So much of today has come from this story, ideas and thoughts and customs that permeate this season. A book written over 150 years ago still resonates with us. An undisputed classic from a master storyteller.

It is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Concepts that are a part of our life around us are created and espoused here by Dickens. Scrooge. Tiny Tim. The Ghosts. We all remember these bits and parts and what they represent to us. A Scrooge is a miserly person turned good. A Tiny Tim is a hopeful cripple who must be cured. And the Ghosts will show us the way to betterment. These have become part of the DNA of Christmas.

And in 1843 he created what many consider his greatest story ever. When he found himself in debt, he created A Christmas Carol to be serialized in a newspaper. It became an immediate critical and commercial success. Something we all remember to this day. Was Dickens the Rowling of the time?

The story of A Christmas Carol is simple and straightforward. Ebenezer Scrooge is a horrible, miserable old man with a nasty, hateful outlook on live. His long suffering employee Bob Cratchit is poor and has to provide for his large family. The youngest is Tiny Tim, afflicted with some ailment and probably dying. Scrooge has the means to save Tiny Tim but no intention.

Henceforth on Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts who try to change Scrooge's ways. Marley, his old deceased business partner provides the warning. The Ghost of Christmas Past makes him see where he came from and what tragedies created his woeful existence. The Ghost of Christmas Present has Scrooge witness the currents events surrounding his nephew, old love, and Cratchit. The Ghost of Christmas Future brings the doom and gloom of an evil time to come, with multiple deaths played out.

And at the climax, Scrooge must changed his ways in order to change destiny. Does he? I am reasonably sure everyone knows the ending, but I will not spoil it here. Even for a classic almost 170 years old.

A wide range of issues are raised by A Christmas Carol. Should the rich help the poor? Or, is being poor your own fault, which is Scrooge's position at the start of the story. Does every decision you make have consequences? Scrooge only seems to live in the moment with no thought of the repercussions. Is what's done is done with no fixing past mistakes? Scrooge does not view them as mistakes. He is a solid wall of unbending, unyielding ignorance of his own thoughts and actions. That character trait raises the most important question of all, can someone change?

Which means, at its core, A Christmas Carol is about Scrooge being a target for redemption. He is a nasty evil rich man who must change to save a poor little boys life. The Ghosts can say and do many, many things, take him to all sorts of places and times, but the ultimate decision of his fate is in Scrooge's hands. Destiny versus Chance. In this journey, Chance is shown to be the more powerful force. Everything rests on Scrooge seeing the errors of his ways. The Ghosts can only lead him so far.

This is an intervention on the cosmic level. Incredible supernatural power is expensed in order to reach this goal to change Scrooge, with no guarantee of success. God has assembled this magical apparatus and employs it as a tool for change, but still has left the final loophole of free will. If you choose to still be evil, you can, but God still has the option of taking you off the chessboard.

So basically Dickens was saying the following. You have free will, can make bad choices, but can still make good. And you get a multitude of openings to do this. Also, be nice to others while on this mortal plain. Since we are all in this together. And God is looking out for us.

Is it any wonder A Christmas Carol has become a Christmas Classic?

The magic of this story is so wonderful and the ideas so beautiful, it does not surprise me it has become one of my favourites. Add to this the amazing power of Dickens writing. From descriptions that make you believe in Ghosts to situations that make you want to hug Scrooge, the reader gets swept up in the journey. Victorian London in every time period is all around you. I want to reach out and touch the cobblestones, eat the food, and clutch the precious coal. The man is a genius.

And it is a journey worth taking and enriching your life with. Charles Dickens gave us as humanity a present with A Christmas Carol. And I am extremely happy he did. Thank you Mr. Dickens, and A Merry Christmas To You!

And Merry Christmas And God Bless Us, Every One!

Scoopriches

Reason for Reading: I was introduced to this new imprint of Graphic Novels out of India and was very impressed with their selection and often unique titles. They are distributed here in North America through Random House and I thought I would check them out. This is from their Classics line. They also have Graphic Novel lines under Mythology, Biography & Originals.

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol by Scott McCullar. Illustrated by Naresh Kumar. 72 pgs. 2010. Ages 11+. An extremely well done graphic adaptation of Dickens' classic. The book is true to the original, keeping all salient plot points as well as lesser but defining moments It also pays close attention to developing Scrooge's character over the course of the evening. In fact, I found all the characters to be well written, as at times, in other adaptations some can be over done (Christmas Present, Fezziwig, Fred, etc.) The illustrations are artistic in style and match the tone of the book. I'm not too fond of some of the facial elements but that's just me vs. the artistic style. The facial close-ups are more appealing to me aesthetically than the mid scene ones. An impressive read for my first foray into Campfire's line of Graphic Novels.

This is my second Dickens novel, and I loved it as much as the first (Great Expectations). Dickens has a great sense of humour, and his stories are true classics. A great holiday read!

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.

I listened to the whole thing on the way to, and way back from, work, during the holidays of 2005.

Read by Patrick Stewart - can you think of a better voice? - this story is as classic as you have ever recalled, and read with such a powerful voice as to be twice as strong as it ever was. A classic rendition of a classic tale, and you can feel the Shakespearean training in every word Stewart speaks. A worthy listen.

This book is very good. It explains how you are supposed to act on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It has a lot of complex words in it. It explains too much. Overall it's a good book.

This is probably the most thrilling books I read this year. The characters were so intricately described and the plot was ever so amazing.