9: A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Started: Friday 14th December 2007
Finished: Sunday 16th December 2007

Every time I read this book, I'm surprised at Dickens' writing. I always expect it to be full of archaic language, and difficult to understand, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is so amusing and witty... here's one of my favourite quotes from page 1.

"Old Marley was as dead as adoor-nail.

Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of
myown knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have
been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of
ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my
unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will
therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a
door-nail."

It's such a good fun story, and it's really what the meaning of christmas is all about. An oldie but a goodie. This is one of those books that I can imagine reading aloud to my children one day. I'll definitely be reading it again next Christmas, and I'll be reading more Dickens in 2008!
Rating 4/5