This book has been on my TBR list for about as long as I can remember. Every year when Christmas rolls around, I think, okay, this is the year, I'm finally going to do it, and every year I end up putting it off until the holiday is long over and I'm no longer in the mood. I could make excuses. I could tell you it's a busy time of year and I rarely have time to read anything at all, let alone "extra" books, which is true, but I think the real reason I always put it off is that I've already seen the movie version of the story about a billion times, starring everyone from Mickey Mouse to Jim Carrey, and if I'm going to spend some of my precious holiday time reading, I want it to be something totally new.
But this year, the urge to knock this one off my list was especially strong, so I finally gave in and loaded it onto my Kindle.
And boy am I glad I did!
Turns out, this book is a classic for a reason. Like me, you probably already know the basic gist of the story: a miserly old man is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and they teach him it's not too late to change his ways. But the book adds nuance you don't get from the movies—surprise, surprise—and shows why Dickens was such a popular author. Is it a little old-timey? Yeah, of course. But for the most part, it really holds up.
It isn't a long book—I think it took me about two or three hours to read—so if you're low on time like I often am, you don't have to worry that this one will eat up much of it, and if you're at all interested in reading the book that started it all, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I noticed there's an audiobook version on Audible read by Frank Muller—one of my all-time favorite narrators—so if you're a book listener, that might be a great option too. If I read it again, and I think I probably will, I might go that route next time.
Whether you read it or not, I hope you have a great Christmas/holiday season!
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