One of the most influential and anti grinchy works of all time.

It might be hard to impossible to find someone who hasn´t at least heard about this classic example of Christmas ethic seminar, something close to impossible to achieve and to thank Dickens for as a paladin of humanism. The story is well known, close to an epigenetic factor because of its prominence, so let´s drivel around the core element.

I don´t know where this kind of moral storytelling originated, probably tens of thousands of years ago when the first shaman or chief thought it would be cool to use vision, prophecy, the power of dreams, imagination and a grain of indoctrination to communicate the right behavior to her/his people. Ethics and moral are important, omnipresent, and timeless topics that shouldn´t be reduced to the few holidays of different religions to give people, working against the interests of humankind to enrich themselves the whole year, a bad conscience (as if this would be possible, as if they would even realize what monsters they are as they don´t directly kill, but just indirectly support the misery by playing key roles of a dysfunctional system), but used in everyday life, politics, and every single decision. Ok, before it gets completely unrealistic, I´ll better end this review.

Just one more if you have time? Great. A bit too much fourth wall breaking here today, sorry for that.

The bigotry and mendacity of society and the middle and upper classes have grown since Dickens times, as they were at least confronted with the poor and their suffering, directly starving on the streets next to the degenerated elite, while noblemen and ladies were worried there shoes or clothes could get stained if a dying person collapses in their direction as blood was so difficult to get out those days without fancy detergent tech.

Today, the hardship and slums are kept far away from the modern, beautiful, important parts of cities, recreational and cultural centers, etc. so that nobody has to burden her/himself with thinking or even worrying about the majority of people living in precarious conditions to serve the upper class to enable their useless, earth shattering consumption and snobbish spare time activities they need wage slaves for to really enjoy, as they can´t even get their lazy buttocks moving to make themselves a coffee or meal or find hobbies not involving dozens of minimum wage paid people needed to support their entertainment.

Not even to mention the Southern hemisphere and the immense, unnecessary, by a fair economic system easily preventable, suffering of billions and dying of tens of millions of people directly caused by this system.

But hey, merry Christmas everyone.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

Чудесна призрачна история! „Коледна песен“ притежава вълнуваща готическа атмосфера и ценни морални поуки... Дикенс майсторски е съчетал светли и мрачни послания в кратка повест, както и вложил в нея отлично чувство за хумор.

Ебенизър Скрудж е легендарен мрачен скъперник, който ненавижда празнуването на Коледа и отрича смисъла на благотворителността като цяло. Обаче, през една коледна нощ бизнесменът е посетен от призрака на някогашния си съдружник Джейкъб Марли и впоследствие от още 3 духа, заради които решава да промени светогледа си...





„Скрудж нямаше много навика да пуска шеги, пък и точно тогава, искрено казано, съвсем не му беше до смешки. Истината е, че той се опитваше да бъде остроумен, за да отклони собственото си внимание и да потуши ужаса си; защото гласът на привидението смразяваше дори мозъка на костите му.“


„Ако чуеха как Скрудж изразходва цялата си ревност за такива въпроси, с толкова особен глас между смях и плач, и ако видеха пламналото му и възбудено лице, приятелите му от деловите среди много биха се изненадали.“


„Защото хората, които ринеха снега от покривите, бяха изпълнени с радост и веселие, като се провикваха едни на други от парапетите и от време на време си разменяха шеговито снежни топки — къде по-добронамерени оръжия от много словесни шеги — и се смееха сърдечно, ако топката улучеше, и не по-малко сърдечно, ако не улучеше.“


„— На тази ваша ��емя има някои — отвърна духът, — които претендират, че ни познават, и които вършат своите дела на ярост, гордост, зла воля, омраза, завист, фанатизъм и себелюбие в наше име, и които са чужди нам и на всички нам подобни, сякаш никога не са живели. Помни това и отдавай делата им на тях, не на нас.“


„Те сякаш не влязоха в града, а по-скоро той изникна около тях и ги обгради по своя собствена воля. И ето те се озоваха там, в самото му сърце.“


— Ще живея в миналото, настоящето и бъдещето! — повтори Скрудж, като се измъкна от леглото. — Духовете и на трите ще се борят вътре в мене...“


„Собственото му сърце се смееше, и това му беше съвсем достатъчно.“

4.75⭐️ a brilliant classic, probably going to read this every year now

*Read for class

1. This is the first book I've finished in September I am so damn excited.
2. I have endless love for this story because my mom is obsessed with Christmas movies so I've seen at least a million adaptations of it. Happy to say the book was even better! Short and sweet, yet still Dickensian!

