REREADING IN 2017 BUT I REPEAT EVERYTHING BELOW TO MY UN-SCROOGY FRIENDS.

n  I wish a most UN-SCROOGY Christmas to all my GR Friends.n

With lots of:




Merriment




Christmas Love




Generous and very Christmasy Gifts




Copious and Delicious Food




Not too much drinking



Christmas Games




Another watch of The Nutcracker




And of course...Fascinating and Beautiful Books




And to remember what Scrooge learnt:

n  I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!n

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?

n  The Christmas reading par excellence!n


n  A CLASSIC RE-IMAGINED ONCE AND AGAINn

I can't tell how many times I have watched some adaptation or another of this classic story...

...Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, the Real Ghostbusters, live action films, animated TV specials, etc...

...since this is one of the most adapted stories of all time.

A truly Christmas classic.

And this one of the few books that I think one hardly can deny that it's the novel that defines a genre, in this case:

n  Christmasn.

In popular genres like Science-Fiction and Horror, there are several books competing for the title of the lead book in the genre.

While in other genres like mafia, we have The Godfather; and in epic fantasy we have The Lord of the Rings, that there is a more common acceptance that those books are the lead ones on each genre.

And certainly, in books about Christmas, the impact and relevance of A Christmas Carol, not only put the season back in the conscience of people but define the very spirit and message of the holidays.


n  CHARACTER REDEMPTIONn

Ebenezer Scrooge got into the fields of the most popular book characters ever.

And indeed, a key factor for a book character to become effective with the readers is change, since any character that ends quite in the same state that he/she started on the beginning of the story, hardly can be named as a good book character. And Scrooge changes a lot in this story, so he didn't only became a popular character but the embodiment of a type of human personality.

Humbug!

I was so familiar with the story that I could "tell" it to anyone by memory, however I never actually read the original book.

I knew the story only from the several adaptations in media.

So, I thought that it was a very good moment to read the classic novel.

I loved it.

First, I didn't know that the chapters weren't named like that but instead, Dickens opted to named them "staves" since it was a "carol" (xmas song) what he was writing.

Moreover, the division of the story is just perfect since Dickens used the right number of "staves" to tell the story, denoting the perfect structure of the storytelling.

Great details that you only get on the reading experience of the story.

Also, not only I re-experienced yet again the immortal story but I met some details that I didn't recall to be mentioned in the adaptations that I have watched.

One of the spookiest details that I met on the reading was the mention that Marley's Ghost had been present in the company of Scrooge basically every night since his death, but only until that moment he was able to be visible in front of him. The very notion of living in a mansion where a ghost acompanies you every night without your knowledge is way scary! Also, I found quite interesting and impacting the part of the "children" named "Ignorance" and "Want". I don't remember to know about those details in the media adaptations. So, it was priceless to know "new" facts about a story that I have met so many times in my life.

So, even if you have watched so different versions of the classic tale as me, if you have the chance of actually reading the book, please, give it a chance, you won't regret it!

God bless us, everyone!

And Merry Christmas!

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.

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.

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...

‘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.’

Perhaps the ultimate Christmas story, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol has captivated hearts and minds each holiday season since it’s release in 1843. And what says Christmas quite like using the fear of death to sway a wicked, rich man into opening his eyes to the need for community, for sharing burdens, for using our brief time amongst the living to uplift one another instead of shackling others to debt and misery in order to enrich ourselves at the cost of all that is good and beautiful. Though it is not his death that shakes him up most, but seeing the effects of his actions and learning that empathy is the best path forward. This story is as festive as a tree freshly adorned with lights and has canonized itself as a holiday tradition in the great collage of seasonal influences. Dickens harnesses the joyful mystery of the Christmas season as a searing message of kindness, empathy and rebirth, placing a damned soul on the precipice of his legacy of ruin and causing an introspective trauma with enough blunt force to shatter the ice around his heart and open the possibilities of shared love. We all have our ghosts that haunt us—usually they don’t kidnap us from bed on Christmas Eve to rub our noses in the filth of our making to wash ourselves clean, but this does remind us maybe it could happen to you—and Dickens reminds us all to live better, live for each other as well as ourselves, and to give in to the spirit of the holidays.

‘There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.’

