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A Christmas Carol (Illustrated) (Top Five Classics Book 4) Kindle Edition

by Charles Dickens (Author), Top Five Books (Author), John Leech (Illustrator), Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 37,236 ratings

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This Top Five Classics edition of Dickens’s immortal classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, features:

• All of the full-color illustrations by John Leech for the original 1843 publication
• Another 20 b&w woodcut engravings by Sol Eytinge Jr. from the 1869 American edition by Ticknor & Fields
• The original, unabridged text, carefully proofed and formatted for Kindle
• An introduction, author bio and bibliography

Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old curmudgeon who spurns Christmas as a “humbug,” is given the chance to redeem himself through the intervention of four Spirits on Christmas Eve. If reading Dickens’s most beloved story doesn't put you in the true spirit of Christmas, you may be beyond redemption.

As Scrooge’s nephew Fred says, “I have always thought of Christmas time...as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

Or as Tiny Tim put it more succinctly, “God bless us every one!”

Reading age

6+ years, from customers
Print length

104 pages
Language

English
Publication date

April 21, 2014
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Dickens's classic holiday tale, like many cultural touchstones, often falls into the trap of perennial reinterpretation. First aired in 1990 but only now available on CD, NPR's presentation serves to place the familiar story back in its historical context. NPR News anchor Susan Stamberg's introduction, along with background information in the liner notes, offers valuable insights regarding both Dickens's gritty backdrop and his role in reviving Christmas traditions otherwise forgotten amid rapid urban industrialization. The script being performed is the same one Dickens used to use at readings. Comedy legend Winters, who serves as narrator while also performing all of the male roles, juggles his duties seamlessly and demonstrates remarkable dramatic range. His portrayal of Scrooge before the ghostly visitations evokes discernable pain and loss beyond the over-the-top antics of an ogre figure. Veteran actress Mimi Kennedy voices the female parts with gusto. With its quality production, attractive price and one-hour length, this release offers the perfect gift and establishes a festive new annual ritual for families to share. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Excellent reading skills places this beyond elementary-level young readers but the entire family will find this lovely illustrated edition appealing and fun. The fine edition is particularly recommended for creating Christmas atmosphere for the whole family: gather under the tree and enjoy Christmas Carol together. -- Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!" With those famous words unfolds a tale that renews the joy and caring that are Christmas. Whether we read it aloud with our family and friends or open the pages on a chill winter evening to savor the story in solitiude. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is a very special holiday experience.

From the Inside Flap

he first publication of A Christmas Carol in 1843, the tale of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge, humble Bob Crachit, and beloved Tiny Tim has taken a special place in the heart of our Christmas tradition. The most famous celebration of Christmas--and family love--in the English language shows us the nature of true charity, the power of tenderness and the wisdom of innocence in a cold-hearted world.

Now, Sir John Gielgud's dramatic reading of an abridgment of this holiday classic brings Dickens's memorable characters to life in your home. The story of Scrooge's transformation is a fable of hope and the true meaning of sharing that will be enjoyed over and over again. A timeless delight for young and old alike, this recording of A Christmas Carol will become part of your family's holiday traditions.

From the Back Cover

"Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Marley was as dead as a doornail."

So begins A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Some say this short story, first published in 1843, transformed Christmas into a major holiday. Before A Christmas Carol, there was surprisingly little celebration during the Christmas season. After its publication, the holiday became a high point of the year.

Master comedian Jonathan Winters channels all of Dickens's unforgettable characters in a tour de force performance of this holiday classic. Using a special edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations, he re-creates Ebenezer Scrooge, Bog Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley's spirit and the three Christmas ghosts, Past, Present, and Future. Mimi Kennedy also performs.

About the Author

ROBERT INGPEN was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia. He studied illustration art and book design at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children's literature and has been honored with Membership of the Order of Australia. A world-renowned artist and author, he has designed, illustrated and written over 100 books. This series of classic works illustrated by Robert includes Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Wendy, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows and A Christmas Carol. Robert lives and works in Anglesea, near his home town of Geelong, Australia.

