I haven’t read any Dickens. Ever. What at first was an oversight had turned over the years into a point of silly pride. Sometimes you just don’t want to read a classic author, you know? I’m sure part of it was that for many years one of the holiday events I worked was based on A Christmas Carol.
The story is ubiquitous. Almost everyone knows the story of Scrooge being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, getting himself scared straight and vowing to keep the spirit of Christmas the year round. This year I had a change of heart and thought – okay, let’s see what the fuss is about with the source material. So, I went to my handy dandy online library catalog and put in a request for A Christmas Carol and waited for it to arrive.
Boy was I surprised when Brett Helquist’s (who illustrated the A Series of Unfortunate Events books) beautifully illustrated and adapted Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol showed up for me. This wasn’t what I expected, and I still haven’t officially read a work by Dickens, but this version was lovely and I whole heartedly recommend locating it and reading it aloud to young persons in your life.
On a more grown-up theme, while watching A Muppet Christmas Carol the other night one of my friends commented that the one of the themes Dickens was playing around with was what we call therapy today. Showing the character of Scrooge go back to his earliest days and walk through the events that made him who he was, and what the eventual outcome of those choices is very much what happens in many a psychologists office. Food for thought, certainly.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Happy holidays to you too! And you don’t need to read more Dickens. I am not a fan and have never been a fan.
I quite enjoyed A Tale of Two CIties. Lot’s of intrique, courtship and drama. And the ubiquitous “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” line :)
A Tale of Two Cities is the only other Dickens’ book I would read. I should get a Dickens’ hater t-shirt.
Can I also have a t-shirt even if I only read A Tale of Two Cities? I have never enjoyed anything that has Dickens as source material (except my love for A Muppet Christmas Carol and it should be noted I have never seen an adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby) and that has always been part of my hesitation.
I like Dickens a lot. But I also get why people don’t like Dickens (especially if you had to read A Tale of Two Cities or Great Expectations or Oliver Twist in high school). I *loved* Bleak House and Little Dorrit, but if you don’t want to read them, the new BBC mini-series of both are fantastic. Especially Bleak House. Gillian Anderson makes a terrific Lady Dedlock.