is no small task.
Jeanette takes us on a journey, a journey through one thousand and one nights in the voice of Sharzard who tries to escape her cruel death by a angry sultan.
To me, it's not astonishing that most women could not contribute to society - what's astonishing is how much women have contributed since we've been able to educate our minds, earn our own money, vote in elections and build independent lives.
While Sharzard tells us stories about journeys, forgiveness and development, we get commentary and little essays by Jeanette looking at our modern times.
But going below the surface, into the deep water that is the substance of these tales, is to meet the same kinds of dilemmas faced in our world, the same judgements, whether reckless or just.
The balance between
punishment and mercy.
I enjoyed this little journey and i especially enjoyed Jeanette Wintersons writing.
July 26, 2026
One Aladdin Two Lamps uses the concept of One Thousand and One Nights to consider the roles that reading and storytelling play in our lives. It moves between autofiction, philosophy, history, and science writing, with a feminist thread running through it all.
It is structured in alternating segments, opening with a modern retelling of one of Sheherazade’s tales, followed by an essay commenting on modern society. It is obvious that Winterson has included pieces of her religious working-class childhood. She tells of escaping a future of forced domesticity or factory work by finding refuge in her local library, where she discovered that books let her imagine other outcomes for her life.
The two lamps concept was my favorite part. I kept finding new interpretations, such as the superficial versus the profound, or traditional versus contemporary, or distraction versus focus. I appreciated the way Winterson writes social commentary on today's society, covering topics such as the impact of technology, artificial intelligence, social media, and wealth disparities. Readers who enjoy references to philosophy or classics (e.g., Descartes, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, Emily Brontë, the Epic of Gilgamesh) will find much to enjoy here.
It is structured in alternating segments, opening with a modern retelling of one of Sheherazade’s tales, followed by an essay commenting on modern society. It is obvious that Winterson has included pieces of her religious working-class childhood. She tells of escaping a future of forced domesticity or factory work by finding refuge in her local library, where she discovered that books let her imagine other outcomes for her life.
The two lamps concept was my favorite part. I kept finding new interpretations, such as the superficial versus the profound, or traditional versus contemporary, or distraction versus focus. I appreciated the way Winterson writes social commentary on today's society, covering topics such as the impact of technology, artificial intelligence, social media, and wealth disparities. Readers who enjoy references to philosophy or classics (e.g., Descartes, Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, Emily Brontë, the Epic of Gilgamesh) will find much to enjoy here.
September 10, 2026
"The art is always bigger than the artist. Always bigger than its moment in time."
This was a very honest book. From what I’ve read of Jeanette Winterson, she seems to understand something very deep about heartbreak and about the unfairness of life. Here, she is remarkably honest about luck—and about how sometimes being lucky matters more than talent or hard work.
"Getting on in life is never just about talent and hard work.
...
I was one of the lucky ones."
I have always believed that life is unfair to some and generous to others. It isn’t simply about how badly you want something or how hard you try, because life simply doesn’t work that way. And perhaps more importantly, it isn’t necessarily the will of God or the gods, or whatever you believe in. We just don’t have as much control as we like to imagine. We cannot simply build our destiny exactly as we want it. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Some people are born into luck, while others are not.
"Why should anyone have to be exceptional to attain such reasonable and modest rewards?"
Winterson seems to struggle with this question too. Of course we can waste our chances, and of course our choices matter. But without help, luck, opportunity—whatever name you want to give it—we cannot build everything from nothing. Whenever someone says, “I did it all by myself,” a part of me thinks: no, you didn’t. You may have recognized your chances, worked for them, and made the right choices, but somewhere along the way there was a door available to you that might simply never have appeared for someone else.
"People say, ah, he is rich and important because he is wise and shrewd. He knows that’s not true. Chance came his way. He held on to his wits. There were rewards for everyone, and a way of life that had been overturned, returned. He played his part. Some days he tries to explain it, and people say, ah yes, it was chance, but it was your chance, and what if you had been too stupid to put the genie back in the jar, or what if you had been too cowardly to let him out again? Yes, that’s all true. And it’s true too, that while fortune favours the brave, there are plenty of grifters doing fine. And plenty of good people with nothing. Is he a better person now that he is wealthy?"
