A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books

Five Christmas novellas from 1843-1848, Dickens’s Xmas-crazy period (followed by the rest of his career), ranging from the oft-forgotten title piece (who reads that anymore?) to the four others read religiously in homes from Puerto Rico to Portsmouth (or have I mixed that up?). ‘The Chimes’ is the grittiest of these moralistic, blatantly sentimental novellas, with its imagined descent into degradation and squalor if the protag refuses to cherish Xmas, and ‘The Cricket on the Hearth’ is [...]

When it comes to Christmas books, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is probably the first book that comes to mind. Published in 1843, this novella was an instant success and has been a beloved classic since then. I am not going to go into a plot summary because I believe most people know the story but if you don’t, go watch A Muppet’s Christmas Carol. Told in five staves (similar to stanzas or verses) this book has been adapted so many times that A Christmas Carol has just become a part o [...]

I liked A Christmas Carol, I liked The Chimes and I liked Cricket on the Hearth. The last two stories however, weren't that great in my opinion. I didn't get into the story of The Battle of Life at all until I was well past the first half of it. It wasn't entirely bad because of a few characters I liked; I also liked the little scene at the inn. Come to think of it, that's probably where I finally stopped sighing and got interested insteadThe Haunted Man was entertainable at most. It didn't move [...]

A Christmas Carol (5/5) - If you make time to read one Christmas book, make it this one. Really enjoyed this re-read. Who doesn't love the tale of Mister Scrooge finally finding his Christmas Spirit? If you never read it before, you will know the story as you've no doubt seen it in one of its many adaptations over the years. The best being 'The Muppets Christmas Carol' . But this doesn't take any enjoyment away from it. Some awesome sentences in here. I find myself wanting to shout 'There's more [...]

To begin at the beginning, A Christmas Carol is superb. It's the foundation myth of the secular Christmas for a good reason and no matter how many times you've seen, read or heard any number of different interpretations, the original still maintains an ability to pull on heartstrings. Yes, it moralises (surely the entire point of the story) but somehow it avoids being patronising, just as it can somehow remain magical without being at all mawkish.Given its incredible power and success, it should [...]

I keep forgetting how much I like Dickens's writing, even if it was padded out to earn more money. I keep saying that everytime I read Dickens but it's true.For a challenge I'm doing I decided to read The Cricket on the Hearth, but I couldn't find it as a standalone at the library. So I picked up this one which has four other Christmas tales as well. Of course it has A Christmas Carol and I wasn't going to read that one again, but I caved and did. It's as delightful as it was the first time.The [...]

Besides A Christmas Carol, the other stories in this collection are good to read during Christmas, but don't expect anything better. Most of these seemed like Dickens wrote for the money rather than actually wanting to write the story. Never read his other short stories, but I'm aware his novels aren't as fantastical as these stories. Maybe he was writing out of his element here. IMO, Dickens is a better novelist than writing short stories and novellas.This edition contains A Christmas Carol, th [...]

Only read "A Christmas Carol" and "The Chimes" in the Christmas of 2016.I'll save the rest of the stories for next year.

A mixed bag of Dickens, though all inferior to his longer works - he seems to thrive more on a large canvas. Christmas Carol is easily the most magical and inventive (which accounts for its continued popularity). The Chimes is insipid and partly a knockoff of A Christmas Carol, while The Cricket on the Hearth and The Battle of Life are pleasant but pedestrian love stories. None have much of the verve, wit and semantic gymnastics that make a true Dickens classic.Interesting to compare A Christmas [...]

This time around my reading was just of “A Christmas Carol” (the idea of experiencing these stories one every year appeals to me, for that’s more or less how they appeared between 1843–1848 or so). Having attended The Great Dickens Fair to much delight and having performed (a small role) in my school’s community production of “A Christmas Carol”, I have to say that there’s no substitute for reading Dickens’ writing. Set a fire in the hearth, grab this beautiful edition, and tak [...]

To be Dickensian is, once the (albeit crucial) social commentary is discounted, simply put, to be rich (with all the vaguely ironic connotations). Foremost, this means to be rich in detail and occupy such a spectrum that the detail of an individual's anguish or joy or anything in between is never obscured by the vivid and cacophonous gathering or setting he is depicted as either witness to or finding himself a part of, an observer in his own mind if not a stranger. A whole scene can be picked ap [...]

Dickens Carol and a few other Christmas tales (The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth,The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man)presented in a beautiful illustrated format on good quality paper. A beautiful hard-backed volume to add to the library for holiday reading.Also includes:"two appendices containing Dickens's article, 'What Christmas Is As We Grow Older,' and facsimile pages from Dickens's reading version of A Christmas Carol."