I have to thank my good friend Kenny for inspiring this read as it is his holiday tradition to have a Dickens December. Which gets me thinking about tradition, especially as I’ve been reading impressing upon the bliss of tradition. The holidays are a magical time because it is a season where it is socially acceptable across all fronts to emote. Sure it has become mired in capitalist steroids of expensive gifts, flashy displays, and all that jazz that pissed the Grinch off enough to rob everyone bare, but underneath it all is a tender heart of compassion and expressions of love that we can return to in our hearts. Traditions are like the shortcut to that passion. This story, for one, is a tradition in my family as I am quite fond of The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, and the power of this narrative to have the pulse of the holidays is part of the reason it has become a tradition for many and has been widely adapted. I grew up on the Alastair Sim version as well, finding it a bit dusty for my childhood tastes but now watching it is a quick route to warm memories. Same with It’s A Wonderful Life, a movie I couldn’t stand as a kid because it was SO long but now I can’t go a December without watching (while usually getting good and wine drunk and shouting along with every line, sorry everyone). It isn’t Christmas for me until my sister and I shout “Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!” to each other in bad Jimmy Stewart impressions and then retort “And a happy new years! In jail!” But enough about Christmas traditions.

This book is a pretty awesome punching up at society. Dickens shows the poor as downtrodden and oppressed, but captures the whole “salt of the earth” elements to show that their resilience and love shines bright enough in the darkness to make this whole tragicomedy of living worth the endeavor. Tiny Tim is a symbol of purity, like a Job unquestioning in his faith of goodness despite the hardships of his reality. And then we have Scrooge. The bad boss, the guy you cross the street to avoid, the man with nothing good to say and only greedy hands that will take your very soul if they can grasp you. Sweet Bob Cratchet labors away for him in the dimly lit office because ‘darkness was cheap, and Scrooge liked it,’ a line that makes me chuckle having worked in a factory where ‘being cold in winter is cheaper’ was a legit response to asking if we can get some heat. Dickens takes dead aim at the ruling elites and, through the help of three ghosts, shows that their money loving ways is a crash course to spiritual ruin and a legacy of shame.

Not to make this sound bleak, because Dickens is quite funny in fact. Also this book still feels wildly relevant in theme and message all these decades later.

I love that this is a ghost story. I love the infusion of horror with Christmas, I think it puts us closer to life by remembering death is part of the deal. I like the theory that the lamp gasses in the Victorian era lead to the telling of ghost stories because everyone was high as shit, which isn’t that different from my own Christmas Eve’s with friends. So carry on that tradition. But it also gets into how rather frightening a lot of religious messaging on hellfire and damned souls can be. Which has never been something I’ve enjoyed about religion but when you mix it with Christmas and tell a story like this, the holiday acts like sugar to sweeten it all into a pretty charming festive treat. Dickens story lives on, and understandably so, because it grabs our primal fears of death and public opinion and asks us to be the better version of ourselves. Because in doing so we can uplift those around us. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to all my friends. Thanks, Dickens, this was a magical read that put me in some high holiday spirits. Now to go listen to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, my traditional favorite holiday album.

It has become a custom with me for past few years to end the Reading Challenges with rereading of this timeless classic. For this year I picked up the Puffin Clothbound edition. This was one of the fourteen books published in the series in 2019. With illustrations by Mark Peppe, the gorgeous red cover literally takes away your breath!

5★
“‘God bless us every one!”

I thought it would be nice to start a new year’s (2017) reading with the 174-year-old story of a selfish man who reinvented himself (after some heavy haunting).

Not only wasn’t I disappointed when re-reading, I was surprised how much detail I’d forgotten, in spite of having seen movies, cartoons, comics, and seemingly countless interpretations of Ebenezer Scrooge.

When I was a child, more Americans were probably familiar with Scrooge McDuck than the original, but we sure got the idea. Christmas? Bah, humbug! Then came the Mickey Mouse version that kids love.

I don’t consider a discussion of the ‘plot’ points to be spoilers, since the story so well known, and the beauty of the work is the language – Dickens is such fun.

What stood out to me was the selfish attitude that still prevails in some quarters today. Dickens paints a terrible, clear picture of the poverty and despair of the times. When wealthy businessman Scrooge is asked to donate to help the poor, his response is simply:

n  “‘Are there no prisons? . . . and the Union workhouses?’ Are they still in operation?’

‘They are. Still,’ returned the gentleman, ‘I wish I could say they were not.’

‘The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?’ said Scrooge.

‘Both very busy, sir.’

‘Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. I’m very glad to hear it.’ ”n

When told that many would rather die than go there, he says

n  “They had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”n

[Sound like any politicians you’ve heard railing about welfare cheats?]

But nobody liked him.

n  “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; . . . ” n

Scrooge begrudges his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit, a holiday with pay. But his nephew is a good-hearted chap, determined to win over his miserly uncle, protesting that Christmas is not humbug. It’s a time

n  “to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”n

[We might say the same today about all those camped in temporary shelter as their homes are being obliterated by wars and politics.]

