For my festive read this year I selected an absolute classic: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now, despite knowing the plot of the story due to my childhood tradition of watching one of the best Christmas movies ever made – the cinematic masterpiece that is The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, I, up until now, had never actually read A Christmas Carol.
Opening sentence: Marley was dead: to begin with.
Have you read Charles Dickens?
I suppose this is a good time to admit that not only had I never read A Christmas Carol, but I haven’t actually read any Charles Dickens before. I know, a shocking admission from a book lover!! I am on a path to rectify this though, coming up next, Great Expectations.
I wasn’t sure how I would get on with Charles Dickens, I thought the language might be a little archaic (and it is in points, it was published in 1843, after all) but his overall tone that mixes light-heartedness with a non-preachy moral message, along with his social commentary was a delight to read.
God bless us every one!
Scrooge’s story
If you’re not familiar, A Christmas Carol is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who started life full of warmth for others with a fairly pleasant disposition but got consumed by money and capitalism, to the detriment of being a decent human being.
He doesn’t see the error of his ways, so, on Christmas Eve, is paid a visit by three spirits (plus his old business partner Jacob Marley) to give him a ghostly talking to.
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. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!
As you can see from the picture, I treated myself to this beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classics edition as I know this is a book that will be going on my forever-shelf. I genuinely shed a tear at the end too!
Have you read A Christmas Carol? If not, it’s the perfect choice for the season.
- Get your copy A Christmas Carol here;
- First published 1843. This Clothbound Classics edition published 2019;
- 184 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 
Nice post ✉️
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This and Oliver Twist are the only Dickens I’ve read! I find the language quite archaic as you mentioned. Although tv/film adaptations are great so the stories themselves obviously stand the test of time.
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It’s a great way to get used to reading Dickens and has definitely stood the test of time. I hope that you enjoy Great Expectations too.
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