All of Dicken's Christmas stories are wonderful, but none more so that A Christmas Carol. At first it was just a good story, but as I have aged I have come to discover that Ebenezer Scrooge is very real, and that, if I don't read A Christmas Carol every holiday season, I run the very real risk of turning into him.

Merry Xmas!!

Lido A Christmas Carol, os outros contos serão lidos nos próximos anos :)

My favorite holiday classic story that I try to read every year.

Five Christmas stories, I read one every year in December. 2013 was "A Christmas Carol".No words needed. Just read it! 2014 was "The Chimes". Poverty and warmth in an English town. Ghosts and dreams, the famous recipe works again. 2015 was "The Cricket on the Hearth". A favourite. Somewhat lighter than the other two, I daresay, even a hint comical in the terrible misunderstanding that occurs. But so touching. I would love to knock on this door and spend the evening with this little family, sippi [...]

I first picked up "A Christmas Carol" in December 2014. I was expecting to read a full length book. I was mildly disappointed to discover it was one of 5 'short' books within a book. But what it lacked in length it made up for in quality. In fact - maybe because of it's brevity - there is very little reason not to read it every Christmas. When I re-read "A Christmas Carol" this year I think I enjoyed it more than the first time.I also decided, this time round, to continue with the remaining shor [...]

Something I always wanted to read - the ultimate Christmas classic.Actually finished all the short stories in this edition - a little trying at times (a lot of fantasy intertwined), but the overall message of hope, goodness and family was well worth it. The positive endings, the feeling of goodwill and finally, that man really is good in his heart, is a message not only for the holiday season, but something that should be with all of us every waking moment.

I wanted to re-read A Christmas Carol having seen the film The Man Who Invented Christmas and went on to read the rest. I enjoyed the Cricket on the Hearth most. The Battle of Life was difficult to believe because of the behaviour of Marion. The Chimes was very political and the Haunted Man taught the value of memory. I am not surprised A Christmas Carol is the most famous of Dickens' Christmas books but the others are worth a look for Dickens fans.

My annual reading of A Christmas Carol is done and as always it is a story that while familiar never fails to bring joy to me. I highly recommend that everyone read the tale of Scrooge no matter how familiar you are with it. Dickens wrote a classic that never loses it's greatness!

With the exception of "A Christmas Carol", of course, and "The Battle of Life", I found this collection quite boring, may the gods of literature forgive me. Maybe it's simply that the great masterpieces of literature cannot be repeated, not even by their own authors.

Christmas Carol is a classic. The Chimes isok. the rest of the book pretty dull and I didn't finish.

Dickens is indisputably the master of Christmas. In this niche he found a way to express his unique reverence for the season.

Such a great story for Christmas!

*2,5

Review title: Dickens Christmas classicsWork recently took me to Portland, Oregon, where I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in Powell's Books, which advertises itself as the largest bookstore in the world, a claim which I can believe after two hours of browsing that didn't get me through anywhere near the whole store. Having been to Blackwell's in Oxford and now Powell's, I can safely say that I have seen the best that the booksellers' trade can offer, and can only hope for the cha [...]

I love "A Christmas Carol" (****), but I already own it in two other lovely editions: Een kerstvertelling and A Christmas Carol.I finished "The Chimes" on 9 January 2012 (**) and "The Cricket on the Hearth" on 27 December 2014 (**).This past Christmas I decided to tackle "The Haunted Man: and the Ghost's Bargain", but after two pages of sentences all starting with the word 'When', I gave up. It reminded me of A Christmas Tree, which I hated with its endless summing up of Christmas decorations. I [...]

Everyone knows A Christmas Carol, but most people have never heard of the rest of Dickens’ Christmas stories—I certainly hadn’t. Most of them are, unsurprisingly, quite dark and have a lot to say about the plight of the poor in Victorian England. I think Christmas Carol is still my favorite, simply because it seemed like the best written of the collection. The story is familiar—even the Disney version with Scrooge McDuck and Mickey is surprisingly faithful to it—but the writing style i [...]

One of the reading groups that I am a member of on here chose to read A Christmas Carol as their December book, and as the only copy of it I had was a set of all five of his Christmas tales, I decided that I ought to read them all. So I did. And A Chistmas Carol was, as it always is, a cracking read. The problem was the other four stories. The Chimes is, in essence, a clumsy reworking of the previous tale, using a similar trick of showing th future to influence the present. Next was the Cricket [...]