A Christmas Carol (original 1843; edition 2003)

Dickens' first, and most famous Christmas book. Short (72 pages in my Project Gutenberg edition) and lacking all subtlety as to the moral purpose intended by the author! Interesting to see a sharp dig at moralisers preventing Sunday trading, which for people of limited means of storing food, meant difficulty accessing food. Known to much of the world as the source of Scrooge as the eponymous miser; and the ghosts of Christmas past and present. Read January 2012. ( )

Now that we're reaching the end of a thoroughly damp and gloomy January, tonight I'm in the mood to revisit the boozy, chocolate-filled week where I, ensconced in my two (yes two!) new dressing gowns, finally settled down to read A Christmas Carol by Dickens.

Surely any reader worth his/her onions is familiar with the very essence of this wonderful ghost story, even those of you who have been living in a hole in the ground for the past 170 years and might have missed the countless theatric and filmic adaptations (yes, including the muppets) of this undeniable classic. After spending a great deal of energy banishing poor Kermit from my mind's eye, I found myself completely enthralled by Scrooge's surprisingly witty repartee and the appearance of characters and scenes that I know inside out, despite this being my very first read.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a solitary, miserly old man, so frosty towards his fellow man that;
'He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays;
and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas... No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he...'

Following a chilling visit from the spirit of his late business partner Jacob Marley (above), Scrooge is faced with the dire warning that he must change his miserly ways or else be faced with an afterlife of purgatory and suffering. He will be, whether he likes it or not, visited by the ghosts of his Christmases past, present and future who will confront him with his wrongs and (hopefully!) change Scrooge's ways for the better.

What better way to get into the festive spirit than this wonderfully moral tale, set historically in some very dark, very mean times. As well as the obviously honourable message that Dickens conveys here (with much conviction), he gives us enough frisson and, surprisingly, amusement, to keep the story flowing:

'Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before: he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses...

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!"'

http://relishreads.blogspot.com/2012/01/christmas-carol.html ( )

This story is about an old man, Mr Scrooge. He care about only money. However, on a Christmas Eve, he will change his mind.
I like this story. I knew that in Britain of the 1820s, the difference of the rich and the poor was acute and there were many poor people. I knew that kindness is very important in life. ( )

Lovely retelling, great illustration, just scary enough to be impressive and yet not too frightening. Wonderfully abridged. ( )

I finally decided to try a Charles Dickens book, so I started with the shortest one I knew about. It's a good story, but honestly, I like the muppet version better.

I enjoyed reading this classic tale. I have seen many versions, plays, movies, but never actually read the book. The book was just as good as all of the versions I have visually watched. ( )

One of my all-time favourite books! ( )

The story of A Christmas Carol is one that most of us in the Western world know fairly well... in fact, I would wager that most children over the age of 7 in the US or UK could give a pretty good breakdown of the general plotpoints with ease. But did we actually read the Charles Dickens classic to gain this knowledge? Or is your understanding of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future the result of a film adaptation? I'm not railing against movie adaptations, as I think A Christmas Carol translates brilliantly to film... to the point where we might all know the plot of this particular story as a result of a movie that puts a twist on the original tale. My personal favorite is The Muppet Christmas Carol, though a close second is Scrooged.

My only previous read of the actual text of A Christmas Carol occurred back in sixth grade. It's a short little novella and was a good introduction to Dickens, as his other tomes seemed daunting to an eleven-year-old. One can easily breeze through A Christmas Carol in a single evening, curled up by the fire with Christmas lights twinkling and presents under the tree. That said, A Christmas Carol really isn't something I would opt to re-read year after year. Here's where those film adaptations become very, very useful. You watch the Muppets, Bill Murray, Ebbie, or Scrooge and you've had your yearly dose.

