Had I read the book before seeing the movie, I might have enjoyed this more fully. It helps tremendously that it’s read by Dick Cavett, who captures that wry tone of voice that Jean Shepherd used in narrating the movie. The primary difference between the two is that the events in the book are more a disconnected set of stories, rather than events woven together to make it flow. But still, an entertaining story and worth 3 ½ hours spent listening to it.

Audio version, via Audible.

It was really fun reading the source material for one of my favorite Christmas movies. Even though the book as a whole was a bit disjointed since it's made up of mostly unrelated short stories, it was a very enjoyable read. I love the author's writing style and sense of humor.

These short stories, which provided the basis for the popular holiday movie classic "A Christmas Story" are all very witty, clever and charmingly nostalgic! Jean Shepherd was a brilliant humorist.

I really loved the stories, but not so much the narrator because it seemed to fast to me. Still 4 stars!

I have always wanted to listen to this and see how it compared to the movie, which is one of my favorites. I have to say, I thought the movie did a great job in stringing together the various vignettes of the book into a cohesive story - and adding in more good bits in the process! I got a little more background from listening to the book - as in, how the Old Man won the major award; but overall, I think the movie is great at "translating" the book.

Dick Cavett reads the audio version, which seemed a little odd to me. Maybe I am thinking too much about Cavett's urbane talk show personality not being a good fit for the audio book. It would have had been better to have Jean Shepard read his own work, but perhaps he was not available - don't know.

Man, this was great. "A Christmas Story" is an all-time favorite film, so I'm glad I finally read the source material. While Shepherd has a knack to go off on a tangent at times, he does a great job at capturing the humor of the stories that we're all familiar with from the movie.

Actually, the movie was based on a chapter from Jean Shepard's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Following the popularity of one of cinema's finest Christmas offerings that chapter was expanded and published in this volume. Shepard's biting wit and dry delivery is on par with the likes of Dave Barry and Bill Bryson. I would likely have given this a higher rating were it not for the fact that the movie is shown about 23,000 times during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

It’s hard not to love stories by Jean Shepherd, and this audio version narrated by Dick Cavett is no exception. Shepherd’s reminiscences of childhood and family life are hilarious and take us back to a simpler time before computers, Nintendo games and such, and cell phones dominated kids’ Christmas lists. The Christmas music and numerous sound effects just add to the delightful experience.

It was hard to rate this book. I'm too close to the movie. Like many people, I've been watching A Christmas Story at least once a year for as long as I can remember. As such, I'm not in a very good position to rate this book. But I wanted to read the stories, and the adaptation of books to film has long been an interest of mine.

First of all, it is really hard to read this and not pick out iconic lines you remember from the movie. Likewise, it is hard to have an objective view point on things that are different from the movie. A lot of people would say the movie is better than the book. As a whole, I would agree. The movie is better than this book, as a whole. But this book isn't a whole. It's a collection of short stories that were never mean to be collected in this way. Four of the stories come from "In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash) and one came from Playboy.

Still as individual stories, these are great. The setting is much darker than the movie. Industrial towns during the depression could be rough, and essentially, that is where you are set. There is a constant feeling of poverty that seems missing from the movie. Many of the stories are told as recollections of a narrator who has his own minor storyline. Some of these are very fun. I liked the "Disarm the Toy Industry!" woman and the modern art girl. They were a lot of fun.

The writing is fantastical, as you would expect from a young boy viewing the world, but at the same time it is water tight. There isn't a single wasted word. While written in a very literary way, it isn't overwritten. Technically, it is outstanding.

I definitely recommend the book. Just try not to go in to it expecting a novelization of the movie.

Dick Cavett was the perfect narrator for this book. I just loved how it was executed. This is one of those examples where listening is even more enjoyable than reading.

Simply the best Christmas tale. Why did I wait so long to read this?! I grew up loving the movie and being proud that it was written by a Hoosier who lovingly wrote about where I grew up (the "region"). Reading this collection of short stories (taken from another short story collection by Jean Shepherd) that inspired the cult classic Christmas movie, I was in awe of how truly funny it was. I literally laughed out loud on multiple occasions much to the annoyance of my cats. I can't praise it enough. It's fantastic and I want to reread it every holiday season. It's too damn good to read just once. For fans of the movie adaptation, humor, and Hoosiers. Not to be missed!

Way not as good as the movie. The movie distilled the vignettes in the book and made it more than a rambling series of anecdotes.