Tab Article

ratings: ★★★★★ (4.8/5)
Genre: Classic Literature, Fiction, Holiday Fiction

Book Review:
For many of us, Christmas is inseparable from Charles Dickens. His story of Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation from a cold-hearted miser into a man overflowing with Christmas spirit has become a defining part of the holiday season. This Penguin Popular Classics volume, The Christmas Books, gives us not only the immortal A Christmas Carol, but also two of Dickens's other festive tales, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth. Together, they are a treasure trove of Victorian Christmas cheer.

A Christmas Carol needs little introduction. It is the story we all know: the bitter, solitary Scrooge, his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit, the tiny and vulnerable Tiny Tim, and the ghosts who visit on Christmas Eve to show Scrooge the error of his ways. But reading it again, in its complete and unabridged form, is a revelation. Dickens's prose is rich and vivid, his characters leap off the page, and the message of the story—that we are all connected, that we must care for one another—is as powerful and urgent as ever.

The Chimes is a darker, more politically charged tale. It follows Toby ''Trotty'' Veck, a poor ticket-porter who is made to feel worthless by the smug and self-satisfied ''gentlemen'' who lecture him about the vices of the poor. On New Year's Eve, he is visited by spirits who show him a terrifying vision of the future, a world where his own daughter has been driven to despair by poverty and despair. It is a powerful and moving story about the importance of hope and the dangers of judging the poor.

The Cricket on the Hearth is a lighter, warmer story, a true ''fireside'' tale of domestic happiness. It centers on the Peerybingle family, whose home is watched over by a friendly cricket on the hearth. When a mysterious stranger threatens to tear the family apart, the cricket's magic helps to restore harmony and love.

This collection is a perfect way to experience the full range of Dickens's Christmas vision. These are stories filled with ''pity,'' as Robert Louis Stevenson says on the cover, but they are also filled with humor, warmth, and an unshakeable belief in the possibility of human goodness.

The Christmas Books is a book to be read by the fire, with a cup of hot cocoa in hand, as the snow falls outside. It is a book that will warm your heart and remind you of what truly matters. It is a timeless classic, and it deserves a place on every bookshelf. Highly recommended.