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A Christmas Carol (Christmas Books #1)
Patrick Stewart's one-man production of Dickens's A Christmas Carol played to sold-out audiences in New York and Los Angeles. In this studio recording based on those performances, Stewart is in rare form, using his considerable range of voices to play all roles, from the Ghost of Christmas past to Tiny Tim. It must be said that Stewart clearly enjoys playing Scrooge best o...more
Hardcover, 68 pages
Published
November 1st 1988
by Picture Book Studio Ltd
(first published 1843)
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A short classic, during the holidays, well why not?
The only problem I had with the book was that I had to really concentrate on the writing. I didn’t have to drag along like I used to when I read books like this but I don’t think I could enjoy the book as much because I was confused at what Dickens was trying to say some times. With all the semicolons and commas sentences are very long and it was difficult for me to keep up. I’ll say that I didn’t feel smart all the time. I also couldn’t fully...more
The only problem I had with the book was that I had to really concentrate on the writing. I didn’t have to drag along like I used to when I read books like this but I don’t think I could enjoy the book as much because I was confused at what Dickens was trying to say some times. With all the semicolons and commas sentences are very long and it was difficult for me to keep up. I’ll say that I didn’t feel smart all the time. I also couldn’t fully...more
The Christmas classic that everyone knows – even if they haven’t read it.
Plot
It is a simple tale of how a normal man turns cold-hearted and mean and how, when confronted with memories of his past and the possible outcomes of his actions and inactions, he is redeemed by making positive changes to his life and thus that of others.
Typical Victoriana or not?
The book opens with wonderful bathos, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” So right from the outset it is clear it is not a straightforward factua...more
Plot
It is a simple tale of how a normal man turns cold-hearted and mean and how, when confronted with memories of his past and the possible outcomes of his actions and inactions, he is redeemed by making positive changes to his life and thus that of others.
Typical Victoriana or not?
The book opens with wonderful bathos, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” So right from the outset it is clear it is not a straightforward factua...more
May 02, 2013
Kaethe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
adventure,
classics,
fantasy,
fiction,
food,
ghosts,
history,
humor,
kids,
age-middle-grade,
philosophy,
romance,
social-issues,
time-travel,
xmas,
beloved,
read-aloud
1995 January 1
1998 01 01
I love this book. This is the true meaning of Christmas to me. I try to read it every year. But I don't always make it. We had a huge copy that Mom put out on the coffee table every Christmas. That one had lovely paintings. More recently I reread a Dover thrift addition, because I've got about seven around, left over from a year when I gave them as stocking stuffers. Seriously, I think every bookcase has one.
****
2004 12 15
The Possum read her first word. Scrooge said "Pooh...more
1998 01 01
I love this book. This is the true meaning of Christmas to me. I try to read it every year. But I don't always make it. We had a huge copy that Mom put out on the coffee table every Christmas. That one had lovely paintings. More recently I reread a Dover thrift addition, because I've got about seven around, left over from a year when I gave them as stocking stuffers. Seriously, I think every bookcase has one.
****
2004 12 15
The Possum read her first word. Scrooge said "Pooh...more
Dec 01, 2010
Mariel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
clowntime is over
Recommended to Mariel by:
beaten to the punch
The gremlin got wet from all my mentions of dick(en)s and now he's ferocious! Now is as good a time as any to review Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Before he holds a red eye dinner party for his red-eye friends and they eat me for dinner...
The idea was amazing. Ghosts of past, present and future? I love it. He could've time traveled and written this baby for me. Regret, cold-heartedness, chains of the past, fear... Side track, I like the '80s ya novel The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds...more
Dec 23, 2008
Mary
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Shelves:
read-aloud
It's a family tradition to read A Christmas Carol (original, unabridged) aloud each Christmas season and then to watch at least one film version on Christmas Eve (this year it was the Muppets' Christmas Carol - very authentic - with Michael Caine).
Over the years, we have discussed the 19th century slang and customs enough so that the reading is becoming smoother and smoother without much need for editorial asides. This year we focused on favorite phrases "Marley was dead, to begin with." "the m...more
Over the years, we have discussed the 19th century slang and customs enough so that the reading is becoming smoother and smoother without much need for editorial asides. This year we focused on favorite phrases "Marley was dead, to begin with." "the m...more
Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, as I'm sure it is for a lot of people. I love anything that's themed towards the holiday: music, decorations, movies, books, candy ... and when I was a kid I would even play Christmas music in the summer on the piano, much to my parents' chagrin. The week following also contains both my and my younger brother's birthdays, so needless to say we always had a lot of fun on Christmas break. Spending time with family, presents, Christmas cookies...more
Mar 24, 2007
Dan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who watch the kids' Christmas specials every year but never got around to reading the book.