Charles Dickens began his career as a journalist, and his first fiction, a series of short stories called The Pickwick Papers, became a publishing phenomenon. A passionate campaigner against poverty, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in response to a government report on the abuse of child labourers. Robert Ingpen was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia. He studied illustration art and book design at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children's literature and has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia. A world-renowned artist and author, he has designed, illustrated and written over 100 books. This series of classic works illustrated by Robert includes Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Wendy, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows and A Christmas Carol. Robert lives and works in Anglesea, near his home town of Geelong.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

MARLEY was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

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. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.

The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet's Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say Saint Paul's Churchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son's weak mind.

Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names: it was all the same to him.

Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.

External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often 'came down' handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? when will you come to see me?' No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was 'oclock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, 'no eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'

But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge.

Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement-stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.

The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006CQLGXG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Top Five Books (April 21, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3959 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 104 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 8129115719

Best Sellers Rank: #1,203,949 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5,276 in Ghost Fiction
- #13,568 in Fiction Classics
- #36,904 in Classic Literature & Fiction

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Charles Dickens
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Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.
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Arthur Atwood
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Twitter Version: Dad, Husband, Not President, and Citizen.
And now my Back Cover Version: Arthur Atwood is a political writer and lover of classic literature. Most known for his beloved Classics for Democrats and Republicans series. Atwood brings his whit and charm to every work. He is a devoted follower of "laugh at yourself before others do".
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Geoff Mills
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Geoff Mills studied English at Reading and London Universities and was one of the first to graduate from the National Academy of Writing, where he won a Commitment to Writing Award. His work, critical and creative, has appeared in the Guardian (online), Times Higher Educational Supplement, Literary Review, a BBC Birmingham exhibition as well as in a number of anthologies, magazines and periodicals. He is the founding editor of Garreteer Press.
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Lisa Shambrook
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Lisa began weaving intricate stories inside her head early, but these days her words find themselves bursting forth in the forms of flash fiction, short stories, and novels.
She's a sensory writer and delves into sensitive subjects that will lift your spirit and steal your heart, and conjures worlds of fantasy and post-apocalypse which will ignite your imagination.
Lisa was born and raised in vibrant Brighton, England, and living by the ocean heavily influenced her lyrical and emotional writing. She works with the senses, description, and colour, and her readers will easily visualise the narrative. She draws inspiration from her family, memory, and imagination. After she had her first of three children she and her family moved to Carmarthen, West Wales, a market town also rich in legend and lore.
