Each Christmas season, I try to pick up my copy of A Christmas Carol that was a gift from my grandfather years ago. This past Christmas, I didn't get a chance to read it. So, I chose to listen as an audiobook starting on New Years Day while holding on to the last vestiges of the holiday season (my favorite time of year). It's only appropriate that it's been very snowy lately, so it still looked and felt like Christmas outside as I listened to this book.

The particular audiobook I listened to was a Spotify original, and the narrator did a fantastic job delivering warmth, coolness and genuine joy when the book and characters called for it. As a fan of the 1951 film version of A Christmas Carol, starring the incomparable Alistair Sim, who makes the best Scrooge IMO, many of the words and quotes of this book are second nature to me, having watched the film each Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. Of course, no movie can truly capture the depth and richness of the book, no matter how hard it tries. Charles Dickens worked his own brand of magic into writing this story.

The book itself is so rich, and Dickens' wonderous sense of humor really shines. I found myself chuckling more often while listening than watching the movie! This is a gem of a book, featuring a timeless tale that never gets old.

Ghosts, Christmas, the Victorian setting -- what could be better? We all know the story, most likely through some film adaptation (I am a fan of the ever popular and beloved Muppets Christmas Carol, but still prefer the 1951 version), but there's nothing like experiencing the original text all the way through, for the first or hundredth time.

This is a book that's so well written and heartfelt that it can be read and enjoyed any time of year, but it does fit perfectly into the heart of the Christmas season. It just brings me so much joy!

a christmas classic that i needed to re-read. obviously loved. tiny tim stan.

but it reminded me how i used to read classics when i was younger and now i mainly just read silly books where i turn my brain off. maybe ill read more classic books in 2025.

this was hard to get into. as i've said, i really struggle with dickens' writing. they are wordy. but i did get the message, and the story was good.

bah humbug

4 ★ - (really liked it)

A Christmas Carol is the first of five Christmas books Charles Dickens wrote from 1843 to 1848. It's also the most famous of the set. The only other one I've heard of is The Cricket on the Hearth. It is also one of my all time favorite books. It is one of a half dozen books I have read more times than I can count and it never fails to entertain me and cheer me up. Charles Dickens is known for his long books, written for serialization and later published in novel form. For instance, my copy of Bleak House comes in at 1,100 pages. A Christmas Carol for its brevity and short cast of characters is an aberration from Dickens's longer works. For anyone wanting to experience a Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol is the perfect starting point. It is tightly written and comes in at under 100 pages. In those few pages, Dickens precisely describes everything that Scrooge is experiencing: the sights, sounds, tastes, aromas and so forth. Even the specific carols that are sung are mentioned. For this precision, the numerous adapations I've seen all match up nicely with the book, even the goofier ones like Mickey's A Christmas Carol and A Muppet Christmas Carol. If you haven't read A Christmas Carol, get yourself a copy and enjoy.

Why did I wait so long?

Its fun, entertaining, fiction and yet delivers a moral. Reading it at Christmas time, or any time, makes us realize how we tend to overlook the many small pleasures of life. Since I love books that leave you with hope, I had to love this one too.......

Maybe I didn't really liked it because I knew how it would end?

I try to read this every Christmas, but have fallen short the past four or five years. This was the audio recording of Neil Gaiman reading from Charles Dickens very own prompt copy. Highly recommend if you’ve never heard his reading. I meant to do this Christmas Day, but a migraine kept me from it. Better late than never.

December 2023 read:

My annual read of a Christmas Carol is a favorite tradition of mine. This audio version was wonderfully done by the fabulous Tim Curry. He slipped in and out of characters and narration with ease. Just beautifully executed all the way around.

A fun read on a warm winter day. Loved Dickens' playful way with words.

If you want to introduce yourself to a classic in an easy reading, kid friendly kind of way then pick up this book! Philip Gooden has done a miraculous job making this classic story into a light and easy read with lots of great pictures. This felt so nostalgic and awesome, dipping back into my childhood of watching the film adaptation of this tale over and over. I felt the Christmas spirit and I felt holly and jolly reading about good ol' Scrooge all over again! What a tale! Four out of five stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Found a nice new edition of this which I got for free, it's Christmas and well, had to to give it another go after so many years!

I've always loved the film adaptations and am happy to have finally read the original. Dickens has lots of little smile-inducing, witty sentences and the story as a whole is brilliant. I'm unashamed to say that the ending brought me to tears.

This is a reread because I found the Tim Curry narration included with audible, so I gave an audio edition a shot this year. The audio is good, less noticeably Tim Curry-y than I expected, but he weirdly does a VERY ‘him’ voice for all the women that was a bit jarring. I recently saw a production of the play at the Geva Theatre here in Rochester, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the actual dialogue was used and true to the original. It was also just a lovely production FYI. I also recently watched Scrooge: A Christmas Carol done by Netflix. Aside from being a kind of wild adaptation in general, I starting thinking about how a lot of different adaptations kind of have Scrooge not really moved by the first two ghosts, and then having a huge change at the third. It always makes me think about how unbelievable it makes it. And the source material is so different to that! I love the story of a bad man being shown the error of his ways and changing for the better. It’s such a classic story, and the use of the spirit of Christmas to get the character there is obviously my favorite part. I love the tidbits of Scrooge wishing he had handled things different during each ghost, it shows him changing, wanting to be better, therefore the final ghost pushing him ultimately over the edge is super believable. Personally a constant 5/5*.

good book. had a lot of symbolism.

It seemed like a nice way to wrap things up by fulfilling the last category on my 2015 reading challenge (a book set during Christmas) by reading A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This is such a well-known story and beloved classic that I won't do an in-depth review. This is definitely a book that everyone should read at least once. Although if you if only read it as a child or have only seen the TV/Movie adaptations, I would definitely recommend returning to the original text as an adult. Though ostensibly a children's story, there is much of the moral that harks toward the hardened adult heart than that of a child. This book also has Dickens' quintessential style and that wonderful British snark shines through. There are many wonderful little details to be appreciated, and there should be no question as to why this story has been such an enduring classic. This review fulfills the "Book Set During Christmas" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...

A favourite Dickens work for sure. One can never re-read this too many times. Loved the narration by Hugh Grant too. Just such a warm and happy Christmas read.

This is my favorite Dickens novel, heck it's one of my favorite stories, period! There is just something wonderful about this redemption tale. I tear up every single time I read it. My christmas would be woefully incomplete if I did not read this every year and watch my favorite versions of the movie. I recommend the Alastair Sim version as being best! But George C. Scott is a close second! God Bless Us All!

I try to read this every Christmas, but have fallen short the past four or five years. This was the audio recording of Neil Gaiman reading from Charles Dickens very own prompt copy. Highly recommend if you’ve never heard his reading. I meant to do this Christmas Day, but a migraine kept me from it. Better late than never.

4.5

Wonderful story of Scrooge! This is one of my all time fav stories for the holidays.

3.75 stars | Listened to the version read by Neil Gaiman but I was too lazy to try and find the right edition. Story of my life.