We all know the story. Ebenezer Scrooge is an old miser who hates Christmas. He's visited by the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits representing three pivotal points in his life. By reliving the past, observing the present, and fearing the future, Scrooge learns to mend his ways and opens his heart to charity and compassion.
It's a classic morality tale, made timeless by setting it in the Christmas season.
However, as with ma...more
It's a classic morality tale, made timeless by setting it in the Christmas season.
However, as with ma...more
Having capped my Festivus celebration with a long overdue viewing of Pulp Fiction, I guess I was primed to immerse myself in Charles Dickens' early Victorian tale of redemption. I was not disappointed. In only five chapters he successfully recreates the sights and sounds of merry old England as he charts the spiritual revival of the infamous Ebenezer Scrooge who is forever linked with the immortal words "Christmas! Bah, Humbug!" Scrooge spends a busy night contemplating his past, present and fut...more
تجربتي مع ديكنز تشبه السفر في صحراء قفراء، ولولا هذه الخريطة التي اتخذتها من مشاهدتي للفيلم المقتبس لنفس القصة لتهت.
لاحظت أن الإنجليز، أصحاب اللغة ذاتها، نفسهم يعانون من أسلوب ديكنز الصعب. وهذا لأنه يباغت القارئ المسكين بتلميحات غامضة لأحداث تاريخية غابرة لتعزيز وصف ما، وأحيانًا يتعزز المعنى فعلًا لكن بعد بحث جانبي لا تقل مدته عن النصف ساعة والذي أيضًا يحتاج إلى ترجمات ومراجع أخرى لفهمه هو الآخر. وما أزعج المرات المفاجئة التي يسخر بها من أميركا أو أي شيء سياسي أو إقتصادي غير مفهوم لا علاقة له بأ...more
لاحظت أن الإنجليز، أصحاب اللغة ذاتها، نفسهم يعانون من أسلوب ديكنز الصعب. وهذا لأنه يباغت القارئ المسكين بتلميحات غامضة لأحداث تاريخية غابرة لتعزيز وصف ما، وأحيانًا يتعزز المعنى فعلًا لكن بعد بحث جانبي لا تقل مدته عن النصف ساعة والذي أيضًا يحتاج إلى ترجمات ومراجع أخرى لفهمه هو الآخر. وما أزعج المرات المفاجئة التي يسخر بها من أميركا أو أي شيء سياسي أو إقتصادي غير مفهوم لا علاقة له بأ...more
This book is, without doubt, the greatest Christmas classic of all time. I grew up with the story, having watched the movie every year with my family. When I finally read the book last December, my heart swelled at every word because the story that I had known since I was a child came to vibrant life on paper. The musical that I could recite backwards and forwards could not even compare to the vibrancy that jumped out at me from the pages. Dickens had the power to fashion the English language in...more
Un classico che da troppo tempo mancava alla mia libreria.
Con libri così non valgono i normali metri di giudizio: la trama è scontata quel che basta, i personaggi mancano della minima psicologia, e la conversione di Scrooge appare repentina e pressoché ingiustificata.
Eppure, è uno di quei classici che fa sognare i bambini, che continua a far sospirare gli adulti, e che fa brillare gli occhi dei non-più-adolescenti-ma-da-poco, come me, al ricordo di vecchi natali trascorsi sul tappeto davanti l’...more
Con libri così non valgono i normali metri di giudizio: la trama è scontata quel che basta, i personaggi mancano della minima psicologia, e la conversione di Scrooge appare repentina e pressoché ingiustificata.
Eppure, è uno di quei classici che fa sognare i bambini, che continua a far sospirare gli adulti, e che fa brillare gli occhi dei non-più-adolescenti-ma-da-poco, come me, al ricordo di vecchi natali trascorsi sul tappeto davanti l’...more
Dec 25, 2011
David
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Scrooges, Grinches, Tiny Tim
I probably read Dickens's A Christmas Carol when I was a child, but after seeing so many different film versions, like everyone else, it was hard to remember what I had read and what I remembered from a cartoon or old classic movie or Muppets version. So this was a good time to revisit the original.
