A Christmas Carol

I finished reading,"A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens. Over the past week, as I've read, I've repeatedly asked myself, "Why haven't I read this before?" This novel has everything to recommend it, being short, easy to read, and simply delightful. Here are some of my random thoughts on it:

First, I have always been charmed and intrigued by Victorian England. I know the reality was not a pretty picture, that poverty, sickness, and squalor abounded. However, the Dickens Village of my mind is an almost magical place with gingerbread-trimmed houses, horsedrawn carriages, and Christmas carolers clad in velvet cloaks. For that reason, I have always been drawn to novels set in the Victorian Era.

After reading the book, I was curious to know more about the author, so I did a little investigating. I learned that Charles Dickens hastily wrote A Christmas Carol in order to meet the expenses of his wife's fifth pregnancy, as well as his extravagant housekeeping expenses. How ironic then that it should become one of the most famous literary works of all time!

The edition I read of The Christmas Carol was beautifully and abundantly illustrated by P.J. Lynch. I found this quote on the back cover quite intriguing. He recalled," I"ve been thinking of illustrating A Christmas Carol for many years. When I lived in Brighton, I used to walk daily past a gravestone belonging to a man called Ebenezer Robbins, who died on Christmas Day, 1842. In my mind, I felt sure that this man must have in some way inspired Dickens to create Ebenezer Scroooge in 1843. And I knew that one day I would illustrate this extraordinary story."

I was particularly interested to see how the various movies had conformed to the book, and was surprised to find that there was little difference between them. Unlike most books made into movies, little was left out. I suppose it is because the book is rather short. The most significant difference I found was in the timing of the introduction of Scrooge's girlfriend Belle. In almost every movie I've seen, she was introduced at Mr. Fezziwig's Christmas party, whereas in the book she was first introduced in the break up scene.

So, there are all my random thoughts on A Christmas Carol. I positively adored this novel and look forward to reading it again the next Christmas Season.