I like to think this is part of what Winterson believes in One Aladdin Two Lamps. Through Shahrzad, One Thousand and One Nights, and its characters, she explores chance and choice, fortune and effort, and how much of a life is actually ours to control.
Maybe that is the real quest—not becoming exceptional, wealthy, famous, or somehow deserving of happiness, but simply being given enough chance to build an ordinary, worthwhile life.
"Life, for too many, has become the wrong kind of quest. When every day is a struggle just to get by, it’s hard to believe in a future. It’s hard to find satisfaction in the beat by beat of ordinary time. So thrills are necessary– might be drugs, or crypto bets. Oblivion is necessary– might be drink, or a fantasy world online. What’s really hard now is to build a life. Just that. A worthwhile anonymous life."
Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the DRC via NetGalley. I have given my honest review.
This was a very honest book. From what I’ve read of Jeanette Winterson, she seems to understand something very deep about heartbreak and about the unfairness of life. Here, she is remarkably honest about luck—and about how sometimes being lucky matters more than talent or hard work.
"Getting on in life is never just about talent and hard work.
...
I was one of the lucky ones."
I have always believed that life is unfair to some and generous to others. It isn’t simply about how badly you want something or how hard you try, because life simply doesn’t work that way. And perhaps more importantly, it isn’t necessarily the will of God or the gods, or whatever you believe in. We just don’t have as much control as we like to imagine. We cannot simply build our destiny exactly as we want it. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Some people are born into luck, while others are not.
"Why should anyone have to be exceptional to attain such reasonable and modest rewards?"
Winterson seems to struggle with this question too. Of course we can waste our chances, and of course our choices matter. But without help, luck, opportunity—whatever name you want to give it—we cannot build everything from nothing. Whenever someone says, “I did it all by myself,” a part of me thinks: no, you didn’t. You may have recognized your chances, worked for them, and made the right choices, but somewhere along the way there was a door available to you that might simply never have appeared for someone else.
"People say, ah, he is rich and important because he is wise and shrewd. He knows that’s not true. Chance came his way. He held on to his wits. There were rewards for everyone, and a way of life that had been overturned, returned. He played his part. Some days he tries to explain it, and people say, ah yes, it was chance, but it was your chance, and what if you had been too stupid to put the genie back in the jar, or what if you had been too cowardly to let him out again? Yes, that’s all true. And it’s true too, that while fortune favours the brave, there are plenty of grifters doing fine. And plenty of good people with nothing. Is he a better person now that he is wealthy?"
I like to think this is part of what Winterson believes in One Aladdin Two Lamps. Through Shahrzad, One Thousand and One Nights, and its characters, she explores chance and choice, fortune and effort, and how much of a life is actually ours to control.
Maybe that is the real quest—not becoming exceptional, wealthy, famous, or somehow deserving of happiness, but simply being given enough chance to build an ordinary, worthwhile life.
"Life, for too many, has become the wrong kind of quest. When every day is a struggle just to get by, it’s hard to believe in a future. It’s hard to find satisfaction in the beat by beat of ordinary time. So thrills are necessary– might be drugs, or crypto bets. Oblivion is necessary– might be drink, or a fantasy world online. What’s really hard now is to build a life. Just that. A worthwhile anonymous life."
Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the DRC via NetGalley. I have given my honest review.
February 13, 2026
Een heel erg heldere Jeanette Winterson wat niet altijd van haar werk kan gezegd worden.
Herkenbaar evenwel in de virtuositeit van haar vertellen.
In een tocht door de beroemde Vertellingen van duizend en één Nacht weeft Winterson net als Sjarahzaad subtiel de patronen van het menselijke leven in een gewaad dat ons steeds duidelijker voor een aantal pertinente vragen stelt:
- kunnen we het waardevolle van het waardeloze onderscheiden en wat is daarvoor nodig?
- waarom blijft de eeuwenoude oorlog tegen de vrouw gevoerd worden? Wat als wij het narratief overnemen?
- wie of wat kun je vertrouwen en wat is authentiek, wat nep?