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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I’ve seen countless film, TV and stage adaptations of A Christmas Carol, but it wasn’t until this week that I read the actual text. Which is strange. I adore Dickens. If pressed, I’d call him one of my all-time favourite authors. But it’s a busy time of year, and when I watch the films it’s usually in a social situation.

This week I found myself with a few extra hours and finally read the novella. Wow. I’m very glad I did. Here are some thoughts:

• I can see why it’s so frequently adapted and has stood the test of time

The structure is brilliant. Think of all the characters Scrooge interacts with in the opening section (Cratchit, his nephew, the people from the charity). Notice how he encounters them all in the final section, too! The dialogue is so clear and sharp screenwriters don’t have to change much. And that dialogue has to be memorable (“Are there no prisons?” “Decrease the surplus population”) in order to register when the lines are thrown back at him later.

• Dickens’ description of Scrooge is amazing:

Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.

Look at that series of words (“squeezing, wrenching, grasping…”). They tell you everything you need to know about the man. I'm not sure I like “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” – we already get that. But what colourful, character-rich description. I LOVE the flint that doesn’t give generous fire! And that then leads to the passage about how the coldness WITHIN HIM affects his features. Brilliant.

• I love the humour

Scrooge (say the name and your face scrunches up in a snarl) walks in the street and here's Dickens explaining how people avoid him:

No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!”

That “what it was o’clock” and “such and such a place” are classic and timeless. I love that bit about the dogs. It’s visual and funny.

When the ghost of Marley visits Scrooge (speaking of which: that chain of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, etc. is a brilliant, brilliant image and metaphor!), I always, ALWAYS laugh at Scrooge's explanation: "a little thing affects [the senses]. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"

The smug pun on "gravy" and "grave" is amusing, and there's a poetry of sorts in that "fragment of an underdone potato."

• The story moves at a clip!

After Scrooge leaves his office, there’s this: “Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker’s-book, went home to bed.” I figured there’d be a whole couple of paragraphs at the restaurant. Nope!

What’s amazing about the text is that after his transformation (I’m assuming this isn’t a spoiler), there are only some 6 pages left for him to realize it’s still Christmas Day, order the turkey (I love the exchange with the boy on the street) for Cratchit and his family, walk the streets as with renewed vigour, go to his nephew’s for Christmas dinner and then surprise Cratchit the next day. That’s a LOT to fit in.

Here’s the exchange at his nephew Fred’s home:

“Why bless my soul!” cried Fred, “who’s that?”
“It’s I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?”
Let him in! It is a mercy he didn’t shake his arm off. He was at home in five minutes. Nothing could be heartier. His niece looked just the same. So did Topper when he came. So did the plump sister when she came. So did every one when they came. Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happiness!
But he was early at the office next morning…”

Most adaptations understandably have Scrooge asking Fred for some sort of forgiveness, to add an emotional beat that recalls Scrooge's dead sister. But Dickens, who’s often accused of writing too much, goes right to the next scene!

• The name of Scrooge’s kindly old boss, Mr. Fezziwig (see above illustration)

His name always makes me laugh. But to READ the name in print is almost more fizzy fun than to merely hear it said.

• Social conscience

Dickens knew poverty and his books shed light on the social inequities of the Victorian era: the workhouses, debtors’ prisons, etc. His sensitivity comes through even in this short book, not just in that classic sequence about Ignorance and Want, but also in the scene in which the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the miners’ village and then to spy on a couple of sailors (“the elder… with his face all damaged and scarred with hard weather, as the figure-head of an old ship might be: struck up a sturdy song that was like a Gale in itself”). After the great scene at nephew Fred’s place, where they play the game that involves Scrooge, comes this passage:

The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery’s every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.

Wow. I love this passage. It’s expansive, encompassing many people and lives.

• Sentimentality

Okay, there’s the matter of Tiny Tim: “and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.” So Tim NEVER dies?

• Let’s instead concentrate on Dickens’s insights into human behaviour:

If you look at the Cratchit’s dinner during the Ghost Of Christmas Present scene, I love how Dickens shows how the family’s in denial about the size of the meal: “There never was such a goose…. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole famly; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn’t ate it all at last! Yet every one had had enough…”

Dickens makes even the most minor character memorable. Consider all the fuss about Master Peter Cratchit’s collars, something that’s classic if you substitute those collars for the latest teen fashion. And Dickens even gives us this little bit near the end of that scene: “… and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker’s.”

