I've been told that books that light me up. Fiction and non-fiction. Ones that are new to me and ones that I’m rereading.

Every December I read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.

I’ve been doing this for so many years that it is integral to my run-up to Christmas.

During November I ran my very first LinkedIn poll to see which of the three books I should write about in December. The winner was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

I can talk about the other two books in other years! This year I'm talking about how A Christmas Carol lights me up.

I was thinking about good quotes from A Christmas Carol (there are many), and it suddenly struck me that, of course, this is the quote that people will remember and associate with the book:

“God bless us every one!”

Themes and rabbit holes

So many themes and rabbit holes to go down as a result of this book… While I was researching this blog, I had a quick look at Google Scholar. There’s a treasure trove of information.

I thought about: the early Victorian era; Victorian Christmases; the impact of the book on Christmas today; charitable giving at Christmas; and how the book is still very relevant, even including the need to keep warm – for instance, how Bob Cratchit tries to keep warm at work.

I looked at how we've moved from goose to turkey as the more usual Christmas roast.

In A Christmas Carol, the Cratchits start with a goose and then Scrooge supplies them with a turkey at the end of the book – the bird was bigger, and could feed a large family more easily. I couldn't find a conclusive answer to the question. There was lots of discussion about how geese and turkeys were driven along the roads and how this changed as the railways became more popular. I came across one source that put the move from goose to turkey down to Charles Dickens!

Adaptations

A Christmas Carol is one of the most famous Christmas books and it has been referenced in other books/films/TV series many times. There have been so many adaptations and works inspired by the book that there are too many to list.

I particularly enjoyed Scrooged with Bill Murray, the 2010 Doctor Who episode ('Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol') and the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode (‘A Hearth’s Warming Tail’) that I watched with my daughter when she was small!

However, my favourite adaptation has to be The Muppet Christmas Carol. Although the original novel didn’t include Muppets, it’s amazing how faithful the film is to the text. The dialogue is often taken verbatim from the book – it’s one of my favourite Christmas films.



I generally find that I reread this book on Christmas Eve as the timing just feels right.

And I can't imagine reading it at any other time of the year! It lights me up 💡

📚 I’d love to connect with your book and understand your context too. Email me if you’d like to talk about editing or proofreading.

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