Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 29, 2012

Valerie rated it:

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 cou More...

7 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2008

Mary rated it:

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 More...

3 comments like (37 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Daniel rated it:

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.
More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2010

Sylvia rated it:

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...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2012

Michela rated it:

" Onorerò il Natale nel mio cuore, e cercherò di conservarmi in questo stato d'animo per tutto l'anno "

♥

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

David rated it:

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, condem More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2007

Pat rated it:

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....

24 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2007

Chrissie rated it:

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.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

May 19, 2011

K.D. rated it:

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 More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Tamra rated it:

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 More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2008

Claire rated it:

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" o More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

May 10, 2008

Sarah rated it:

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.) More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Simona rated it:

Marley era morto, tanto per incominciare, e su questo non c’è alcun dubbio. Il registro della sua sepoltura era stato firmato dal sacerdote, dal chierico, dall’impresario delle pompe funebri e da colui che conduceva il funerale. Scrooge lo aveva firmato, e alla Borsa il nome di Scrooge era buono per qualsiasi cosa che decidesse di firmare. Il vecchio Marley era morto come il chiodo di una porta.

Benedetto Dickens! Lo stile magistrale, una lingua perfetta pur non essendo pesante, sempre More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Katie rated it:

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 t More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 10, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

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 fi More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Tanu rated it:

"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!”

17 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2010

Alyssa rated it:

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 m More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2010

ame rated it:

(curhat colongan)

Saya tidak pernah bikin resolusi khusus tiap tahun baru, tapi entah kenapa tahun ini ingin iseng punya resolusi sepertisemuaoranglainnya.

Jadi selain mengganti status mahasiswa menjadi pengangguran, saya ingin sekali tahun ini membaca semua buku yang terhitung Classics.
Kategori buku ini entah kenapa tidak pernah benar-benar menjadi pertimbangan saya untuk dibaca. Mungkin karena kesannya sebagai buku 'berat' dan untuk 'orang gedhe'.

Ada b More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2011

Helen rated it:

A Christmas Carol is the one classic that almost everyone knows, even if they've never read the book. It's the story of an old, money-obsessed miser called Ebenezer Scrooge who is given the chance of redemption one Christmas Eve when he is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley warns Scrooge that unless he changes his ways, he will end up like Marley himself, doomed to wander the earth bound by heavy chains of his own making. During the night Scrooge is visit More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2010

Jess rated it:

A classic, what else is there to be said? Read by countless amounts of people every year, myself included, Dickens has written one of the greatest Christmas stories to be told. Face it, whether we've read the original novel or seen whichever of the hundred movie renditions of this, this story sticks with people. Personally, I re-read this every year, and I love that each time I read this, I come away with something different. This year, I noted just how much humor Dickens weaves into this story. More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2011

James rated it:

Once again, I find myself in the strange position of attempting to write a review for a book that has been a well-loved classic of many, many generations. It's a difficult task, to be sure.

I try to read A Christmas Carol every year during the holiday season. I often fail to find the time (which is remarkable when one considers just how short the book is: well under 30k words! it wouldn't even win a NaNoWriMo!), so I'm closer to 1 out of every 3 Christmases than having a true annual More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 31, 2009

Cecily rated it:

The Christmas classic that everyone knows – even if they haven’t read it.

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.

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 factual tale More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2010

Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it:

I hadn't read this since I was a child, so when my local "Connect with the Classics" book discussion group chose it for this month, I looked forward to reading it. I wasn't disappointed. Sometimes when you read books as an adult that you read as a child they lose their magic because your perceptions have changed. I'm happy to say that the magic of Dickens never dies. I reread certain paragraphs over and over again just for the sheer pleasure of his use of adjectives, piling one upo More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2011

Brianne rated it:

I actually enjoyed reading this book. I am obviously familiar with the story, but not completely. My last encounter with Dickens was when I was 16 and I read Great Expectations. While I remember enjoying that book, I also remember I had a REALLY hard time understanding it. Sadly, this book wasn't that different. I often had to reread sentences or paragraphs, or I would just trek on and hope that eventually through context clues I would understand. In the end, I comprehended most everything More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

I feel sort of weird saying this, but this book is pretty boring... I understand that Dickens wrote in serial and needed length in order to keep his stories going, but come on. Great Expectations was hard to get through, but I never thought I'd be bored reading this wonderfully televised Christmas story...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Frederick rated it:

This novella is so iconic as not to need description. It is Dickens's ultimate work.
Let me say that I think Dickens took something from Dante here. Virgil leads Dante through the levels of Hell in THE INFERNO. I'm ignorant enough not to know who leads Dante through THE PURGATORIO and THE PARADISO, but bold enough to say I think it's Virgil in those two instances as well. In any case, Ebenezer Scrooge is lead through a similar trip by various spirits. This leads me to my point: Dickens is n More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Redfox5 rated it:

Thanks to the muppets this was like reading something I'd read before. I'm glad it was how I expected it to be. I find some of Dickens other books a tad boring, not this one! I love the story of A Christmas Carol. This is a book that could be read every Christmas time. I love this sentence "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" That has to be read aloud. A heart warming Christmas treat

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Sean rated it:

A ironically heartwarming ghoststory that has less to do with Christmas but is more of a tale of a miserable old man's soulsearching that forces him to face his own cruelty and selfishness. I think I've seen half a dozen different film adaptations but experiencing it through the original Dickens storytelling gave it a somewhat fresh new feel.

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Misha rated it:

This is my favorite book. I first read it when I was thirteen or fourteen, and it hit me like a lightening bolt: "love at first paragraph!" Since then, I've read it at least once a year, and it never ceases to be a special experience. There's something magical about this story; it uplifts the soul. It makes me want to be a better person. I don't know if Dickens realized what a wonder he unleashed upon the world when he wrote A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but I hope he did. This book, and th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Laura rated it:

I listened to the audio book, narrated by Patrick Stewart and am now hyper with holiday excitement.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

reviews