A Christmas Carol is, and probably always will be, my favorite Dickens book; it's spooky and charming and pulls at your heartstrings. It was just as magical this time around as in all my previous readings and viewings of the story (I kept remembering the Disney movie with Donald's uncle as Scrooge, which is probably the most nostalgic version for me).

[Reread, December 2024]

For me, Christmas isn't Christmas without A Christmas Carol. I've just about fit in a reading of the audiobook version before New Year's Eve brings the festivities to a close tomorrow. That was a squeaker!

I've loved this book since I first read it as a kid; I must've been about seven or eight and it's been one of my favourite books ever since. I mean, it's got everything: it's scary, it's heartbreaking, it's joyful, it's life enriching and it's beautifully written. OK, there's no sex, but we can forgive Dickens for that; kids are gonna read this for goodness' sake! Man, there's always one... Sheesh...

During December of every year, the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City displays the original manuscript edition of Charles Dickens’ best-known Christmas novel, A Christmas Carol, which was acquired by the American financier, J. P. Morgan, sometime just before the turn of the Twentieth Century. The manuscript was inherited by his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr., who established the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924, and included the manuscript in the collection. Conservators at the museum have painstakingly cleaned and restored the manuscript, and it has now been published in a new edition by W. W. Norton & Company. The official publication date is 2017, but the book has been available since early November.

This edition contains a foreword by Colm Toibin and an introduction by Declan Kiely, placing the book in context, and describing Dickens’ efforts to produce the story, which he did over the space of six weeks. They also describe the book’s early reception and the later history of the manuscript itself.

Following is the familiar tale of how the notorious skinflint, Ebeneezer Scrooge, is visited by three spirits one Christmas Eve and is transformed into a generous man of good will, “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world…. [A man who] knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

The book is constructed with the original manuscript pages on each left-hand (even-numbered) page, with the corresponding printed version of the story on the right or odd-numbered pages. It is thus possible to read the finished book and see the changes that Dickens made as he was writing it. Sadly, this takes some effort. The author’s handwriting leaves a great deal to be desired and the manuscript pages are a bit faint. A reader who wants to seriously study the manuscript pages would be well-advised to have a good magnifying glass close at hand.

That said, this is a very nice edition of the story, and the forward and the introduction are both very illuminating. This is an edition of the book that should appeal to any reader who returns to the story of Scrooge and Tiny Tim every year about this time.

(Please note that a few years ago, another attempt was made to do roughly the same thing with this book. I have not seen the earlier effort, but have read complaints that it was not very well done. The two editions should not be confused.)

"I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer."
"You were always a good friend to me," said Scrooge. "Thank'ee!"
"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "by Three Spirits."
Scrooge's countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost's had done.
"Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls One. Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!"

I have long been an atheist, but I do have family members who are religious, and I enjoy the giving spirit and pleasant atmosphere of Christmas and the holiday season, which I celebrate in a secular fashion, using it as an opportunity to recharge after a busy, stress-filled work year and spend time with family. A Christmas Carol, in the form of the 1999 film of the same name (starring Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge), has long been one of my favourite stories. I watch the movie every year around Christmas, and along with Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, and Jingle All the Way, it has a prominent place among my very favourite Christmas movies. Though I've seen the movie many times, I somehow never read the original source material, Charles Dickens' 1843 novella, so I resolved to do that this year, and am glad I did, because it was a phenomenal book.

The novella, like the film, is a rollercoaster of emotions, starting off bleak and hopeless but quickly changing gears when Scrooge is visited by the Spirits, culminating in a wonderful emotional journey that results in a brilliant conclusion, by which Scrooge has completed a fascinating 180-degree turn from horrible antagonist to enchanting protagonist.

The characters in this book are all highly memorable, from Scrooge himself, to his beleaguered clerk Bob Cratchit, to Cratchit's iconic, crutch-laden, terminally-ill son Tiny Tim, to Scrooge's always upbeat nephew Fred. In addition to this, the three Spirits each have their own very distinct appearance, personality, and manner of speaking, making them highly memorable as well.

And the iconic scenes! This book is absolutely filled with them. Like the one parodied by The Simpsons, where Mr. Burns/Scrooge leans out the window and asks the boy down below what day it is. The book, of course, does it better:

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head.
"What's to-day!" cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.
"Eh?" returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.
"What's to-day, my fine fellow?" said Scrooge.
"To-day!" replied the boy. "Why, Christmas Day."



I also find that, despite being written 178 years ago, some of the book's insights still hold up incredibly well today. There was one particular scene in Scrooge's office where his nephew Fred was telling him that Christmas is the only time each year where people actually treat one another with decency, and like they're fellow human beings. I have long observed and believed this myself, and witness it every year; people simply act friendlier to each other around the holidays. And Dickens pointed this out 178 years ago.

I could go on all day about this book and the great lessons it teaches. Whether you are religious or not, there is something for you within these pages; it is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stories ever told, and I highly recommend you read it.

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Heartwarming, atmospheric and sweet
Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!
‘I will live in the past, present and future!’

