DISCUSS "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" HERE

I hope you have all read it by now, and are ready to discuss. It is a wonderful holiday read. :)

Please - describe your mood reading it, and the thoughts and memories entering your mind as you read it. It is such a classic, that perhaps reading it has triggered some comforting thoughts? :)

What was wrong with the previous thread?

I think he forgot he'd already started one! :o)

This is the post I made to the previous thread... :)

Thank you, JPB, for proposing this discussion thread and for the e-link to the book. I have seen at least a dozen different theatrical productions of this work, but had never actually read Dickens' words. It really is a lot better than the stage, since there are no physical limits to one's imagination (as both writer and reader). I especially liked the description of the child-man Ghost of Christmas Past with his "jet of light" and the cap to extinguish it. And the multitude of scenes that the Ghost of Christmas Future visits upon Scrooge is far larger than anything the stage or screen might want to use to carry that point.

This story always lifts my spirit at Christmas time, even though at the end of it Scrooge expends vast sums in a consumer-like orgy of compensation for past non-deeds. It helps me to remember that the spirit of the holidays needs to be but the capstone to each year's generous living. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my moments reading this version of "A Christmas Carol.".

Happy holidays, all!

Oops. I just re-read the original post, and realized that I did not attempt to answer the first question that was posed. Elements of a story carried down to today's stories? Brief, colorful chapters that are written to both stand-alone AND link together into a synergistic whole... The use of a main character's sole voice to interpret the plot... The power of hope and imagination...

Or maybe I missed the point of the question? My last literature course was taken nearly 30 years ago... :)

I felt warn inside when I finished reading... Also, I felt like buying copies to all and everyone in my family/friends so that they could share the warmth with me.

Just read an interesting article in the NYTimes Magazine from last Sunday that examines the possibility of Scrooge hallucinating due to a medical condition. Doesn't really change the spirit of the story for me, but caused me to think about how Dickens may have had "real-life" models for his main character...

Happy Christmas All!

I'm still working on it, but I'd forgotten how wonderful it is.

Thanks again for suggesting this, JPB. :o)

Happy Christmas, Sabarade, and all the rest of you as well.

Happy Christmas!
I'm off celebrating now, as focus here is on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. And whatever I may think of this dark time of the year I really like to spend some time with my family :-)

Glad to hear (read) that, Busifer!

I hope all of you get to enjoy some quality time with the ones you love in the next few days.

Thanks, and the same to you, all of you!
(I sneaked by to add a book I recieved, nobody knows I'm here... ouch! my husband just checked what I'm doing... off again, see you later!)

"There's more of gravy than of grave about you."

Bwaa haa haa! I remember laughing at this line as a child. Charles had a sense of humor!!! :o)

It's a great line. The best authors just roll them off the tongue. :)

I finally had some alone time this morning, and I finished reading this. What a wonderful story. I noticed a few lines that I hadn't before! Like this one for instance:

"Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child."

Oh, what a timeless quote. I found it reminded me of Gandalf's words to Frodo about Gollum, and Bilbo's decision not to kill him.

"Many who live deserve death, and some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends..."