The Other Christmas Books
Dec. 2nd, 2018 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo My project for December- once I've cleared the decks of the things I'm currently reading- is to read Dickens's other Christmas Books. There was an article by Tim Smith-Laing in The Telegraph yesterday making a case for The Chimes as a story that has a lot to say to a divided and "broken" Britain- but I don't think anyone has ever shown much enthusiasm for the other three. I read the Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth as a kid and didn't understand either of them- then went on to read the first page of The Battle of Life- and its account of the afterlife of a Civil War battlefield and how the corn grew especially tall over the mass graves and people mowed round them, calling them "battle stooks"- has affected me as powerfully as anything Dickens ever wrote. Why didn't I read on? Probably because I was terrified. Something that begins that powerfully can't be a complete failure, can it?
Well, we'll see. The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain is a title that promises well....
And if I get through all four I reckon I'll finish off by re-reading A Christmas Carol....
Well, we'll see. The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain is a title that promises well....
And if I get through all four I reckon I'll finish off by re-reading A Christmas Carol....
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Date: 2018-12-02 05:32 pm (UTC)