A Christmas Carol (1843)

Charles Dickens' classic story about Ebenezer Scrooge has always been a favorite of mine in movie form but until now I had never read it. DailyLit offered it in installments through email so I could not resist reading it. What a treat!
I doubt there is anyone who is not familiar with the story of the stingy man who was visited by ghosts and shown how Christmas was more than just an excuse for people to pick his pocket but to share what he had and enjoy the feeling of making others' lives better. What I missed by not reading the book was the amazing language used. The first phrase that stopped me was:

Marley’s face. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the other objects in the yard were, but had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.

Not having studied literature to any length, I don't know if this phrase is common to the era or the creativity of the author, but I loved it. Many of the words I was familiar with since they were used in my favorite version of the movie with Alistair Sim, like the following:

He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.

While it was fun to get the story in installments, I recommend that the reader gain access to a book with the original illustrations or access them through The Gutenberg Project: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm.

I recommend this book to anyone who has never read it or hasn't read it in a while.

My rating for this book: +++++

A house Called Awful End

One of the fun aspects of working in a library is finding things that people have left in their books. I have found IDs, money, notes, and scraps of paper. When I opened this book, an index card fell out. Perfect, I thought, a book mark. Drawn on the card was a face with a dark grimace on it. I hoped it wasn't an omen.

This book by Philip Ardagh is very, very, very similar in style to the wonderful Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. The author takes time out of the story to explain expressions to the reader and at one point, the characters of the story even refer to the page number of the book. Unfortunately, the ratio of explanations to story is much higher and much less charming in this story about Eddie Dickens, a young man who has to leave his home to stay with his crazy aunt and uncle until his parents recover from illness. Eddie has none of the gumption of the Beaudelaire children and is pushed around in this book like a empty soda bottle in the ocean. He is even as transparent and empty as the bottle. One thing I liked about Awful End was the explanations about life in England at the time of Charles Dickens.

This book was written for a younger audience and may be enjoyed by readers who also enjoyed the Snicket books.

My rating for this book: ++