A Christmas Carol.
A Victorian classic that has been told and retold so many times. You don’t even have to have read it. There have been countless adaptations for stage and screen. For stage and screen. Even for the Muppets.
I can understand why.
It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old man whose only concern is his money and his business. Nothing else matters.
On Christmas Eve Scrooge is visited by the ghost of the man who, in life was his business partner. Jacob Marley. Since his death Marley has been doomed to wander the earth, weighed down by heavy chains of his own making. And now he has come to warn Scrooge that he must mend his ways if he is to avoid the same fate.
During the night Scrooge is visited by three more spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. They show him scenes from his past. Scenes from the world around him. And scenes of a future that will come to pass if Scrooge carries on as he has in the past.
Scrooge realises that he must change his life. That he wants to change his life …
A Christmas Carol is a very short book, and that it is very, very readable. I read it from start to finish late last night.
I loved it when I first read it, years ago, and I still love it now.
And it is well worth reading, no matter how many adaptations you have seen, no matter how well you know the story.
Dickens tells the story perfectly. His prose is so rich and evocative, and the narrator held me from start to finish. There was always a lovely image, a wonderful turn of phrase to appreciate.
Many things were so very familiar and could have felt like clichés, but they didn’t. Because they were so completely right.
The story draws out emotions without ever becoming sentimental. It teeters on the brink sometimes but, for me, Dickens gets away with it because his heart is in the right place.
I understood Scrooge’s journey.
And I loved visiting Victorian London at Christmas time.
I suspect I’ll be going back again this time next year …
Fleur in her World 
I never liked A Christmas Carol because I’d only ever seen it on tv and didn’t really like any of the adaptations. However, after I read it last year for the first time I loved it. I think you must read it to really get the flavor of it and the essence of how wonderful it is. I think I will read it again tomorrow!
I re-read it last week. It’s one I can read again and again. I first read it as a child and have loved it ever since.
I have it to read, and as it is Christmas Eve I am not sure I will find the time to read it before the big day!
It may have to wait until next Christmas……
I read it every year and have never tired of it.
I’m afraid I use Marley’s cry of “Oh! captive, bound and double-ironed,” whenever I find the pressure of housework is really getting to me but, in spite of my frivolity, I still love it for its pathos, humour and humanity.
May I wish you a Merry Christmas and good reading for the future.
My favourite story this time of year! All the best to you and yours, Merry Christmas!
I absolutely adore this book. So Victorian and Christmassy – what’s not to love.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas and may Santa deliver lots of book shaped parcels:)
I’ve not read this in years but I do love it. Hope you have a lovely Christmas :o)
I read this one last year and wish that my life wouldn’t have been so hectic so that I could’ve made time for it!!
I read this one for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. I didn’t revisit it this year, but I plan to next year. I think it will be an every few years read for me!