She loves family time, walking in forests with their dog, watching waves crash on the beach, photography, crystals, art, and last but not least, writing.
'There’s nothing better than losing yourself inside your imagination...'
You can follow her blog at www.thelastkrystallos.wordpress.com or checkout her website at www.lisashambrook.com
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K. Anderson Yancy
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From 2003 – 2013 I was a producing partner of XM/Sirius Satellite Radio providing SonicMovies, my brand of premium audio dramas, to its Book Radio and Playboy's Sexy Stories. I've written, adapted, directed, produced and performed in nearly 300 SonicMovies, been anthologized with John Grisham, Scott Turow, Erle Stanley Gardner and other authors of note in the Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers, a #1 Bestseller in Australia, appeared in commercials, ads and programs for McDonald’s, Buick, . . . industrial videos; written and directed several short films; been a semi-finalist and finalist in several major screenwriting competition and written numerous short stories, novellas and novels.
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Robert Ingpen
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Robert Ingpen was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia. He studied illustration art and book design at The Royal Melbourne Institue of Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature and he has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia.
A world-renowned artist and author, Ingpen has designed, illustrated and written more than one hundred books. His work includes his highly acclaimed series of illustrated children’s classics, a unique achievement by one illustrator, which have now been published in many editions around the world.
Robert now lives and works in Barwon Heads, Australia, near his hometown of Geelong. Further information on Robert Ingpen can be found at www.robertingpen.com
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DE McCluskey
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D E McCluskey was born in 1973, in Liverpool, England. He is the author of novels, graphic novels and comics. He lives with his daughter (an author in her own right (at the age of 8) with her children's adventure The Hangry Hamster), his partner, her daughter, and a sausage dog called Ted.
He began writing in 2011, creating his first comic publication entitled Interesting Tymes, an anthology of short horror stories written in rhyme for children and adults. This was quickly followed by the second in the series, along with a spin off. Dave then moved on to more adult related fiction, releasing a number of one-shot comics, followed by his first, full length book, the graphic novel, Doppelgänger.
More graphic novels and comics ensued, including a collaboration with artist Joe Matthews to produce a retelling of the classic Christmas tale, A Christmas Carol, only this time rewritten completely in rhyme.
Dave then turned his sights onto writing novels. His debut novel The Twelve was released in 2017 to great reviews. This was followed by a collaboration with a local, Liverpool music historian, to produce a historical thriller called In The Mood… For Murder, based in Liverpool in 1946.
Dave likes to work mostly in dark, or mainstream horror, although he has cross genres into extreme horror, comedy, thrillers, romantic drama, and children's books.
He is also working with a number of other authors/comic creators, in collaborations in their works.
Comics:
Interesting Tymes
Interesting Tymes x 2
Edward D'Ammage Presents: The Wedding
Wooden Heart
Three Days in the City
The Adventures of Mace Masoch: Hard Times on Planet L'Bido
Short Sharp Shocks
The Few
Sick B*stards (with Matt Shaw)
Eleven (with Matt Shaw)
Graphic Novels:
Doppelgänger
Olf
A Christmas Carol (with Joe Matthews)
DeathDay Presents
DreamCatcher
Novels:
The Twelve
In The Mood for Murder (with Tony Bolland)
CRACK
Z: A Love Story
The Contract (with C. William Giles)
Butterflies
TimeRipper
Mutant Superhero Zombie Killing Disco Cheerleaders from Outer Space (with Uzis)
Glimmer (book 1 in the Glimmer Saga)
The City of the Fireflies (book 2 in the Glimmer Saga)
The Throne of Glimm (book 3 in the Glimmer Saga)
A Seagull's Tale
Guardian (this is NOT poetry)
The Boyfriend
All Of These People Are Going To Die 3: All Of These Kids Are Going To Die
Sing Sing For Murder
Olf: Santa's Naughtiest Reindeer
Novellas:
CRAVINGS
Zola
The Grinkle Nonk
The Special Stuff
The Stinky Stump
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GMorrison