A Christmas Carol is a short book- very short by Dickens standards. Dickens makes the most of his gift for language in bringing Ebenezer Scrooge alive in all his misanthropic glory, condemning the hea...more
A Christmas Carol is a short book- very short by Dickens standards. Dickens makes the most of his gift for language in bringing Ebenezer Scrooge alive in all his misanthropic glory, condemning the hea...more
Aug 30, 2007
Pat
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people I don't like
Shelves:
classic
Charles Dickens is a crap author. Over the course of his career he wrote books based on the length of them hence the reason he used such long winded descriptions in his books. If Dickens never existed the world would be a better place. He was his time Clancy, Grisham, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, etc....
oh my god. i gave a dickens book two stars. i kind of had to. it's a good story. although, having seen every possible stage and screen permutation of a christmas carol due to my father's love for the story, i can say that even disney improved on mr. dickens' telling.
" Onorerò il Natale nel mio cuore, e cercherò di conservarmi in questo stato d'animo per tutto l'anno "
♥
♥
Click here for Charles Dickens Disclaimer
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was an absolute delight! I was anticipating a dull read but was pleasantly surprised. Because I liked this storyline so much, I could finally fully appreciate Dickens style of writing. And it was superb! I can see now why he is so talked about through the ages. When he described the food scene with the second ghost, I felt like I was there, smelling the sounds, my mouth watering. The delicious descriptive detail tha...more
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was an absolute delight! I was anticipating a dull read but was pleasantly surprised. Because I liked this storyline so much, I could finally fully appreciate Dickens style of writing. And it was superb! I can see now why he is so talked about through the ages. When he described the food scene with the second ghost, I felt like I was there, smelling the sounds, my mouth watering. The delicious descriptive detail tha...more
When we think of A Christmas Carol it stirs memories of Christmas specials and crotchety old men and spirits and wonder. Most of us associate this little tale with sitting by the television and watching one of the innumerable renditions that have been produced and interpreted for the big screen, the small screen, and the theater alike, while eating cutout cookies and enjoying a roaring crackling fire in our fireplaces. We think of carolers in Victorian garb singing on doors steps and Tiny Tim’s...more
Nov 29, 2009
K.D. Oliveros
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Jillian Joy
Recommended to K.D. by:
Filipinos Group in Goodreads
At 45, I was already at that stage when for the first time, I was not looking forward to Christmas. My daughter is already 14 and we already gave away our Christmas tree that we used to enjoy when she was still a child. I declined the two invites to participate in office kris kringle. It's already the last day of November and we still don't have a single decor in the house. These are all unusual.
Yesterday, reading the first part of the book, I was able to feel for what Scrooge must have felt. N...more
Yesterday, reading the first part of the book, I was able to feel for what Scrooge must have felt. N...more
Dec 04, 2009
Tamra
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Tamra by:
Thomas S. Monson
This year I finally bit the bullet and actually read this, even though I seriously disliked Great Expectations in High School and therefore swore off all Dickens, "classic" or not. I had low expectations for A Christmas Carol.
Dickens, however, is GENIUS. His writing style in A Christmas Carol is light-hearted and fun, and I was laughing out loud 3 paragraphs in. The story as presented in the book is way better than any movie version I've seen. A lot of the elements were the same (of course), but...more
Dickens, however, is GENIUS. His writing style in A Christmas Carol is light-hearted and fun, and I was laughing out loud 3 paragraphs in. The story as presented in the book is way better than any movie version I've seen. A lot of the elements were the same (of course), but...more
Oct 24, 2008
Claire Caterer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
holiday-reads,
favorites
I read Dickens every Christmas because his writing is so evocative and his story, while firmly set in 1843 London Town, is timeless: no matter how old or how crochety, no matter what a raw hand we think we've been dealt, no matter our lousy childhood or lousy adulthood, there is hope and redemption there for the taking. Never give up hope; never say die. (This story also works if you're feeling particulary anti-Christmas and would like to see those who go about with "Merry Christmas" on their li...more
Yeah, I know it's a classic. Bah humbug! Way too predictable and as drab as a gray winter in London. Dickens is so fond of the plight of the street urchin, the poor, the downtrodden that it seems as though he is compelling you to feel for them and, as atonement, forgo your own selfish ways. I felt like screaming at the book, "Okay, Scrooge if you don't repent and change your ways then, I the unfortunate reader, will be forced to endure another visit from a Christmas ghost (oh, so will you.) I pa...more
This Christmas classic was read, watched, and enjoyed every year during the holiday season in my house growing up. When I became a high school teacher I was shocked to discover that most students have never actually read the real book, just seen cartoons and movies. All of my classes read it each year for the week and a half before Christmas break. We sit in a circle and take turns reading it. You'd be amazed, but full-grown high school juniors turn into little kids and beg to read more of this...more
While I don't hold 100% with the theology (nor disagree either) I love this book...for that matter I love at least one of the movies (the Alastair Sim version titled Scrooge). While the entire story is wonderful the redemption/repentence scenes alone are worth the "freight", so to speak.
