A Christmas Carol and Other Stories (Modern Library) [Hardcover]

Charles Dickens (Author), John Irving (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 1995 | Series: Modern Library

A handsome gift edition, this volume includes Dickens's immortal Christmas favorite, A Christmas Carol. Complete with original illustrations, a selection of some of Dicken's other Christmas stories, and an Introduction from John Irving, this book will make an ideal present for the holiday season.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A Christmas Carol] seems to be a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness."
--William Makepeace Thackeray


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

A handsome gift edition, this volume includes Dickens's immortal Christmas favorite, A Christmas Carol. Complete with original illustrations, a selection of some of Dicken's other Christmas stories, and an Introduction from John Irving, this book will make an ideal present for the holiday season.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (November 7, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679601791
• ISBN-13: 978-0679601791
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,444,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great edition!, January 18, 2009

By 

Mrs. Hupp "mrsh600" (LITH, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Christmas Carol and Other Stories (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

I really enjoy the Modern Library Classics...they are well made books, nice size (not a pocket paperback). They have nice introductions.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Bargain Book, January 11, 2009

By 

Chris Bartal (Mount Vernon, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Christmas Carol and Other Stories (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

This review is specific to the Modern Library hardback. You probably know "A Christmas Carol," but you may not be familiar with "The Chimes" or "The Haunted Man."

According to the introduction, Charles Dickens wrote a Christmas story every year after the success of "A Christmas Carol." This edition includes two of those tales as well. If you are a Dickens, or 19th century English literature, fan, you will probably enjoy those stories. Noticeably missing from the book is "Cricket on the Hearth."

Overall, the book has nice paper, text, and a great little biographical introduction. I will definitely look for more Modern Library titles.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, A Must Read, December 13, 2009

By 

Willard Baker - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Christmas Carol and Other Stories (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

Overall, A Christmas Carol was a great book which would not be possible if Charles Dickens is not a wonderful author. Out of all of the books I have read, A Christmas Carol has the most details told in the most exciting format. Charles Dickens makes this book interesting because he does not have a paragraph in the beginning of the book that tells all of the details about each character, he gives clues to the reader about each of the characters and about the setting. Many authors today like to state information about each character, so by the time you are finished reading about all of the characters in the book, you would forget about each one of them because reading all of the details about each character gets boring after a while. The fifty page rule is not needed for this book. The fifty page rule states that you should read up to page fifty in a book, and if the book does not interest you, then you can quit reading it and switch to another book that interests you.

Since Dickens does a wonderful job in giving the reader all of the details, the characters are easy to relate to. There is the main character named Scrooge. There is Bob Cratchit, who is Scrooge's secretary. Then, there are the four ghosts: the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's dead partner in business; the ghost of Christmas past; the ghost of Christmas present; and the ghost of Christmas future. In the story, Scrooge is a grumpy old miser who does not care about anybody except himself. So, every time a charity has an annual donation at Christmas, Scrooge would not donate a penny. Because of his selfish behavior, the ghost of Jacob Marley, who was also a miser when he was alive, came to Scrooge and told him to change. But, Scrooge did not listen to the ghost of Marley, so Marley sent the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future to help Scrooge change. Throughout the story, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future take Scrooge to certain time periods from when he was a little boy to a deceased old man and each visit makes Scrooge more willing to change his selfish ways. At the end of the story, Scrooge returns home from his journeys and promises the ghosts that he will change.

I think that this book should be read in schools, because the moral of this story needs to be in every person's daily life. It is also a good book to be read in schools because Charles Dickens has a great writing technique that would be useful to learn. This book also has a great story line. I do not think that any person would get bored while reading this book. Charles Dickens came up with a really good story line that is very exciting because of how Dickens presents the characters. I wish I was as talented as Dickens in coming up with such a perfect story line. This is definitely a book that everyone should read.