This year, I noticed an Audible performance of A Christmas Carol done by Tim Curry and it simply had to be purchased and immediately loaded on to my ipod. I listened to it over the course of three days, knitting a Christmas present on my commute to work. I was surprised at how few details slip through the cracks in various performances and I was comforted by how familiar the words were to the point where I could have recited many passages along with Curry. (And some of them were even ones I could do without Gonzo's voice.) The story is timeless and it's hard to imagine the holidays without this particular tale in existence, when in fact it was only published in 1843. This might be a bit blasphemous to say, but it's second only to the actual origin story of Christmas in terms of our association with this time of year. Beyond Christmas, think of the cultural contributions of this novel to our general lexicon. Think of such outstanding quotes as "Mankind was my business," "as solitary as an oyster," "there's more of gravy than of grave about you," and even "'Bah,' said Scrooge. 'Humbug!'" Tim Curry gives a fun reading with voices that are never too ridiculous. I'll admit that I hoped for a little bit more, though I'm not quite sure what. Some flash, a bit more panache, something. I've listened to Curry read the first in the Series of Unfortunate Events and that was pure magic. Here, it was certainly amusing enough but I didn't feel the same delight for which I had hoped. I'm not sure I could reconcile the visual of Tim Curry anywhere in the story but as a voice in your ear, it's a fine way to experience A Christmas Carol for the first time in its original form or as a re-telling that isn't brought out with the rest of the Christmas DVDs and tinsel each year.

So on this Christmas Day, I leave you with this, quoted from memory:

"And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any many alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!" ( )

An annual reread, these past two years done out loud with the husbeast. One of my most favoritest Christmas traditions and one of my most favorite of favoritest books, actually. Never, ever grows old, and always brings a smile. Some of the best descriptions of food, crowds, the city, and parties I've ever read here. And, of course, brilliant on Christmas. A delight. ( )

This feels more like a book Dickens discovered than one that he wrote. Worth re-reading every few years. ( )

While I've never liked Dickens' prose, too wordy and too cumbersome for my taste, his stories on the human condition and of the drudgery endured by the working class in the early Industrial Age have become classics ingrained into English literature and Anglo-Saxon culture. Above all of these classics, "A Christmas Carol," a short and simple tale of redemption, stands as one of the most culturally influential stories ever, with countless films, pieces of art, and references in other works to prove it. And so on this Christmas Day, instead of being a Scrooge I’ll wish a "merry Christmas to everybody!"

This has always been my favorite Christmas story. The first time I came into its presence was in elementary school in Memphis, TN (Snowden Elementary School, in fact). They called us all into the auditorium for an afternoon of Christmas movies - nothing religious, just the secular stuff - mostly old classics. I have no clear memory of any of those movies with the exception of A Christmas Carol. It was the 1938 British version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge. I remember being utterly captured by it and looking for the book to read. We read it aloud until I could re-read it on my own.

A Christmas Carol is a story about redemption - how one man, who has led a selfish and greedy life that has brought him no pleasure or kinship, gets a chance to revisit his choices and observe the consequences. It's smart, funny, and, of course, very Victorian.

It is also one of the most timely and relevant books all year. Forget the political reporting, the novels on current events, the magazine articles, and all the other things that have been written about the state of our economy and our political system. Just read this. It will tell you everything you need to know.

From the notion that one's duty is to help the poor and ease their suffering to the punishment exacted of those who ignore this duty, this book is like a treatise on our times, on our ability to walk away from the starving on the way to our Christmas latte; on the fact that in a crushing economy there are no bread lines, no soup kitchens, no government jobs programs - just more children on the street; on the fact that most of our nation's wealth is in the hands of a very few who can't be bothered with anything in their lives other than grubbing for more money to buy their next 25,000 foot house in the country. There is also the existence of people who rise above their poverty, who find joy in the small things of life, who struggle and who sometimes die, but who maintain the giving spirit of Christmas throughout their days.

I was humbled and delight by this book. It was a delight to read, as always, and amazing how relevant it is even though it was written way back in the 1800's. That's why they're classics - in case you ever wondered. ( )

A wonderful story. If you haven't read the original, do! It's better than all the movies. Dickens had a sense of humor after all. ( )

My first exposure to the original (i.e. non-Disney) version of this Christmas classic was a real joy. Tim Curry does a marvellous job with the audio version I listened to, which had me laughing out loud more than once. I'll be listening to this one for years to come. ( )

This review is also on my blog at: http://abnormallyparanormal.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-christmas-carol-by-charl...

