Charles Dickens; Nancy Farmer
Aladdin Classics: A Christmas Carol (Paperback)
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4.7 stars out of 10 reviews
10 reviews
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4.7 out of 5stars
(10 reviews)
Most helpful positive review
5.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
11/25/2011
Every year my mother, ...
Every year my mother, bless her heart, sends me a Christmas book. They are always written by contemporary authors like Mary Higgins Clark. Sometimes I am able to make my way through these novels but most times I give up after a couple of chapters and donate the book to my local library. The truth is there is only one Christmas book as far as I'm concerned and that book is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I read this book for the first time a few decades ago and I read it most Christmases now. Why do I love this book so much? Because it is the only one I have ever read that imbues the Christmas spirit in ME just by reading it! That is quite a feat especially now that I live in Australia after spending the first 35 years of my life in Canada. So now there is no snow or Christmas lights (it gets dark here about 10:00 by the end of December) to get my Christmas spirit sparked. But Dickens does it for me every time.
Canadian_Down_Under
Most helpful negative review
4.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
01/24/2011
Everyone knows the plo...
Everyone knows the plot to Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol: Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Past, Present, and Future; he realizes that life is about more than money and that he'd like to be remembered well by friends and family. Its story is familiar and timeless. Scrooge learns that the true meaning of Christmas is found in sharing one's money and time, actively loving the world as God did by giving us his son. In terms of bending time as a plot device, it was probably pretty cutting edge when written; also, Dickens captures ugliness and pettiness like few others can. It's an enjoyable short read from a writer who composes with true emotion, advocating for the plight of the poor. I wonder what Dickens' writings would have been like if he'd been born into a less class conscious culture, one where people were freer to move about the economic spectrum.
Voracious_Reader
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser05/01/2022Ebeneezer Scrooge is a man consumed…Ebeneezer Scrooge is a man consumed by avarice. He's lonely, cruel, and lacks the most basic empathy. One Christmas Eve he is approached by the spirit of his former business partner. Marley is spending his afterlife languishing in torment because of his careless actions in life. Now it is Scrooge's chance to learn the error of his ways and make better use of his time on earth. After the intervention of three spirits who show him the effect his actions have on others, and their ultimate consequence, Scrooge swears to reform himself and live always with the spirit of Christmas in his heart. This is a true classic and a tale with the power to warm the heart. I greatly enjoyed it.Juva
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser12/23/2014Due to circumstances b...Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not completed the ritual reading of this tale in the run up to the festive season, for the past three years. This year I have and Christmas seems complete! I doubt there is a single reader in the world, nay, the universe who does not know the story of the miser forced to face his own unpleasant nature and so, I shall not bore you with a resume of the plot: suffice to say, that after more readings than I would care to admit (well into double, if not quite triple figures!), Dickens still manages to supply that warm glow of Christmas. We are lead to believe that, having turned over a new leaf, Scrooge is forgiven his past and yet, we still associate the name with penny pinching, rather than the generosity of the reborn Scrooge: perhaps we have to be a little more forgiving..... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!the.ken.petersen
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser12/24/2011An annual reread, thes...An annual reread, these past two years done out loud with the husbeast. One of my most favoritest Christmas traditions and one of my most favorite of favoritest books, actually. Never, ever grows old, and always brings a smile. Some of the best descriptions of food, crowds, the city, and parties I've ever read here. And, of course, brilliant on Christmas. A delight.lycomayflower
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser12/16/2011Ebenezer Scrooge is th...Ebenezer Scrooge is the definition of a miser, reluctant even to wish anyone a merry Christmas for Christmas is but a "humbug." But on Christmas Eve, he is shocked by a visit from the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had been like Scrooge in life. Marley warns Scrooge that if he doesn't change his ways, he'll be cursed like Marley to walk the earth wearing chains, regretting that he hadn't been kinder in life. To further prompt Scrooge toward goodwill to men, he is visited by three more spirits - the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future - who show him the cheer others feel on Christmas but also warn him of what may be if he doesn't become more giving. A Christmas Carol has been told and adapted so many times as to become trite, but the original is still great to read, even if you know what's coming. The last time I read it I was 14, so coming back to it after all this time, I'm realizing just how funny Dickens can be. For instance, there is his musing right in the beginning as to the expression dead as a doornail: "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." It's this humor that is often missing in all the adaptations, which are either completely serious or completely silly, rather than the perfect combination of both. In many ways, A Christmas Carol is a morality tale, warning us about being too greedy instead of sharing our wealth with the poorest and neediest in our communities. It's interesting how this book was so influential in our celebration of Christmas and has even affected our language so that "scrooge" has now become synonymous with miser. But despite all this, do we always remember to take the real story to heart? Do we remember to take care of those living in poverty all the year long, as Scrooge finally does at the end? For this re-reading, I listened to the audio version read by Frank Muller, who was excellent. If A Christmas Carol isn't already a part of your holiday tradition, I highly recommend that it become so.sweetiegherkin