This is Dickens acknowledging human truths. He’s not judging, simply observing. Yes, the book is a ghost story and a tad sentimental. But what makes it a classic are details like this that show how flawed, limited people can be redeemed by the thought and spirit of something larger than themselves.

To quote from near the story's end: "May that be truly said of us, and all of us!"

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------

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.

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.

Possibly the best Christmas book EVER. Not only the greatest story since the original (you know, the one in the New Testament), but combined with P.J. Lynch's magnificent illustrations, this book is a gift you can open year after year!

Reread 2012: I had a sudden revelation this morning as I finished this book. It's not just the greatest Christmas book ever, but I have realized that it is probably in my Top Ten of All Time. Such a beautiful work! If anything can be a favorite part, it's the Fezziwig Christmas party, and the description of the dancing.

Reread 2013: Had a revelation just anticipating reading this this year: This is one of my all-time favorite books. I could read this any time of year.

Reread 2014: So much love for this story. So much love.

Reread 2015: I always try to make it through without crying, especially when Tiny Tim dies, and then the ending, when he did NOT die, but I failed again. And then I realized: If I don't tear up at that, I'm probably dead or a sociopath.

Reread 2016: Was able to hand off the book to my daughter to read the parts when Tiny Tim does/doesn't die. The benefit of having kids!

Reread 2017: Woohoo! Managed to make it through the ending without becoming an incoherent mess!

Reread 2018: Finished in the car on the way to the Hogle Zoo for Zoolights. Had to hand it behind me to my 10yo daughter to read the last page. Just the best book ever.

Reread 2019: Just so damn good.

Reread 2020: Clutches book to chest. Gazes mistily into the distance.

Reread 2021: Didn't finish until January, as we got a late start. Still glorious. This year I didn't even make it to Nephew Fred's house, and had to have my daughter take over!

Reread 2022: Made it through Nephew Fred's house, but had son take over for the scenes at the Cratchit's house in both the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and the Epilogue!

Reread 2023: Choked up several times over different things this year, also we all like to yell out Rizzo's lines from The Muppet Christmas Carol, when appropriate.

Reread 2024: Just the best.

im usually not a seasonal reader, but this year i tried to make an effort to read a couple of holiday themed books and im so glad i saved this for last!

i grew up very familiar with the story of ‘a christmas carol’ via multiple adaptations (shoutout to the flintstones version from my childhood!), but i cant believe i never read the actual book itself. dickens is such a well known author, so its difficult to not critique this as i normally would with a book. but i think the message of this story is so important and should be the focus of this review.

i personally know how easy it is to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and materialism and stress that can surround the holiday season. we fixate so much on sales and good deals and buying things to make us happy, that we can forget a loving word or spending quality time with those we care about are really what should be a priority. we should remember that kindness is the best gift we can give.

so let us follow scrooges (eventual) example, when he says ‘i will honour christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,' and allow the christmas spirit be something we not only feel this time of year, but always.

happy holidays and best wishes to all my fellow bookworms. <3

↠ 4 stars

n

We can look at this one of two ways, either I'm a bit late to do a Christmas Book Haul video or I'm hella early for next year.

(Click the link to see what other books arrived via the polar express).

Christmas won’t be a real Christmas without rewatching Die Hard and retreading A Christmas Carol.

Some classics magically make you feel better when you read them over and over again. Especially when we’re getting through one of the most tragic, compelling, challenging years of our lives, the kind of amazing classics help us remember what is really important in our lives: importance of family, intimacy, happiness, kindness and sharing.

I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge at this special day, but instead of ghost coworker of mine, my old self revisited me ( nope, thankfully I’m not delusional and I didn’t start drinking in the morning. ) it was more like walking through memory lane of your life. I think with the inspirational light shone through this story, we all rethink our lives, rethink the times we got bittersweet, tasteless, unhappy, grumpy just like Mr. Scrooge did all the time. It was like walking in the dark without hope, till we raise our heads and realize there are still stars shining to light our path!

This meaningful, poignant, powerful has unique magic to warm our hearts and whisper to our ears : everything will be all right!

I want to share my favorite quotes of this one of my all time favorite reads:
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

“There are some upon this earth of yours who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name; who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

“You fear the world too much,' she answered gently. 'All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?”

“I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”