En tot slot, als we de toekomst ingaan mogelijks zonder biologisch lichaam is het dan niet liefde en woorden dat we zullen meenemen?
Wat als, wat is, dat andere verhaal?
Herkenbaar evenwel in de virtuositeit van haar vertellen.
In een tocht door de beroemde Vertellingen van duizend en één Nacht weeft Winterson net als Sjarahzaad subtiel de patronen van het menselijke leven in een gewaad dat ons steeds duidelijker voor een aantal pertinente vragen stelt:
- kunnen we het waardevolle van het waardeloze onderscheiden en wat is daarvoor nodig?
- waarom blijft de eeuwenoude oorlog tegen de vrouw gevoerd worden? Wat als wij het narratief overnemen?
- wie of wat kun je vertrouwen en wat is authentiek, wat nep?
En tot slot, als we de toekomst ingaan mogelijks zonder biologisch lichaam is het dan niet liefde en woorden dat we zullen meenemen?
Wat als, wat is, dat andere verhaal?
January 23, 2026
Esė su grožiniu bikini.
3.9*
3.9*
January 10, 2026
I have received this as an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley! When I got access to the book I screamed - dropped everything and started reading it. I have only read one other Winterson book, Written on the Body, and I absolutely adored it. I returned because of her poetic nature and profound meditations on identity, yet what I have found this time around was nowhere near as compelling.
I will start with what I considered interesting. Each section of this book starts off with a folktale from One Thousand and One Nights, the magical Middle-Eastern collection which taught us so much about storytelling. She sums up stories, then breaks them down into different ideas which essentially tie into imagination and creation. There is a constant call to read more, to constantly seek out important stories, to prioritise and make room for words and narratives that can move and shape us. I found this to be what the book does best, as it is clear that Jeanette Winterson is a writer and a reader before anything else.
My issues are with the way she writes from more critical angles, and how she addresses topics such as race, class, or gender. These passages are not only tedious and repetitive, they are also painfully shallow. She lists all these different (really broad) topics, and then quickly moves on without adding anything remarkable to the conversation. Most comments she makes have already been made by many others, and have developed significantly past what she decided to cover on those pages.
There are several instances in the book in which she writes down her ideas and opinions as briefly as possible, only to proceed to ask the reader “What do you think?”. There is a paragraph which literally ends with “Think about that…”Little things like these can really weaken the impact of what I’m reading.
Lastly, I feel the need to discuss Winterson’s attitude towards AI, a theme which becomes quite heavy here, especially towards the end of the book. To her, AI represents “alternative intelligence” rather than an artificial one. She believes it’s exciting how AI has “no skin colour, no biological sex, no gender” (missing the opportunity to talk about the potential bias that it has as a result of mainly learning from biased sources). She sees how AI could replace us and relieve us of our more unpleasant, meaningless work, but she does not really look at the complete opposite ways in which AI has actually been evolving, which have unfortunately pushed most of our work in an even worse direction.
Considering the environmental issues we are facing now, she notes how “the fate of the planet doesn’t seem to move us”, without even trying to speak on this in direct connection with the the harm done by AI.
Maybe you have already heard of an article for The Guardian that she wrote, in which she is praising a short story generated by OpenAI. The article ends with the sentence “AI reads us. Now it’s time for us to read AI.” How is the same person who stated this now publishing a book on the importance of imagination and storytelling, with the core messaging of reclaiming your narrative?
2.5🌟
I will start with what I considered interesting. Each section of this book starts off with a folktale from One Thousand and One Nights, the magical Middle-Eastern collection which taught us so much about storytelling. She sums up stories, then breaks them down into different ideas which essentially tie into imagination and creation. There is a constant call to read more, to constantly seek out important stories, to prioritise and make room for words and narratives that can move and shape us. I found this to be what the book does best, as it is clear that Jeanette Winterson is a writer and a reader before anything else.
My issues are with the way she writes from more critical angles, and how she addresses topics such as race, class, or gender. These passages are not only tedious and repetitive, they are also painfully shallow. She lists all these different (really broad) topics, and then quickly moves on without adding anything remarkable to the conversation. Most comments she makes have already been made by many others, and have developed significantly past what she decided to cover on those pages.
