Every year I re-read "A Christmas Carol," which is included in this collection, and every year I really try to read one of the other four. I love "A Christmas Carol" but have had a hard time warming up to the others. "Cricket on the Hearth" is kind of fun (now available on dvd as a cartoon, and my 4 year-old loves it!), but "The Chimes" and "The Battle of Life" seem to be Dickens at his worst, utterly lacking in wit and humor. There is one more book in it that I am going to try to get through this week . . . it has ghosts too (like Christmas Carol) so maybe it will be more fun. I still give the collection 4 stars because it's great to pull out Scrooge every year and this is a fun edition with a good intro.