A Christmas Carol Book Review (MS. LANGLIE! HERE IT IS!)

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2015

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“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone,” (Dickens 144) the once miserly, old Scrooge pledges desperately to the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come as they stand over Scrooge’s future grave, following their witnessing of the nightmarish images of his own forthcoming death and its pitiable consequences. Charles Dickens’ charming and clever classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his change of heart has touched a countless number of people over generations. This five-star novel’s utterly moving message and immense genius will touch many more to come, and urge others to make the pledge to “honor Christmas in [their own hearts], and try to keep it all the year,” (Dickens 144), as Scrooge so thoroughly did himself that one Christmas night.
Originally published in the year of 1843, A Christmas Carol summons us to Victorian London, contemporary to the year the story was published. The selfish, stingy, miserly, and miserable, old Ebenezer Scrooge broods in his hatred for the Christmas Season, as Scrooge greatly detests happiness, generosity, love, and family. Christmas Eve night, he is haunted by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley, who appears to Scrooge with a long, heavy chain made from all of the terrible things that Marley pursued in life. Marley warns Scrooge that he is doomed to Marley’s same, terrible fate unless he changes the way he lives his life. So he tells Scrooge that three more Spirits will haunt him during the course of the night. We all know the story: the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet To Come visit Scrooge and show him moments in his lifetime in order to instill in Scrooge the idea to stop being so dreadful and instead to become compassionate. Throughout Scrooge’s tale, Charles Dickens introduces to us three different methods (one for each of the three spirits) as the tools for a person, such as Scrooge, to change one’s life. A very prominent theme portrayed in A Christmas Carol, is how the application of these three methods will change someone’s heart.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is the first of the three to appear to Scrooge and the first to apply one of Dickens’ methods to change Scrooge’s heart. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his childhood and early years to show him all of the people he has loved. He sees his beloved, younger sister, Fan, the mother of his ever-encouraging nephew, Fred; he sees the jolly man to whom he was once apprenticed, Fezziwig, and the jovial love he showed to all his family and friends; and Scrooge also sees his former fiancée, reliving not only the scene of when she left him due to his growing greed, but also the images of the happy life she led after she left him. Seeing these people in his past renews Scrooge’s spark of love for his family and friends. Dickens’ first step to a change of heart— love.
The jolly Ghost of Christmas Present succeeds the Ghost of Christmas Past and leads Scrooge through the existing world to see all those who were currently celebrating Christmas. He shows Scrooge the Cratchits, the family of Scrooge’s clerk Bob Cratchit, demonstrating to Scrooge how his habit of penny-pinching and ill behavior toward Bob Cratchit is affecting the poor, struggling family, in particular Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim. This helps Scrooge feel regret for the decisions he has made and become more generous to those in need. The second method to the changing of Scrooge’s heart was the feeling of regret.
Then the wraithlike Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears to Scrooge and shows him scenes from the future. At first, these scenes meant nothing to Scrooge as he saw the people of London’s disgraceful response to a terrible man’s death until Scrooge realized that this terrible man was Scrooge himself. This sudden realization at the setting of Scrooge’s own future grave was the sign of his complete conversion to kindheartedness. He felt absolute fear of the images he saw, and wanted nothing more than to reverse them. Hence, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come applied the final method of transformation— fear for the future’s terrible consequences.
So there are the keys to Scrooge’s conversion— love, regret, and fear for the future. The theme of how the application of these three methods is the key to changing someone’s frame of mind I believe is both valid and properly conveyed. With the help of the three spirits that fateful, Christmas Eve night, Ebenezer Scrooge realized that he must always have, “the Spirits of all Three… strive within [him, and] not shut out the lessons that they teach,” because if he went back to not loving, not feeling regret and guilt, and not being wary or fearful of future consequences, Scrooge would return to the greedy, wicked state in which he had found himself the night before. But that theme isn’t the most prominent in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The most prominent theme is the happiness one feels when one shows more benevolence, and I think that Dickens displayed this intent more than thoroughly by the end of his tale. And how true that is. Scrooge would’ve gone on living his rotten life with no lasting legacy when he died if it were not for the spirits’ visits. Instead, he spent the rest of his years becoming “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world,” (Dickens 158).
In Charles Dickens’ flawlessly written tale of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge learns that happiness can come to us if we will forget self and worldly gain, concentrating instead on helping others and learning to embrace the love of family and friends. Dickens’ clear, concise, and beautiful depiction of the world’s most beloved Christmas story second only to Christmas’ inspiration is one that everyone would benefit from reading. And may those who read it, remember themselves to “honor Christmas in [their hearts], and try to keep it all the year,” (Dickens 144).

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Alicia McEwen

I'm happy I finally read it

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2012

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I've had my fill of Christmas and it's only the ninth of December!

The reason is after years of promising myself, I finally read Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. And my book club selection was A Christmas Story: The Book That Inspired the Hilarious Classic Film by Jean Shepard. The first created our modern Christmas. The second, well, the second was the basis for a gag-filled, funny movie. Both are touchstones of modern, American Christmases

I'm not a Dickens fan but in reading these two short works almost simultaneously, I was surprised by one thing: even though I'm separated from Dickens by the Atlantic and one-hundred and seventy years and unfamiliarity with the Victorian world and a familiarity with the the settings -- if not the times --- of Shepherd's stories, I so much more preferred Dickens to Shepherd.

