What a fantastic story! How terrible it was to be poor in the Victorian Era. Dickens was a humanitarian and saw first hand the poverty in the streets of London. The starving urchins trying to steal an apple or a handkerchief. The void between the rich and the poor. This story, like Oliver Twist in my opinion is a masterpiece.

The musicals are just, brilliant.

Reread December 2021. My plan was to read A Christmas Carol sometime in December, before Christmas – that part didn't quite work out. What did work in my favor was the finding of an old, cloth-bound printed copy at the library sale earlier this month. It's called “Charles Dickens's Works”: Christmas Stories. Maybe I'll read a few of the other stories next year, but my understanding is that none come close to exhibiting the feelings of Dickens's first and most popular Christmas tale. In essence, it is much more than simply a Christmas story. For me, I think it will always be five stars.

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December 2015 review:

It has spawned many a movie adaptation, books and other stories similar to it. Like all of Dickens’ works, the story is a lesson, this one in a long parable. It’s the story of seeing ourselves in the mirror, and getting a second chance. Probably one of the better told.

Dickens does not waste time or words in this book. It is short and to the point. Within A Christmas Carol, I remember the time spent with The Ghost of Christmas Future most. This ghost enters in and does not speak. Scrooge can’t help himself. He needs answers out of fear, so tries a few questions. “You are about to show me shadow of things that have not happened. I fear you more than any specter I have seen… Will you not speak to me?” It is Past and Present that opened a crack in Ebenezer’s heart, but it is Future that truly bares it.

My favorite part is, of course, the ending. This audiobook was read by Simon Prebble - excellent character reading.

“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy schoolgirl. I am as giddy as a drunken man broad!!

A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!" (A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens)

And what better way to end the year than with one of my favourite books and an iconic Christmas story, written by one of my all-time favourite authors, Charles Dickens. A story that embraces everything Christmas should be and with a timeless message of kindness to all people and the importance of generosity in spirit, what more could you ask for. Ahhhhhh

RTC in the next few days.

NEW STORY IDEA:

So, there’s this really rich dude, and he’s kind of a prick, and he has like a fuck ton of money but no friends, okay? So late one night, he’s fast asleep, when all of a sudden he’s awoken by the sound of this awful fucking RATTLING downstairs. He’s all like, “WTF?”, so he gets out of bed, lights a candle, and goes off to investigate.

When he gets down there, no shit, there’s the ghost of Bob Marley smoking a giant spliff in his kitchen. Later on, he’ll be visited by the ghosts of Janis Joplin and Whitney Houston as well. I’m still in the outlining stage for now, but let’s just say that things might get a lit-tle crazy toward the end. People wind up partying a bit.

Anyway, I was thinking about calling it “Ebenezer and the Three Really Fucked-up Ghosts.” What do you think?

Un classico che da troppo tempo mancava alla mia libreria.
Con libri così non valgono i normali metri di giudizio: la trama è scontata quel che basta, i personaggi mancano della minima psicologia, e la conversione di Scrooge appare repentina e pressoché ingiustificata.
Eppure, è uno di quei classici che fa sognare i bambini, che continua a far sospirare gli adulti, e che fa brillare gli occhi dei non-più-adolescenti-ma-da-poco, come me, al ricordo di vecchi natali trascorsi sul tappeto davanti l’usurata VHS del Canto di Natale Disney.

C’è magia in questo libro, come c’è magia nel Natale.
Chiunque sia rimasto un po’ bambino dentro non può fare a meno di amarlo.

Am avut un prieten care citea în fiecare an - de Crăciun, firește - cartea lui Dickens. Putea cita de la orice pagină, după vreo 50 de lecturi, o știa pe de rost. A încercat să mă facă și pe mine un fan al cărții. Am parcurs Povestea..., mi s-a părut cam didactică, am rămas sceptic.

Abia acum am ajuns s-o recitesc, au trecut mai bine de zece ani, m-am înstrăinat de prieteni, nu mă mai impresionează sugestiile lor. Franc vorbind, cînd am redeschis cartea, nu mă așteptam la cine știe ce revelație, presimțeam o nouă dezamăgire: nu sînt nici sentimental, nici credul.

S-a petrecut probabil ceva în mintea mea, vreun aflux de serotonină, o schimbare de ADN, o îmbulzire de hormoni, o inflamație a amigdalei cerebrale. Poveste de Crăciun m-a emoționat și, în pofida judecății mele estetice, mi-a plăcut. Chiar mi-a plăcut... E un fantasy din care aflăm că minunile sînt cu putință măcar într-o zi din cele 365 ale anului, în seara de Ajun, care poate dura trei nopți (ca în cazul lui Ebenezer Scrooge).

Conversiunea protagonistului e un miracol împotriva firii și a principiilor psihologiei. Nimeni nu se modifică radical peste noapte. Oricîte duhuri îl vizitează și îl bagă în sperieți pe un zgîrcit (mă rezum la apariția defunctului Jacob Marley), el nu poate deveni un binefăcător, e o imposibilitate. Dar dacă principiile încetează, măcar de Crăciun, să mai fie valabile? În fond, de ce nu...

Dincolo de întîlnirile cu aspect gotic din prima parte a cărții și de remușcările lui Scrooge, ea ține de genul carnavalesc, al veseliei dezlănțuite. Dickens știa foarte bine că nu există „le pays de de Cocagne”, țara oamenilor care trîndăvesc între ospețe și se înfruptă pe săturate cînd nu trîndăvesc. În Poveste de Crăciun, a fi fericit înseamnă a mînca pe săturate împreună cu toți ceilalți. Cocagne e un vis al flămînzilor. Tărîmul a fost inventat de goliarzii medievali și e numit ca atare în textele din Carmina burana. În Gargantua și Pantagruel, Rabelais a reluat visul gastronomic.