Here's a review of an old classic that I bet a lot of people these days don't actually sit down and read much anymore, like I do sometimes. Which is a shame because reading the actual novella of this well-dramatized tale is so much more insightful and fun than getting it from some modern adaptation. Reading from The Master himself, Charles Dickens, is like being transported back in time to when he lived and breathed and celebrated Christmas the way people did back then.

People threw parties and invited over their family and friends and played 'blindman's bluff' and 'yes and no,' and drank spiked punch, knowing it was spiked, and ran around in the snowy streets of London buying the fattest Christmas geese they could get from the nearby street vendors. It sounds like it was all so festive and lively. And, Dickens is the best at describing things in a way that makes it feel real, which is like having a freakin' time machine! I'd give anything to go back in time to his day, and thankfully, we sort of get to because of his writing legacy.

Probably one of the best preserved records of how people lived during Queen Victoria's reign of Great Britain are contained in anything Dickens wrote, but what makes this one so special is how it captures their Christmas, and how the way we modern people celebrate it today was only just starting to take shape back then. In fact, they began the tradition of sending each other Christmas cards that same year, in 1843, when this story was published. And, in 1841, Prince Albert popularized the Christmas Tree, bringing that tradition to all the English-speaking world from Germany.

And, to think that Christmas and how we celebrate it is really not so different than it was back then kind of touches my heart. If only I could tell Mr. Dickens that his ghostly little story—which he liked to call it—is still so popular to this day. That we can't even separate it from Christmas at all! We still cry when we think of Tiny Tim and what Scrooge did to prevent his untimely death—becoming one of literature's greatest villains-turned-heroes. Hopefully, our modern society will continue to keep A Christmas Carol in our hearts for several more generations yet to come…. ( )

Ebenezer Scrooge is the definition of a miser, reluctant even to wish anyone a merry Christmas for Christmas is but a “humbug.” But on Christmas Eve, he is shocked by a visit from the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had been like Scrooge in life. Marley warns Scrooge that if he doesn’t change his ways, he’ll be cursed like Marley to walk the earth wearing chains, regretting that he hadn’t been kinder in life. To further prompt Scrooge toward goodwill to men, he is visited by three more spirits – the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future – who show him the cheer others feel on Christmas but also warn him of what may be if he doesn’t become more giving.

A Christmas Carol has been told and adapted so many times as to become trite, but the original is still great to read, even if you know what's coming. The last time I read it I was 14, so coming back to it after all this time, I'm realizing just how funny Dickens can be. For instance, there is his musing right in the beginning as to the expression dead as a doornail: “Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for.” It's this humor that is often missing in all the adaptations, which are either completely serious or completely silly, rather than the perfect combination of both.

In many ways, A Christmas Carol is a morality tale, warning us about being too greedy instead of sharing our wealth with the poorest and neediest in our communities. It’s interesting how this book was so influential in our celebration of Christmas and has even affected our language so that “scrooge” has now become synonymous with miser. But despite all this, do we always remember to take the real story to heart? Do we remember to take care of those living in poverty all the year long, as Scrooge finally does at the end?

For this re-reading, I listened to the audio version read by Frank Muller, who was excellent. If A Christmas Carol isn’t already a part of your holiday tradition, I highly recommend that it become so. ( )

Charles Dickens is one of the most well known English Novelist. He wrote a lot of novels and short stories.

A Christmas Carol tells the story about a sour and stingy Ebeneezer Scrooge who transforms into a man with a hearth after being visited by his former business partner Jacob Marley and the three Ghosts of Christmas. They show him how Christmas was for him in the past. How people in his close surroundings celebrate Christmas now and how people react when Scrooge dies. These visions give him such a scare that he decides to change his way of living and be more involved with people.

