A Christmas Carol (original 1843; edition 2012)

Favourite story of all time, it has everything. A work of genius. ( )

I try to reread this one every year at Christmas, though I'm a little late with it this year. It is just as wonderful each time.

Muppet version is somewhat superior. ( )

A wonderful edition from Templar filled with beautiful illustrations by Robert Ingpen. This is the sort of book you know well and want a good edition to keep and reread time and again, and this is my edition of choice for A Christmas Carol, over and above several more expensive posh editions. In a word: gorgeous. ( )

"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, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas."

So writes Charles Dickens of old Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly London merchant whose holiday reformation he chronicled in the novella A Christmas Carol, first published in 1843. Who does not know the story of the visits of the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and the transformation they wrought in that miserable old man? Adapted countless times for stage and film - I myself grew up watching the old black and white version with Alastair Sim (originally known as Scrooge in the UK, it was released as A Christmas Carol here in the states), and knew every detail of the story long before first picking up the book - it is a tale whose elements are so familiar, they have entered the popular culture. That said, the original is still well worth reading, even for those already acquainted with the story. Dickens' language is richly descriptive, as in the intensely evocative portrait quoted above, and there is often a humor to it that is as delightful as it is unexpected.

I can't recall what edition of A Christmas Carol I first read - something wholly textual, I believe - but my current reread led me to this gorgeous version, presented in a tall, picture-book format, with beautiful illustrations done by Italian artist Roberto Innocenti. I highly recommend it, or some other illustrated version, to all readers considering picking this story up. The artwork really captures the reality of early Victorian life, from the poverty on the street to the gaiety in (some of) the homes. Leaving aside such issues of edition and presentation, and speaking more generally, I recommend A Christmas Carol to all those readers who want to recapture some of that holiday spirit, or who enjoy Victorian literature. There's a reason this short novella is one of Dickens' most well-known works! ( )