Well, if you do read A Christmas Carol, be sure to post some thoughts on the book thread. We can always revisit the old threads and get a new discussion going!

Here are some suggestions:

A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth

A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings

The Christmas Books Volume 1 A Christmas Carol and The Chimes

There's also Cricket on the Hearth and The Chimes for Dickens Holiday stories. There's a reason we call the way we celebrate Christmas Dickensian! :)

Seriously, I came up with a list of books that I want to read in the next year from the Rory list and, hey, I already owned all of them. Bonus, right? Wrong! In the past week, I've bought 5 books from Amazon...guess how many were on that list.

LOL, Lori, thanks for articulating that mood that sends me racing to the nearest B&N!

I think...because the holiday season is coming up, I'm going to read A Christmas Carol. But it's fairly short compared to his other stuff, so the first big grown up Dickens I'm going to read is...Oliver Twist because apparently I own it. Of course that is highly liable to change when I get into one of those "reading what you already own is for suckers" moods.

Lori, what did you decide? A Tale of Two Cities is my absolute favorite (of the like, um, 3 books I've read), but you must grit your teeth through the first 50 pages. Once you're past them, the book flies. My favorite thing about Dickens is how there's nothing extraneous at all -- if a character shows up, even on just one page, you know they'll be important later on. I love how everything ties up in a neat little package.
I really didn't like Great Expectations and I don't like A Christmas Carol either (I know, I'm a Scrooge -- I think I'm just tired of it), but I love all his other stories (I've seen film versions of loads, even if I've only read 3 or 4).
I loved the film version of Our Mutual Friend and definitely want to read it soon, and of course I got hooked on Little Dorrit when it was on Masterpiece this year.

I haven't read too much Dicken, so far, but I really love his characters and stories! (Even though I don't like "A Christmas Carol" at all and never really liked the 'children's book' like "David Copperfiedl" etc. ;) )
But others like "Our Mutual Friend" oder "Bleak House" are so great! Such an abundance of characters!

And I agree that the BBC movies or mini-series are a great way to make yourself familiar with the huge books. (And I loved Gillian Anderson as Lady Deadlock!)

I definitely want to read one fat Dickens this winter... maybe "The Old Curiosity Shop"...

Robbie wrote: "Lori: another great thing about reading A Christmas Carol is that it will help you appreciate all of the different movie versions even more. I'm especially fond of the Muppet version!"

I am not a Muppet fan at all, but I love their movie version! It's so joyful.

Lori wrote: "Hi all,

I find myself thinking that I should read more Dickens. I read Great Expectations and was, "Eh" about it. But he's gotta be pretty good, right? I mean, he's pretty celebrated. Anyway..."

Well, don't fret if you find you can't get into him. I've read Oliver and David Copperfield and wanted to run and hide whenever I heard the name Dickens.

But this group read A Christmas Carol one December and I bought a beautifully illustrated copy of it. Much to my surprise I really enjoyed it. I've never before been able to get past the whole Marley scene, but this time I pursued it and it's now a Christmas tradition to read this story. So maybe I've aged to the right degree to appreciate Dickens now. Or maybe ACC is just one of those universal stories that have nothing to do with his other works.

But let me know how you like his other works. Great Expectations is on my list for next year.

Robbie wrote: "Lori: another great thing about reading A Christmas Carol is that it will help you appreciate all of the different movie versions even more. I'm especially fond of the Muppet version!"

Did you see there's a new animated version coming out this year? Jim Carrey doing the voice of Scrooge.

Lori: another great thing about reading A Christmas Carol is that it will help you appreciate all of the different movie versions even more. I'm especially fond of the Muppet version!

Lori, the one I read most recently is The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens. It includes A Christmas Carol as well. Because of that inclusion I pull it out a lot during Christmas, but the fact they are all ghost stories allows for a good read around Halloween too. :)

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

El, Can you recommend a short story collection of his? (I didn't even know he wrote short stories!)

Katri and Rebecca, I know you guys mean. I feel like since he wrote so many books and so many people like him, I should give him another try.

Robbie and DJ, That sounds like a good idea. I've seen the play about a bajillion times, so it might be kind of nice to read the book.



After I read A Christmas Carol, I'd like to read one of his longer works...I just don't know what. Probably because I just don't know what any of them are about.

I second Robbie and say you should wait and go for A CHRISTMAS CAROL in December...to put you in a festive mood!!!

Rebecca wrote: "For Me I couldn't sit and read Thomas Hardy for any long period of time like I do Henry James. But I do think it is important to understand and try those authors that have impacted writing like Dickens and Hardy."

And I could take Hardy over James any day. :) I love the idea of a "Dickens Summer". That's a great idea.

Christmas Carol is very accessible. I'd start there if I were you.

I had a "Dickens Summer" with my sister a few years back where we tried to read all of his books in a summer, we finished about the first week in October. I had such a hard time starting his books although once I got into it I couldn't put them down. My favorite which I would highly recommend is "Our Mutual Friend". This is one of the lesser known novels but it is much easier to read and get into.

I agree with Katri, Just because someone is well known doesn't mean that the writing and style will agree with you. For Me I couldn't sit and read Thomas Hardy for any long period of time like I do Henry James. But I do think it is important to understand and try those authors that have impacted writing like Dickens and Hardy.

Don't give up! Good luck and I hope this helps!

I've only read one Dickens book, A Tale of Two Cities. I liked it quite a bit, and maybe some day I'll get myself to reading other of his books, too.

Mind you, in my experience, just because someone's famous doesn't mean their books are my thing, and the same naturally goes for other people... There are so many writers and not everyone's tastes are the same. So if you don't end up being able to get into him, there's nothing wrong with it. But at least trying to understand what appeals to people in a celebrated writer is good, anyway!

I really enjoyed Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. And, of course, A Christmas Carol. You might consider starting with his short story collections if you want to feel him out first.

I never read any Dickens but am GOING to by the end of this year. I loved Little Dorrit on Masterpiece and bought that. It's my goal to read that in December and hopefully finish up by the end of the year. This sounds awful, but if I watch the BBC version first, it helps me get through the book!

Hi all,

I find myself thinking that I should read more Dickens. I read Great Expectations and was, "Eh" about it. But he's gotta be pretty good, right? I mean, he's pretty celebrated. Anyway, if anyone could help me out here, I'd greatly appreciate being able to appreciate one of the greats.