Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

First published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol was an instant classic: Londoners thronged to hear Dickens read it in person and bought out the first printing in days. Its reception was so ecstatic that it is credited with helping to revive interest among the Victorians in Christmas traditions, including caroling and holiday cards, as well as inciting an unexpected wave of charitable giving from Britain’s Industrial Age robber barons. Originally conceived as a pamphlet against exploitative capitalism before taking its current form, it has inspired dozens of theatrical and movie adaptions, and its characters, from Scrooge to Tiny Tim, are forever inscribed in our hearts and minds.

RATING: 5 STARS

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future."

This christmas I decided to read some books that would get me in the right christmas spirit, so of course I had to read A Christmas Carol. It is the christmas book in my opinion. I'm sure everybody knows the story of Mr. Scrooge and how he changes his life after having been visited by the spirits of christmas past, present and future.

The story has been printed in various different editions and has been made into a billion movie adaptions - this year I watched the 2009 Disney version. There is just no getting around this christmas classic. I love the timelessness of the story. It is really a universal story of how life is too short for being cheap, rude, materialistic, grumpy etc. And of course it is also a story of appreciating christmas, being generous and thinking about the people who have less than yourself. I always want to cry after reading and/or watching this classic because it touches something deep inside my heart. The narrator of the story is really entertaining. I like the fact that we are being told a story by a person who is not Scrooge, because then it really feels like a christmas story. I also love that the narrator makes funny comments like the one below:

Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.

I bought the Penguin Christmas Classic edition of this book, and I just love it. It is such a beautiful book! The illustrations both in the book and on the cover are perfect, and I really like the pretty shiny features on the cover. BEAUTIFUL! So if you are looking for a book to get you into the right Christmas mood, this is definitely the book! Even though you probably already know the story from beginning to end, there is something really nice and christmassy about reading the story for yourself.

"Ghost of the Future!" he exclaimed, "I fear you more than any Spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear your company, and do it with a thankful heart."