The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens

3.82 AVERAGE

book_cryptid's profile picture

book_cryptid's review against another edition

4.5
this was super nice, a lot of the stories were really great and i had a great time. definitely a great read for the christmas season. 

elusivesue's review against another edition

5.0
To be fair and honest, I only read A Christmas Carol, and can't finish the other stories right now because the Christmas bug has left the building, so to speak. However, A Christmas Carol was thrilling. You get so many images, sounds, and feelings in your head about that story from all of the different media versions - plays, TV movie, Muppet version, and so on... but then you put those ideas together with Dickens' superb writing... it's like rediscovering orange juice by sitting in the orchard and squeezing the oranges yourself right off the tree. Is it wordy? Yes... but in a spell-binding, descriptive way. Dickens got paid by the word, but instead of being bored by all the extra, the phrases and clauses keep layering, creating a more vivid tableau full of detail and emotion. I will definitely get the book around December to reread, and read the other Christmas stories.
bekatron3000's profile picture

bekatron3000's review against another edition

3.25
hopeful reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

eeconley31's review against another edition

3.5
hopeful slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
venusrosereads's profile picture

venusrosereads's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
therazzmatazz13's profile picture

therazzmatazz13's review against another edition

3.75
emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
readingshrew's profile picture

readingshrew's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 34%
I mean Christmas Carol is amazing but I found all the other stories so boring…

baileygerhart's review against another edition

3.0
challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced
allegra03's profile picture

allegra03's review against another edition

3.0
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
bookish_skies's profile picture

bookish_skies's review against another edition

3.5
adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes