Audiobook (abridged)57 minutes
A Christmas Carol
Written by Charles Dickens
Narrated by Ralph Richardson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Sir Ralph Richardson reads Dicken's classic Christmas story.
Author
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.
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A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Classic Christmas: A Collection of Timeless Stories and Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Classics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Christmas Carol Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for A Christmas Carol
Rating: 4.115502445123046 out of 5 stars
4/5
5,567 ratings132 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arguably my favorite book. It is a friendship that is renewed every year at Christmas time, like putting a cherished sentimental ornament on a Christmas tree, or having lunch with an old friend you only see once a year.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My uncle sat me down one Christmas eve past - me, a restless pre-teen brat - and made me take turns with him, reading this book aloud. "Kinda BO-ring and hokey," I thought, "It's Christmas time, I get it." But my uncle had been a sailor. He knew about messages in bottles thrown from ships at sea. Fifty years later, I recall this incident with tears. And somewhere, adrift in The Ether, Dickens nudges my uncle, points at me and winks.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This feels more like a book Dickens discovered than one that he wrote. Worth re-reading every few years.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love A Christmas Carol. I've read it over and over. It is one of those stories that I will never grow tired of.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a short easy book to read, or in my case listen (narrated by Jim Dale). I've known of the story for years and years and have seen many renditions of it in film but had never actually read the book. Having known the story beforehand there was nothing here that was new or exciting but it is nice to have got through it. And it's such a classic, that if you haven't read it, I highly suggest getting a copy while the season is right.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four stars on its own; five because I read it with Shannon. I like the ghost story part, which was handled better than I thought it would be, but I hate poor Tiny Tim and I don't believe in Total Abstinence. Also, I enjoy as much intercourse as possible with Spirits of any sort or kind.
Dickens was a cheeseball. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This feels more like a book Dickens discovered than one that he wrote. Worth re-reading every few years.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5First time I've actually read the story. Well worth it, if only for those little details the movies might miss...And replete with messages for the current debt crisis :-)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you live in the English speaking world and have spent any time around a tv during the month of December, you know the plot.Is the story worth reading and not just watching? Very much. It preserves the poignancy of lost time and redemption that is at the heart of Scrooge's story - even more than a religious message. Dickens addresses the reader directly, and there is more humor than most adaptations show.This edition has an interesting account of the first time Dickens read the story to a general audience - the beginning of Dickens' career in performing his work which proved almost as lucrative as the mere writing of it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The dialog & characters in the story. The music also.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never gets old for me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tim Curry is BRILLIANT!!! That.is.all!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'm amazed how much of the Muppet movie came directly from the book, including scenes I thought were too ridiculous to be real! There are also a few Symbolic and Allegorical scenes that just wouldn't float in a modern adaptation. Still, good fun, and I'm glad I finally read the original.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've read this book a few times. I always like to read it at Christmas.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Read this one every year though I don’t tend to add books I know I’ve read plenty.
This time round it was the audiobook read by Tim Curry which I’d give a four star I think. Remarkably understated performance for Tim Curry which is probably why I enjoyed it. Still looking for the perfect audio version but this is pretty good and thankfully the character voices weren’t ridiculously over the top. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52013, January -- No entry
2015 -- Audio Book Reading by Neil Gaiman
A favorite habit of mine is to read this book every year at Christmas. I got lucky this year and Neil Gaiman read it to me, flush with all of Dicken's own personal notes for how the piece was best performed to audiences. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It isn't Christmas without a bit of Dickens and this audio edition narrated by Hugh Grant was just excellent.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My annual reading of A Christmas Carol. I always enjoy watching Scrooge change his ways. This time I picked up some new things that Scrooge says and does. Didn't expect that after all these years of reading it. Worth reading. The Christmas season would not be complete without reading this.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved the book. Wonderful story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For something that's had a thousand adaptations, the original holds up very well. Short and sweet and sentimental.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Christmas may be just another day for avaricious Ebenezer Scrooge, but perhaps he’ll change his mind when the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business partner [dead some seven years] comes to visit. If not, perhaps the three spirits of Christmas will bring about some changes.And, although his clerk, Bob Cratchit, has Christmas Day off, it was a grudgingly-granted concession from Scrooge to conform to social custom.Can Ebenezer change his greedy, selfish ways or is his fate already decided?=========This novella, originally published in December 1843, has never been out of print. Themes of the narrative concern redemption, change, and kindness. In the unfolding story, the author also addresses the treatment of the poor, especially children. Tiny Tim, evoking sympathy with the reader, provides a platform for the author to speak to the need for charity without alienating his audience.Widely translated, adapted for both the screen and the stage, the classic story is timeless; here readers can appreciate the author’s eloquent tale of kindness. Dickens advocated family gatherings, a special meal, and generosity of spirit as the focus for Christmas, all of which remain part of the celebration of the season. With its focus on the true spirit of the holiday, readers will find much to appreciate here.Highly recommended.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The classic book presented as it originally was. The story of deep humanity is my annual favorite read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A wealthy, uncaring man is haunted by Christmas spirits.3/4 (Good)It's become kind of redundant. The Muppet version is extremely faithful to the book, while the book does not, technically, have any Muppets in it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the best thing Dickens ever wrote. It shows that it was the only thing that he wrote because he wanted to tell the story instead of getting paid by the word.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I don't know what to say about this classic. Everyone knows the story--they've watched the movies, listened to the radio broadcasts, seen the readings at a Christmas concert. But reading the actual text is a joy in itself. Dickens can craft a sentence like no other.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A charming story re-read on Christmas Eve. Bah Humbug Scrooge is visited by the Spirits of his past, present & possible future, then wakes in delight realising he isn’t dead but has more life to make amends and spread compassion & happiness.As relevant in these COVID times as it has always been .
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Christmas Carol is a classic that makes my eyes do that weird leaking thing every time.I loved listening to the story on audio. Simon Prebble does a masterful job on the narration. I was told a story; I experienced it.While this is a Christmas story, it's one whose message we should carry with us each day of the year.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jim Dale reads this audio version of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, and does a fantastic job of it! Dale is the master narrator of the Harry Potter books and brings all of his character skills and perfect inflections to this reading too. Don’t miss listening to this version; it’s better than reading it yourself, and almost as good as the Muppet movie version!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If all the best qualities were taken from each of the various TV and film versions, and combined together, then that is roughly what we get in the original book. Scrooge’s sarcastic wit, miserliness, and meanness, the door-knocker turning into Marley’s face, the biting cold winter, the merriment of Fezziwig’s ball, Tiny Tim, the classic Christmas traditions, the fantastic spirits, and the ending we all know and love.As a short story of only 90 pages it works very well. Some of Dickens’s writings can be a bit over-detailed and redundant, however this is relatively compact for him, and achieves the impact, the atmosphere, and the character development that sometimes take him a lot longer in other works. Deserving of its central place in the Christmas season.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a pleasure to read these lovely words! You may know the story, but until you read Charles Dickens’ own words you haven’t truly experienced the magic.