The story is undoubtedly familliar to you but give it a read if you've only been exposed to it through movies. I think everyone probably re-looks at Christmas and life at the same time they experince it with Scro...more
The story is undoubtedly familliar to you but give it a read if you've only been exposed to it through movies. I think everyone probably re-looks at Christmas and life at the same time they experince it with Scro...more
I decided to read this book because I remember watching the movie some time ago and really enjoying it, so I wanted to read the original classic by Charles Dickens.
The category which this novel completes on the bingo board is 'a classic book written before 1950'. This category was interesting because you can compare the writing style back then to now, the present. For example one of the sentences was;"you don't think me ill used,". I haven't heard that before.
My favorite quote from this novel is...more
The category which this novel completes on the bingo board is 'a classic book written before 1950'. This category was interesting because you can compare the writing style back then to now, the present. For example one of the sentences was;"you don't think me ill used,". I haven't heard that before.
My favorite quote from this novel is...more
Dec 10, 2011
Stephanie (Stepping out of the Page)
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
christmas-books,
1001-books,
adult-fiction,
ghosts,
fantasy,
classics,
historical,
read-in-2011,
favourites,
books-i-own
A Christmas Carol is one of those books that I always meant and wanted to read, but I never got around to it, even though I've managed to watch the original film version each year. I'm very glad that I finally picked up a copy of this novella as it was certainly everything I expected it to be. The book felt a little more realistic to the film adaptations, yet managed to keep a real sense of magic, and therefore I do feel that this was more effective and a little more special.
This is the first pi...more
This is the first pi...more
2012 -- Just as wonderful as ever. This time I was struck by two very different thoughts. First, this is a classic morality tale full of repentance and redemption. Scrooge starts with doubt and sarcasm, then moves to interested observation, then he becomes the penitent student who anticipates lessons before they are directly taught, and finally he is a committed convert. Such a beautifully complex character! ... The only thing I wish Dickens had touched on was the final fate of Jacob Marley. May...more
Some stories are so popular they have permeated culture to the point where almost everyone knows them, even if they haven’t so much as glanced at the source material. Such is the case with A Christmas Carol, which has inspired numerous adaptations in every medium imaginable. As a result, Ebeneezer Scrooge is a household name, and the basic plot of A Christmas Carol is a familiar one. The source material, however, is well worth the read. Charles Dickens tells the story with his usual skill for se...more
We read this aloud every year at Christmas, and we continue to enjoy and delight in the transformation of Scrooge! Highly recommended!
Dicken's writing is so wonderful. It makes me happy to read his words aloud, he has such an amazing way with words. It is hard for me to read alot of current fiction (I'm thinking here about my slog through "The Hunger Games") and then read something classic like this from DIckens. In the stark side-by-side comparison, you realize how poorly written some books tod...more
Dicken's writing is so wonderful. It makes me happy to read his words aloud, he has such an amazing way with words. It is hard for me to read alot of current fiction (I'm thinking here about my slog through "The Hunger Games") and then read something classic like this from DIckens. In the stark side-by-side comparison, you realize how poorly written some books tod...more
"Who can listen to objections regarding such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness." - Thackeray..
I don’t need Christmas to read this book. “God bless us all!”
I don’t need Christmas to read this book. “God bless us all!”
The beautiful thing about this book is that the spirits that haunt Scrooge don't teach him anything. All they do is show him scenes from his past/present/future, and by viewing his life from a higher perspective, Scrooge teaches himself. Thus comes his change of heart.
I love the way each spirit is described and the symbolism of it. The ghost of Christmas present as a banquet feast (living in the moment=feasting at the table of life), and the ghost of the future described as darkness and mystery...more
I love the way each spirit is described and the symbolism of it. The ghost of Christmas present as a banquet feast (living in the moment=feasting at the table of life), and the ghost of the future described as darkness and mystery...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is this a good book? | 31 | 145 | May 10, 2013 09:55am | |
| The Best Christmas Carol Movie is . . . | 139 | 344 | May 10, 2013 07:10am | |
| Tiny Tim | 5 | 28 | Apr 22, 2013 07:40pm | |
| Classics Without ...: Theme *may contain spoilers* | 20 | 132 | Apr 19, 2013 09:17pm | |
| what is mister scrooge's first name | 48 | 417 | Apr 18, 2013 04:44am | |
| Book Not Permitted??? | 4 | 74 | Apr 05, 2013 04:17pm |
A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, morals and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awarenes...more
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“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
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980 people liked it
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
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