A Christmas Carol in The Reading Challenge Group

From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

Start date: December 1, 2015

Finish date: December 31, 2015

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: Classic Group Read - December 2015
[close] Classic Group Read - December 2015

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Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 26 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Dec 26, 2018 Eileen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, 2022genrechallenge, 2023, audiobook, 2023genrechallenge, 2023-ng-group-challenge, 2019genrechallenge, 2018, classics, reread

In all the years I've watched the multiple variations of this play, I have never actually read (or listened) to this book. This was a wonderful performance by Tim Curry. It's interesting that most of the stage and movie adaptations are very similar to the book. Where it varies, it doesn't really change the story much, at least for me. I loved listening to this and will probably make it an annual listen.

2019: I had to listen to this today and I still like it. I think this is definitely a book tha In all the years I've watched the multiple variations of this play, I have never actually read (or listened) to this book. This was a wonderful performance by Tim Curry. It's interesting that most of the stage and movie adaptations are very similar to the book. Where it varies, it doesn't really change the story much, at least for me. I loved listening to this and will probably make it an annual listen.

2019: I had to listen to this today and I still like it. I think this is definitely a book that I enjoy more as an audiobook, especially when it's well done. I definitely enjoy Tim Curry's rendition.

2020: Thus ends my annual listen of A Christmas Carol. The more I listen to Tim Curry's rendition, the more I enjoy it! I may at some point buy Patrick Stewart's version but for now, I really enjoy Tim Curry's reading!

2021: It has become an annual tradition for me to listen to a recording of A Christmas Carol. Prior to this year, the Tim Curry version had become a favorite of mine, and I still enjoy it. But this year I decided to give Hugh Grant a try and that was definitely the right decision--he breathed new life into the old tale and lifted it to a whole new level for me. I absolutely loved it and will be listening to this from now on.

2022: Had to listen to Hugh Grant again and I loved it just as much! He is an excellent reader and if you want to listen to the story as written, I believe this is the best one I've heard.

2022: I discovered that I had the recording of Derek Jacobi and the full cast and decided to give that a listen to compare to the Hugh Grant version. Some liberties have been taken with this recording to make it feel more like you're listening to it being performed on stage. Some reviews of this audio mentioned that some words had been changed to make it more accessible to those who don't follow Christianity, but honestly, it didn't bother me at all, though I practice Christianity. My feeling is that the point of the story is about caring for each other, and that the relationships we cultivate are much more important than how much money we make. This version definitely makes that point and if changing some words is going to make this more accessible to folks, I'm all for it. Regarding the recording itself, Jacobi does a wonderful job as a narrator all the other narrators were well cast. I really enjoyed this version and will likely listen to it again next year. If you prefer the story as it was written, then I'd highly recommend the Hugh Grant version. If you don't mind a little bit of liberty taken (it's really not all that noticeable), I'd recommend this version. Either one is the full length story.

2023: Listened to the Hugh Grant version this year. :) ...more

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