I've given some thought to this. It's not like I'm was surprised by the narrative. They're pretty much what I've seen on the TV for decades. It's not that I knew that after Jean Shepherd divorced his second wife, he completely ignored his under seven son and daughter he'd had with her for the rest of his life. Dickens' wasn't a great husband or father either. (Then again, he at least didn't publicly deny their existence and did support his children.)

I finally realized why I liked Scrooge's story over Ralphie's. It's that Dickens is Charles freakin' Dickens and Shepherd is, well, Jean Shepherd.

Dickens can be "a vein of saccharine sentimentalism", true. But it is called A Christmas Carol. People are wanting saccharine sentimentalism. Ayway, it is leavened with rather dark passages that offer great balance. In fact, there's one scene that Dicken's writes that I've never seen touched on the the many films. It's part of the tour that the Second Ghost gives Scrooge.

"Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea--on, on--until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remember those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him."

I found that wonderful and joyous. It's Christmas.

Compare that to the moment after the Bumpesses hounds ruined the Christmas turkey. In the short story, it's actually an Easter ham.

"Finally, he [the old man] spoke, in a low, rasping voice: "All right! OK! Get your coats. We're going to the Chinese joint. We're going to have chop suey."

Ordinarily, this would have been a gala of the highest order, going to the chop-suey joint. Today, it had all the gaiety of a funeral procession. The meal was eaten completely in silence."

Not quite a chorus of Chinese Fa-La-La-La-La's of the film, is it? Not very....Christmas-y, really?

In other not-so-obvious ways, you can feel the sharp edge of post-modernism -- or is it nihilism? Well, whatever -ism it is that tells you not to have joy in this world -- creeping it's way into stories.

The final thing that turned me off a bit to Shepherd was, again, the Bumpuses. The family -- not just the dogs -- is detailed in the story. I found it offensive. While Dickens almost beatifies the poor. Shepherd depiction is so full of cultural smears and stereotypes that would be considered very bad taste if applied to another group of people. And Shepherd just keeps going on and on with pilling cliche after cliche on them including a mention of father-daughter incest. It just got tiring.

With A Christmas Story, stick to the movie. With A Christmas Carol, read the book...and watch the 113 movies made of it.

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Team L 3

Beautiful Illustrations & Print

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024

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The illustrations you can get lost in looking at.
This book is excellent quality. The stock & vibrancy of illustrations make this a book to enjoy all year through - especially at Christmas.

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D. A. Mannock

A classic!

Reviewed in Canada on March 26, 2024

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When kids lie about their reading ability you encourage them to read with something like this.

Fernando Marcato Petean

O mais clássico dos Natais literários!

Reviewed in Brazil on December 25, 2022

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Trata-se de uma "cautionary tale" (narrativa com mensagem educativa ou de precaução). Em que pese um viés de otimismo religioso inocente como o único e correto caminho a ser seguido, a história natalina de Dickens logra transmitir boas vibrações ao mesmo tempo em que nos brinda com as peripécias fantasmagóricas de Scrooge e seus guias do além. Por muitos anos, uma leitura saborosa em cada época natalina.

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sundaysraces

Un classico natalizio... in versione instagrammabile

Reviewed in Italy on March 4, 2024

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Non avevo mai letto integralmente (e in inglese) il canto di Natale di Dickens, mi ero sempre limitata ai brani in lingua originale proposti nei libri di letteratura inglese. Devo dire che è stata una piacevolissima lettura per accompagnare l'attesa al Natale, sempre molto attuale. Sono presenti delle illustrazioni in bianco e nero e l'edizione è quella lingua originale integrale (non aspettatevi quindi un inglese "semplificato" o "modernizatto"). Non avendone una copia nella mia libreria, ho voluto acquistare un'edizione che fosse anche esteticamente bella. La copertina è rigida, rivista di rosso e con dettagli dorati, che rendono il libricino molto instagrammabile. Molto carino anche da tenere sopra un tavolino nel periodo natalizio. Unica pecca: speravo fossero incluse anche le "Other Christmas Stories", che in questo libro invece non so presenti.