I don't have much to say about A Christmas Carol that has not been said a thousand times before. I found it a lovely, atmospheric read, with a satisfying turn around of Scrooge from his initial chagrin. Maybe in a modern book such a full reversal would be deemed saccharine and for naive children but I feel Charles Dickens did an excellent job of offering hope of redemption and betterment in this novella.
What could be more Christmas like?
And besides, he is genuinely funny, making Scrooge for instance almost say the following to a supernatural apparition:
He then made bold to inquire what business brought him here.
‘Your welfare’ said the ghost.
Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.

I always need to slow down to read this, to savor every perfect sentence and visualize the beauty of its atmosphere, and cadence of its sounds. I especially love the way Dickens describes the feeling of winter during the times in London. The feeling of walking in England, the feeling of cold. With each reading, I get something more: there is just so much Light in this story.

Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte von Charles Dickens ist schon eine Weihnachtstradition bei uns. Jedes Jahr zur Weihnachtszeit wird die Verfilmung gesehen. In diesem Jahr habe ich mir auch das Hörbuch angehört. Es hat mir sehr gefallen. Ich mag die Geschichte einfach und die Botschaft, die dahintersteht.

I enjoyed this reading very much. This is my favorite Christmas story. It is a story of a very greedy bitter selfish man who gets visited by three ghosts on Christmas eve.
The ghost of Christmas present, The ghost of Christmas past, and the ghost of Christmas past.
His heart is touched and opened to the spirit of Christmas and generousity.

Brilliant, strange and treacly. But no, you’re not going to get me criticising Charles Dickens, that would be absurd. I know a cat can look at a king, but if the cat starts asking the courtiers if they think the king is piling on the pounds or glugging more bubbly than might be strictly healthy the cat will be taken to the nearest parapet and booted out of the palace. So wild horses wouldn’t get me to say that in this famous but really pretty weird short novel Dickens rams each point home with the brute force of a sledgehammer wielded by the mighty Thor himself. And you would have to waterboard me for hours before I would confess that the patented Tiny Tim treacle is ladled all over the reader until every orifice is sealed shut and no normal emotions can enter or leave, the only thing left is infinite compassion for every living thing, especially little children with bad legs. Anyway, infinite compassion is a good thing, although it might prove tiring in the long run. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t tried it yet.

It’s often true that when you get round to finally reading a famous book that you thought you already knew from a jillion adaptations to the point where for your entire life you thought you didn’t need to read it you find it’s quite different to what you thought it was, and that is the case here. A Christmas Carol is ten times trippier than I was expecting, and hardly anything actually happens. Scrooge really does say Bah Humbug! – that delighted me – and TT really does say God Bless us all, every one – but Scrooge and TT never meet and to prove he’s a changed man Scrooge simply buys a huge turkey (the shops were open on Christmas Day then) and sends it to the Cratchitts’ (it’ll take hours to cook but that is not our concern) and turns up for dinner unannounced at his nephew’s house, and they’re all “hey, uncle Scrooge, great to see you, have a leg” – it seems all he has to do is say “hey, I’m a changed man – no more bah humbug!” and everyone immediately bellows a song about comfort and joy and rolls out the red carpet. It’s a good thing the National Probation Service doesn’t run on those principles.

And I say trippier because most of the story is of Scrooge whizzing through time and space attached to the hem of the garment of his latest spirit guide, aka ghost. He had clearly been partaking of some Christmas mushrooms. Really, A Christmas Carol is all about the Scrooge. The other characters are hasty scribbles.

This was book 4 in my GR summer reading challenge – a book you can read in a day.

This is just a classic. Perhaps the best didactic tale about generosity out there. My Dad used to read it to my sister and I at Christmas, and I've seen every musical and movie version ever made.

ETA December 2019:
My Dad used to read us A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens every year when I was a kid. Now that he's gone I'm lucky to have other readers to listen to. The NYPL put on a live reading with Neil Gaiman with the sole remaining "prompt" copy of the tale, with Dickens' own markings for live readings.

2022 has been a rough year for me personally, but one highlight is that it has been the year I finally got into the works of Charles Dickens. Dickens has been one of those authors who I’ve felt like I needed to read for quite some time (I majored in English and not a professor assigned him all those years ago). I started with A Tale of Two Cities and moved on directly after it to Oliver Twist. Now we’re at my third Dickens work and what better book to read at this time of the year than A Christmas Carol?

I won’t go into the plot. You all know it. We’ve seen hundreds of adaptations, they follow the same storyline, they all have practically the same dialogue. In fact, if you can think of a notable scene that you don’t see in EVERY adaptation, it’s likely because it was not in the original. It actually was remarkably interesting reading this and practically knowing every response in dialogue as I’d seen so many of the adaptations every year since childhood.

So is the book worth a read? You already know it is. It’s a classic for good reason. It’s a wonderful story and it is one of Dicken’s shortest works, but it packs more of an impact in its short page count than many a longer book could ever hope to. It receives a full 5/5 stars from me...

But no, I will never do the Tiny Tim line, as I’m sure most other Tims would refuse to do as well.

Is there anyone who is not familiar with this timeless classic? If you find yourself saddened or depressed by the ever present commercialization of Christmas this short novel by Dickens will rekindle your spirits and remind us of it's true meaning. And as Tiny Tim said:

"God bless Us, Every One!"