A Christmas Carol And Other Christmas Writings

‘’He told me, coming home, that he hopes the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.’’

My most cherished copy of A Christmas Carol is an illustrated Greek children's book that dates back to 1993. A gift by my grandmother who had a vicious live for all things ghostly and supernatural, it was the story that prompted my fascination with spirits and festive terrifying stories. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come still gives me goosebumps. For generations and generations raised with this book as the essence of Christmas, Scrooge and his haunting adventure is the personification of the true meaning of show more Christmas.

''Humbug!''

As Scrooge goes on a journey through time under the guidance of the three spirits, the readers may be challenged to look back on their own very real adventures. The memories of Christmas Past, past joys, hopes, regrets and mistakes. Present reasons to be happy, present troubles that demand a solution. And what of the life that is yet to come? Well, the future is a dark hole, faceless and voiceless and waiting to come to fruition through a dynamic combination of Lady Luck's whims and our own actions. But if we are to believe our troubled protagonist, hope is always there.

Tons and tons of ink have been spilled for Dickens's masterpiece. For me, it is the characters that make this novel an everlasting, trusted friend. We all have a happy, carefree, open-minded relative or friend like Scrooge's nephew or Mr. Fezziwig. We can find an anchor to prevent ourselves from falling into despair in the example of the Cratchit family and Tiny Tim's resilience. And let us face it. We all carry an ounce (or more...) of Scrooge in us.

This beautiful volume also contains beautiful musings on Christmas Festivities, the deliciously disturbing The Story of the Goblins Who Stole A Sexton, a Christmas episode from Master Humphrey's Clock, The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, a tale of a troubled professor and the spirit of the holidays, the autobiographical A Christmas Tree, the thought-provoking The Seven Poor Travellers, a handy Dickens Chronology, informative Appendixes, an excellent Introduction by Michael Slater and decorated with illustrations by Arthur Rackham and John Leech..

And it would be useful if fanatics of both sides (you know who you are...) bothered to pay attention to the following extract.

''There are some upon the earth of yours'', returned the Spirit, ''who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, will-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.''

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less

“But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and 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.”

That line from Scrooge’s nephew perfectly explains why A Christmas Carol is such a powerful story year after year. It is a reminder of all of the wonderful things the Christmas season holds. It's a reminder to value the people that are truly important in your life and to hold them close to you throughout the year.

Dickens paints such a show more vivid picture of Scrooge’s past, present and future that we can’t help imagine what our own ghosts would show us.

I think the reason that generations of people continue to return to this story is because we all want to believe that we can have a second chance. We want to believe that a person can redeem themselves. I know this is a tale I will always re-read. show less

Christmas time is the perfect time to read A Christmas Carol and Penguin's clothbound edition of A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings is a joy to behold on the shelf and in the hand.

My admiration for the writing of Charles Dickens began after reading Oliver Twist, I was interested to see if this classic would live up to my expectations. I'm pleased to report that it did.

It's hard to believe that an author's work from more than 160 years ago can still warm the heart and tantalise the mind, yet here it is. Dickens has the most incredible ability to describe his characters in the most entertaining fashion that I wanted to read sections aloud just to share the brilliance of his writing.

The following quote was my favourite though show more and appeared on page 87:
"If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. Introduce him to me, and I shall cultivate his acquaintance."

I'm not quite sure what it is about the quote, but perhaps I'm drawn by the idea of cultivating one's acquaintance and how magical it seems. How 'of the times'.

I thoroughly recommend A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings to readers of all ages to be enjoyed in November/December, although it can - in truth - be enjoyed at any time of year. show less

Christmas writings seem to often be drenched in nostalgia - even T.S. Eliot succumbed to it with The Cultivation of Christmas Trees. Dylan Thomas is another example. Dickens is no exception, with additional syrupy sentimentalism and overt Christian evangelism mixed with supernatural elements. Other famous Dickensian themes are also present; urban poverty and social injustice.

I found much of the book forgettable, the exceptions being the two longer stories, A Christmas Carol and The Haunted Man. The former had little impact, bled of all power by exposure to countless pop culture re-tellings. The latter made more of an impression - not only unfamiliar but showing some skill at atmosphere in the supernatural parts, which I could have show more wished for more of. The moral that our sorrows, troubles and wrongs are what make us empathetic and compassionate is as heavy handed as the tone of the much more famous tale of Scrooge.

So, dear readers, my limited experiences with Dickens have not been very positive: Hard Times as a teenager was a disaster. This was mostly meh. I want to give him one last chance, though, and I enlist your help: what is the ONE novel likely to convert me into a Dickens fan? Suggestions in the comments, please! show less

I recently realized I did not own a copy of A Christmas Carol except for an abridged children’s version, and this is the edition I ending up adding to my library. There are many reasons, of course, that Carol has become a classic while his other Christmas writings are largely unknown, but it is still fun to read them. My favorite included in this volume was the brief sketch titled Christmas Festivities; I also enjoyed the background information included in both the introduction and the notes. However, the highlight was without a doubt rereading Christmas Carol. One could argue that theologically it misses the point of Christmas, but that does not change the fact that it is a delightful redemption story about the spirit of Christmas.

I read this, if at all, as a child. Every year we watch the movie, every year I say I'm going to read the book, and this time I did. It's interesting to read the book which spawned a film you're extremely familiar with, if only as a mini-course in screenwriting. This is fine writing; the whipping around in time and space were uncommon in literature at this time; the filmmakers both added incidents and omitted them, but mostly they shifted their order and tightened things up. This edition had notes to explain some of the more abstruse references. This book is a gratifying read in and of itself and as a template for some solid filmmaking.

Dickens is the father of Christmas books and while I don't love all the stories equally, it is still a heartwarming read that marks the beginning of the holiday season for me.