Charles Dickens descrie cu vervă și umor acest tărîm al abundenței și risipei. Enumerările culinare, care se întind pe pagini întregi, sînt, negreșit, savuroase: „Aici puteai admira coșuri mari, rotunde, ticsite de castane..., strecurîndu-se pe la uși și rostogolindu-se pe străzi în abundența lor nebună. Erau și cepe roșii din Spania, mari și rotunde... Erau pere și mere, puse unele peste altele în piramide imense, și ciorchini de struguri care... se legănau la vedere, atîrnați de cîrlige... Erau grămezi de alune care, prin mireasma lor, te duceau cu gîndul la foșnetul frunzelor uscate... și erau afine, bondoace și oacheșe, contrastînd cu galbenul lămîilor și al portocalelor...” (pp.87-88).

Zărim prin această enumerare, care i-ar fi plăcut neîndoielnic și lui Umberto Eco, ceva din bogăția acelui tărîm mult jindut de sărmani...

Merry Christmas my friends! May love, peace and happiness be your reward. Oh and also lots of books! God bless us, every one!
Helga

Master Scrooge is bleak and tightfisted; he is as cold and foggy as the weather outside. His precept is ‘the cheaper the better’, and one thing he hates the most is the Christmas celebrations.

If I could work my will, said Scrooge indignantly, every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.

For scrooge, darkness is cheap, charity a sin and avarice a virtue.
Has he always been this niggardly uncongenial wretch or was he once a joyful youth; an amiable soul?
It’s Christmas time once more; a time to sing Carols and warm each other’s hearts. It’s Christmas time once more and for Scrooge it’s a time to be discourteous and unpleasant.
But arriving home on the eve, he is visited by Marley, his dead as a door-nail partner.

You are fettered, said Scrooge, trembling. Tell me why?
I wear the chain I forged in life, replied the Ghost. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.

You will be haunted he is told by the ghost by Three Spirits; by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
Is this a dream? Is it real?

* Read many times and will read many times more.

"Awakening in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore....."

A Christmas Carol, is the Xmas classic that everyone knows, regardless of whether they have actually read it or not. This is quite a short read, and on many levels, considering it's Dickens, it's rather an easy read too.
What I can appreciate with Dickens, is the depth of his writing. It's remarkable. I love the detail of the world building, and the lavish descriptions.
I should add, the "Bah Humbug!" makes me titter to myself. I have seen the films related to this, and that's the line I remember when thinking about this book.
Oh, and this hardback edition of the book, has a gorgeous cover. I would have bought it just to look at the cover!
What I like the most about this story is that it has messages for the reader, to go off, think about, and do what they will with them. I think that is also what makes this such a popular classic.

How many of you know an Ebenezer Scrooge? How many of you are Ebenezer Scrooge?

Written in 1843, A Christmas Carol is a novella that has stood the test of time.

This year, we didn’t put up a Christmas tree, and I haven’t been feeling the “Christmas spirit.” But this book squarely right sided the situation.

A Christmas Carol hits on some important societal issues, and it has iconic, unforgettable characters. It also has some laugh-out-loud moments.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

“What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.

“You wish to be anonymous?”

“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge.

As Scrooge explores what each of the ghosts has to show him, I loved how the ghosts use Scrooge’s own words against him.

This year, A Christmas Carol hit very differently. Over the past few years, I lost my ability to control my left leg due to a genetic defect.

Tiny Tim talks about going to church and says, “it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

This passage really got to me, and I started to cry. In February, I started an experimental treatment, and I was able to walk again. When I go to church, there are usually no seats left except in the front. As part of my genetic defect, my body can’t process protein. There are extremely high levels of protein in my blood including my brain, and it makes me unbearably tired.

What do people see when they see me sleeping in the third row of church? Do people see me as someone who gave what little energy they had to God? Or do they see someone lazy and disrespectful? Or should I not care and just be happy that I made it to church and that I can walk again?

A Christmas Carol is a great reminder to bring Christmas cheer. When talking about Scrooge, so many people choose to go positive and wish him a Merry Christmas. Who can we show kindness to this holiday season?

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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Amazing. A classic for a reason.

RE-READ: 2015. I read this book every Christmas Eve. It makes me laugh, it scares me, it makes me cry. So good! And so short! :) I must admit my favorite part is the first part where Scrooge is so grumpy and miserly. And the book is so classic, filled with classic lines that are so well-known it's a pleasure to read them because they are so familiar and true.

And, once again, it's short. No trouble to get through! Merry Christmas!

http://www.gocomics.com/bliss/2015/12/25

2017 Carmen checking in! Re-read this Christmas Eve. I'm always, always blown away by how good this book is. Very evocative, very well-written, funny, sad, touching... Dickens makes you laugh and cry as you are reading this. Powerful language. Short and easy to get through if you are scared to read Dickens for some reason. Highly recommended.

What is the best way to celebrate Christmas?
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There are many ways we can answer the above question.. But my first answer always will be - To reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.


n  My favorite three lines from this book. n
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"No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused"

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"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor."

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"Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh!"

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This is a book about love, family, empathy, and celebration. It will teach you how to prioritize things in your life correctly, love others, and laugh properly. It also will make you understand the importance of family in our lives.

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An literacy classic that is so synonymous that everyone is fully aware of the plot, be it this novel to the various adaptations.
The Muppets version is a particular favourite!

It's made such an impact that Bah! Humbug! is so commonly used over the festive period, whilst the traditional Turkey dinner soon became a popular choice after this publication.

I listened to Audible's full cast recording as my initial review had disappeared from Goodreads.
A stunning cast including Sir Derek Jacobi and Jenna Coleman really helped bring the story to life.