The story is a classic and has been made into a lot of different movies. My main problem was that I kept seeing Disney figures and Muppets walking by.But it sure helped me getting in the Christmas spirit. ( )

I have read "A Christmas Carol" many times around the Christmas Hollidays and never tire of it. It gives the true meaning of Christmas and tells us that many of us need, and can change our way when it comes to treating other people. ( )

I have read Dickens before and found him rather tedious, but as I did do a play version Christmas Carol every year in college and grad school, and then twice since then, I figured this wouldn't be so bad since I knew the story. Actually, I enjoyed it. While the story was the same as the plays, there was a little more in the narration that I found quaint that can not be found in a play version. ( )

The short novel *A Christmas Carol* is a story that even most people who have not read the book tend to know the basic gist of it. Whether in movies, tv specials, by Mickey Mouse, or other formats, the story has been seen and absorbed into popular culture.

The story begins with miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge mocking the idea of Christmas cheer as so much uselessness and laziness. He owes no one any cheer, and won't give any, that is for certain. But he is visited by three spirits who change his mind. And change his mind, they certainly do, as we all know.

This was my first book by Charles Dickens, and I must say that it was a pleasure to read. Just the right balance was struck in this type of story to make it memorable, and not fall into any pitfalls that it otherwise could have. For instance, some parts of the story verged on outright preachiness, but somehow did not fall into that trap. Why? Because every bit of moralizing *made sense* in the context in which it was done. That helped it feel like more of a natural progression than some annoying moral lesson to the audience. Granted, the thinly veiled attack on various restrictions to commerce Sundays at the time the novel was written, and their negative effects on the poor, was a tad blatant, but that was it.

And the writing. Oh, the writing! It is clever. And, boy is it funny! The humor begins early on in the book when Dickens wonders to the audience why the term “dead as a doornail” is used. It continues, and is never inappropriate like so much of what passes today as humor, but witty. If more writers today could write with such a flair for genuine comedy and irony, their books may actually be worth reading.

This tale does have a lesson for us, but it's one that is not often discerned. Just as we often reduce the Robin Hood legends to “steal from the rich, and give to the poor” while ignoring the wider context, so we do here. The lesson of the story is not just about Scrooge's salvation, though that is important, but about the good he does. God has a purpose for all of us. Will you serve that purpose? That is the point of the story of the ghostly visits to Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Highly Recommended. ( )

This is a lovely and fun book, and would be a great introduction for anybody intimidated by the larger size of some of Dickens other books.

I only started reading this book last year (I don't know why!) and was surprised just how much it added over and above any of the movies. I suppose I should not have been surprised. I really should have known better. At least it was a pleasant surprise. Last year I was impressed with the newness of it all, and this year I seem to have taken more time with it. Dickens I think is an author best read more than once, I have a feeling each time I read this book I will see fun details I either missed or had forgotten over the course of the year. I felt myself almost compelled to read this book aloud to myself, and if I had smaller cousins would probably attempt to rope them into a storytime. ( )

Because everyone knows this story whether from reading it or seeing one of the 100's of movies based on this book I will just be reviewing the audiobook version I listened to narrated by, Tim Curry. I must admit to being a huge Tim Curry fan I will watch anything if he has a role in it so when I found this audiobook at audible I had to get it. I was not disappointed!

Tim Curry’s narration is absolute perfection ‘nuff said!

5 stars ( )

This book is about Christmas. The main character is a man, Ebenezer Scrooge.
He is miser and ugly. He hates people. One day he met a ghost.
And He decided he mend his mind.

I like this story. Because this story is warm.
If you read it , your heart will be warm and happy.
Whenever winter comes , I want to read this story and feel happy. ( )

A re-read which I repeat every 7-10 years. Downloaded the complete Dickens to my Kindle and couldn't resist reading it again. Still as wonderful as the first time. Dickens was a wonderful writer. ( )

I loved A Christmas Carol. This book shows the importance of sharing and giving. This book also can show that people can change throughout their life. All Mr. Scrooge needed was someone to show him some love and kindness. I think that we get so busy in our lives that we forget that people need those two things the most in their lives. I would use this book during the month of December. Children need stories related to events in their lives. The illustrations in A Christmas Carol are amazing. I can remember my neighbor growing up. He was like Mr. Scrooge. He never decorated or celebrated Christmas. My entire street was lit up with lights and decorations. Then, you get to the end of my street and there was darkness. I always hated looking that way as a kid because the thought of my neighbor being like he was saddened me. ( )