The ghost of his dead partner, Marley, clanks horrifyingly into his home, seeking to warn him of his fate. Scrooge pooh-poohs it and says perhaps he’s just imagined him due to an n  “an undigested bit of beef”. n

As Marley disappears, Scrooge sees the air full of moaning phantoms. Dickens gets a bit political here:

n  “Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free.”n

He goes to sleep and is awakened by The Ghost of Christmas Past who sweeps him away through the skies to revisit the open country of his youth and sad, lonely childhood. He has an uncharacteristic twinge of regret about having spoken sharply to a little boy that morning. But he brushes it aside.

Back to bed and awakened suddenly again by The Ghost of Christmas Present who takes him through festive markets of plenty and thence to Bob Cratchit’s house, where they are making merry with a pot of potatoes. He spots the wee withered child with crutches, Tiny Tim, who sits on a stool by his adoring father, surrounded by his loving family.

When Tiny Tim proclaims, n  “God bless us every one!”n, Scrooge begs the ghost to foretell the future – will Tiny Tim live – might he be spared?

The Ghost asks if Scrooge will decide who the “surplus” is and suggests that heaven might decide Scrooge is less fit to survive than the millions of children of the poor.

I love this analogy of how the privileged decide the fate of the poor:

n  “Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust.”n

His third visitor, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, is clothed in black and doesn’t speak for a long time. Scrooge sees an unmourned body on a bed (his?), and then, from under the Spirit’s robes peep a couple of small n  “claws”.

“. . . two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. . . a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too in their humility. . .

‘They are Man’s,’ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. ‘And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. The boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.’ ”n

When Scrooge cries n  “Have they no refuge or resource?”n the Spirit answers n  “Are there no prisons . . . Are there no workhouses?”n

He awakens suddenly from a sleep on Christmas morning, a changed man, bound to mend his ways, and what fun to watch him do it!

I commend this to anyone who needs a refresher course in how to treat our fellow-passengers and to beware of the threats of Ignorance and Want.

You can read this online with illustrations at Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46...

or download it for free in many formats https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46

❤️

Review of December 26th 2022

Unlike in 2020, I came into this second reading terribly jaundiced due to my recent experience with A Tale of Two Cities. It influenced my thinking for the first 10-20 pages, but after that I slapped on my Tails and Top Hat and was well into it. I’m not sure if I could have withstood 450 pages of Dickens’ writing again, but 130 pages was just perfect. I need to see someone about my aversion to his prose.

There was also a bonus with my current book and that is, I bought it from a charity shop a few weeks ago and it’s old and battered (hardcover), a bit yellowed (doesn’t smell), but some of the pages are a bit stained with bonus scribbles in pencil. Written by a wide-eyed child at Christmas or a frustrated year 12 student – either way, this copy has history. I will continue to read it and leave my Toblerone stained fingerprints all over it in coming years for readers of “Christmas yet to come” to ponder over..

As solitary as an Oyster - isn’t that a beautiful line? Describing the pitiful situation Scrooge found himself in for being such a selfish, mean and miserable man. Bob Cratchit and his big family sparked my interest more this time, how happy they were, and they didn’t have two pennies to rub together – we can all take note of that. Oh, and let’s not forget their little boy Tiny Tim.

The visits by Marley’s Ghosts and the three Christmas spirits painted some vivid imagery in my mind this time, more so than last. Perhaps this was helped by some of the spooky illustrations in my knackered old copy.



This illustration by Arthur Rackham is of Marley's Ghost appearing before Scrooge. This style of illustration really set this book (in my mind) to old, dirty, smelly, sooty and cold London back in the day.

Of course, there’s no point intensively reviewing the many things to discuss here as that’s been done to death. Naturally, a society of more kindness, generosity and looking out for others is one we should all aspire to. Not sure how well we would go pushing back against the incredible forces of capitalism and power politics. But on a singular level – we all know how good it feels to be decent and kind. Maybe that’s the most we can aim for?

Regarding the 3 questions I asked 2 years ago (review below) – I have thought about the question “Is Scrooge a decent man?”. My response today is NO. He shouldn’t have acted that way in the first place. Why do some people need to be told how to behave?

Now I’m happy for you all to pile in and disagree with me – but Bejesus, he was a selfish bastard, wasn’t he?

5 Stars


Review of December 20th 2020 - ”When I was just a lad!”

What a heart-warming tale of redemption. Certainly, a book to read again and again - at Christmas time.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if those with the means could pay a little more to those who need it? Scrooge's lesson is one a few could listen to and adopt - less about self and more about others.

Questions - Is Scrooge now a decent man? Did he only change because others didn't think much of him, mocked him? Or was his motivation to change due to the needs of others?

Loved it.

5 Stars

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!"