There are several instances in the book in which she writes down her ideas and opinions as briefly as possible, only to proceed to ask the reader “What do you think?”. There is a paragraph which literally ends with “Think about that…”Little things like these can really weaken the impact of what I’m reading.
Lastly, I feel the need to discuss Winterson’s attitude towards AI, a theme which becomes quite heavy here, especially towards the end of the book. To her, AI represents “alternative intelligence” rather than an artificial one. She believes it’s exciting how AI has “no skin colour, no biological sex, no gender” (missing the opportunity to talk about the potential bias that it has as a result of mainly learning from biased sources). She sees how AI could replace us and relieve us of our more unpleasant, meaningless work, but she does not really look at the complete opposite ways in which AI has actually been evolving, which have unfortunately pushed most of our work in an even worse direction.
Considering the environmental issues we are facing now, she notes how “the fate of the planet doesn’t seem to move us”, without even trying to speak on this in direct connection with the the harm done by AI.
Maybe you have already heard of an article for The Guardian that she wrote, in which she is praising a short story generated by OpenAI. The article ends with the sentence “AI reads us. Now it’s time for us to read AI.” How is the same person who stated this now publishing a book on the importance of imagination and storytelling, with the core messaging of reclaiming your narrative?
2.5🌟
November 29, 2025
This is a story about stories. Winterson makes the bleak world we are currently living in, appear hopeful and redeemable. She talks about the power of imagination and narratives to impose change and justice. This is a brilliant book that will make you think and hope.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC.
Did Not Finish
May 4, 2026DNF
Did not care enough to continue. I'm trying to be more ruthless when it comes to not finishing books. I used to force myself to push through. I have too many books to read to continue to spend time on books I do not care to continue.
Did not care enough to continue. I'm trying to be more ruthless when it comes to not finishing books. I used to force myself to push through. I have too many books to read to continue to spend time on books I do not care to continue.
August 24, 2026
La literatura salva vides. Ai la Winterson que és una de les millors escriptors que tenim
January 31, 2026
Video review youtube.com/watch?v=zYLRSDmSXu4&f...
Terribly disappointing, few of her customary linguistic flourishes and a pretty obvious set of arguments for our modern times.
Terribly disappointing, few of her customary linguistic flourishes and a pretty obvious set of arguments for our modern times.
February 5, 2026
Jeanette Winterson vliegt van het een naar het ander en weer terug, dat kan rommelig aanvoelen en het is zeker niet perfect en uitgepuurd, maar het is wel levendig en werkt op mij heel aanstekelijk. Ik kreeg er in elk geval enorm veel zin in nadenken van!
Het gaat over veel. Over de mens, ons vermogen tot verbeelding en het belang van het vertellen van verhalen. Onze angsten, dromen, liefde, de zucht naar macht, meer macht en de daarbij behorende behoefte om alles te gronde te richten. De afslagen die we nemen en de kansen die we laten liggen. De waarde van literatuur. De vragen die we stellen.
Willen we ook een antwoord? Welk verhaal willen we horen? Wat is. Wat als?
Het gaat over veel. Over de mens, ons vermogen tot verbeelding en het belang van het vertellen van verhalen. Onze angsten, dromen, liefde, de zucht naar macht, meer macht en de daarbij behorende behoefte om alles te gronde te richten. De afslagen die we nemen en de kansen die we laten liggen. De waarde van literatuur. De vragen die we stellen.
Willen we ook een antwoord? Welk verhaal willen we horen? Wat is. Wat als?
'Ik heb literatuur/taal gebruikt om mijn geest te ontwikkelen en versterken – en dat is belangrijk. Ik heb leren denken. Maar denken is niet genoeg.
Verbeelding is essentieel. Om verder te zien dan het heden met zijn aannames en beperkingen. Om te zien wat zich om de hoek bevindt.
Voor mij was het lezen. Het was de literatuur. Maar alle kunstvormen kunnen ons helpen onze verbeeldingskracht te ontwikkelen.
Dat is cruciaal.
We kunnen ons andere levens voorstellen – waaronder het onze. Maar we kunnen ons ook andere uitkomsten voorstellen, en dat is nog belangrijker.