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser11/25/2011Every year my mother, ...Every year my mother, bless her heart, sends me a Christmas book. They are always written by contemporary authors like Mary Higgins Clark. Sometimes I am able to make my way through these novels but most times I give up after a couple of chapters and donate the book to my local library. The truth is there is only one Christmas book as far as I'm concerned and that book is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I read this book for the first time a few decades ago and I read it most Christmases now. Why do I love this book so much? Because it is the only one I have ever read that imbues the Christmas spirit in ME just by reading it! That is quite a feat especially now that I live in Australia after spending the first 35 years of my life in Canada. So now there is no snow or Christmas lights (it gets dark here about 10:00 by the end of December) to get my Christmas spirit sparked. But Dickens does it for me every time.Canadian_Down_Under
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser02/11/2011Seen every version of ...Seen every version of the movie possible, but i had never read the book before-- i loved it. Rich in detail and language and setting-- I now have some idea what it felt like to be in one of those crooked streets in London in 1843-- the smells and the dirt and soot and the closeness-- to put a hand out the window and almost touch the dirty window next door...The special foods and the games and the feel of it. i loved it and i am amazed at how true so many of the movies remained to the book. Dickens at his best, i think-- full of imagery and descriptive language and good and evil and redemption...at less than 200 pages. The illustrations by P.J. Lynch help convey the mid 19th century feel. Brilliant.bplma
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4.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser01/24/2011Everyone knows the plo...Everyone knows the plot to Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol: Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Past, Present, and Future; he realizes that life is about more than money and that he'd like to be remembered well by friends and family. Its story is familiar and timeless. Scrooge learns that the true meaning of Christmas is found in sharing one's money and time, actively loving the world as God did by giving us his son. In terms of bending time as a plot device, it was probably pretty cutting edge when written; also, Dickens captures ugliness and pettiness like few others can. It's an enjoyable short read from a writer who composes with true emotion, advocating for the plight of the poor. I wonder what Dickens' writings would have been like if he'd been born into a less class conscious culture, one where people were freer to move about the economic spectrum.Voracious_Reader
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4.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser12/23/2009A Christmas Carol is t...A Christmas Carol is the one classic that almost everyone knows, even if they've never read the book. It's shorter and easier to read than most of Dickens' other books and really is suitable for people of all ages. I loved it as a child and after re-reading it this week for the first time in years, I loved it as an adult too. No matter how many movies, cartoons or TV adaptions you may have seen, it's still worth reading the book for the richness and humour of Dickens' writing and for his wonderful descriptions and imagery. Although some readers might find it too sentimental at times, it's easy to see why this book has become a timeless classic, as it is everything a good Christmas story should be - heartwarming, inspirational and with an important message for us all.helen295
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5.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser12/21/2009I am so glad I decided...I am so glad I decided to read this book again. This one is the original first edition text from 1843. This edition was reproduced from the original by Dover Publications in 1991 with the following note added: "The Christmas gift presented to the English-speaking world in 1843 by the preeminent novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has never lost its power to delight. Adapted in numerous ways and for a great variety of media over the yeaars, this modern Christmas myth, which is linked to every Christmas celebration and whose characters have become household names, is still best enjoyed in its inimitable original wording. The text in the present volume is that of the first edition (Chapman and Hall, London, 1843)". I quote this from the Dover Classics Edition because it is very true. Much as it wouldn't seem like Christmas without "A Christmas Carol" in one form or another, nothing tells it as well as Charles Dickens' original. My favorite movie version is the second made, with Alistair Sim, which sticks to the original fairly well. But the last time I read the book was in 1952. I loved it then and I love it now. Dickens' descriptions of mid-1800s London are so real and so chilling one wonders how the English survived those times. The attitudes are spot on, as Dickens' characters always are. What makes "A Christmas Carol" different is the absolute fear that Scrooge feels upon seeing his old "dead as a doornail" partner visit him on Christmas Eve. The feel of Dickens' writing is so powerful nothing can be ignored. The visits of the three spirits are amazing in the depth they are given and in what they accomplish and how. As most people do know the story in one form or another, I won't go into the visits other than how imaginative the story is in the way Scrooge's background and Scroogeness is dealt with so succinctly. This book is a must-read at least once in a reader's life, even if seen as plays, movies, even cartoons and remakes. Nothing is so satisfactory as the book itself.readerbynight
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4.00 out of 5 stars reviewVerified Purchaser02/09/2009Dickens perennial Chr...Dickens' perennial Christmas classic about Ebenezer Scrooge and his visits from the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come and the Christmas lessons Scrooge learns from them. I try to read this every year around the holidays, and it never seems to get old.tapestry100