A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
#63 in my 2007 book challenge was a re-read of Dickens’s classic Christmas Carol. The story is so well known, but lines such as this were what impressed me:
[it] had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.
My favorite scene is one that’s often left out of adaptations. It’s with the ghost of Christmas Future, and has people haggling over a dead man’s belongings. It’s dark, and reminded me more than a little of characters of Shakespeare. If you think you know the story but haven’t read it, seek it out. I also recommend an edition with art by your favorite illustrator. Mine is the late Trina Schart Hyman. Her edition of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales is another good seasonal selection.