Wat ik me zoveel jaar geleden op straat realiseerde was dat ik mezelf als fictie en als feit kon lezen. Het verhaal kon veranderen.'
December 23, 2025
When I read Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion last year, I had described it as “like 1001 Nights set in Europe”. I had no idea then that she was writing a handbook for the actual Nights.
”Empires vanish. Buildings rise and fall. Still we meet on the steps of a story.”
I could say this is the best non-fiction I’ve read recently, but is it non-fiction? What is fiction? What isn’t fiction? She walks us through stories, in ancient times, in modern times, and into the future. Either Shahrazad’s, or her own. Just like 1001 Nights, and just like life, the stories get interrupted with other stories, and begin again, countless times.
”And stories reflect the concerns of the storyteller. No story is neutral or objective. That doesn't make stories unreliable - they are reliably the record of difference and change. The damage we do, the evil we do, is when we twist the facts to fit our warped storytelling.”
With her brilliant prose, this is a great read about storytelling, with a not-so-light touch on contemporary issues, from AI to taxing the super rich.
March 21, 2026
‘Imagination is our only way to see beyond the present emergency. Imagination allows compassion, even to those who do not deserve it. Imagination is willing to tell the story again.
Imagination is the power of change.
King of the World, what follows is more marvellous yet…
Imagination is the power of change.
King of the World, what follows is more marvellous yet…
January 4, 2026
A conversation with an author is a privilege and Winterson has concluded that this is what readers want, even if what we tend to look for nowadays are sound bites and biography. Opinions get you cancelled all too often, so instead we have Winterson’s imagination with a good dose of experience in lieu of excessive biography or grandstanding (for biography you can read her two other books Oranges and Why be happy…, as she points out). It is amazing in the true sense of the word to have living authors creating works to interact with. Thank you.
June 7, 2026
Oh my god. Just now picking myself up off the floor after finishing this. I love you Jeanette Winterson. A fascinating, engrossing web of fiction, memoir, and social and political commentary. I would like this book in the hands of all 8 billion of us.
❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Read
July 30, 2026So I've been in a big art rut right? I pick this up thinking it's some short stories to read before next book. But no! It's all about the power of literature to transport us and open our world, mixing in memoir and critical analysis of A Thousand and One Nights. Very genre bending in a cool way and yeah it is helping me reconnect with art. I love books.
March 19, 2026
very cool. has me wanting to actually read the arabian nights.
January 2, 2026
This novel is more than a meditation on the importance of stories and storytelling- it is an unravelling of everything you think you know, a window into a new world of perspectives. The tangential nature of the stream of consciousness style of writing feels like sitting down having a red wine with Winterson while she imparts her wisdom through a wealth of stories. It’s unique structure of pulling out universal truths from decadent stories in the Nights emphasise the message of the book itself. Reading it felt like turning everything I thought I knew on its head whilst simultaneously speaking to something I knew all along in my soul- like cleaning off the grime of false truths learned over the years. The beauty of the text glows beyond the words on the page to tint the lens through which you view the world, forcing you to stare a little longer and inquire a little deeper. At times it felt as if she reached inside me to pop open the seal of Solomon on a jar, letting out the truths I had stored away.
January 11, 2026
This wasn't terrible but it was disappointing coming from an author whose work I have really respected and loved. This book just tries to do too much: it's a retelling of 1000 nights, blended with literary analysis and cultural critique and elements of memoir. That pitch appeals to me, but in practice the narrative is so meandering and unfocused that nothing really manage to hook me and keep me interested. From another author, there is no doubt in my mind that this would have been a DNF.
I also felt like a lot of the arguments in this book were very superficial and self-evident, and it feels like a book that preaches to the choir, rather than trying to meaningful advance some of the more progressive viewpoints. Of course, there are occasional nuggets of pure brilliance, but it was a lot of work to only trip across a few of those.
I also felt like a lot of the arguments in this book were very superficial and self-evident, and it feels like a book that preaches to the choir, rather than trying to meaningful advance some of the more progressive viewpoints. Of course, there are occasional nuggets of pure brilliance, but it was a lot of work to only trip across a few of those.
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