A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.

This month, The Classics Club are asking: "What is your favourite memory of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Have you ever read it? If not, will you? Why should others read it rather than relying on the film adaptions?" Like so many others, I have very fond memories of A Christmas Carol, and I tend to read it each year after solstice. Because of this story, Dickens is forever associated with Christmas, although he wrote other Christmas tales and mentioned it in various novels (and indeed Sketches by Boz, which I've quoted above). And, I have a special edition, signed by Cedric Charles Dickens - the great grandson of Charles Dickens.

I can't imagine how many film and television adaptations there are of A Christmas Carol, but there is one I know inside out - the 1984 George C. Scott version. I have watched it countless times, and plan on watching it tomorrow night when I get home with Big C. I must have watched this every Christmas since I was very small (I was two years old when it was first aired).

This version, on the whole, stays faithful to the original, though there are a few disparities, most notably that Scrooge does not truly begin his transformation until the end, which may, to the cynical, suggest he only changed because he didn't want to die.

But we all know the story, even if we haven't read it, and Christmas is no time for cynics! And, I'm afraid I have to confess - as much as I love the original, and I do, so very much, I have a great deal more love and affection for this 'made for TV' version. Is that awful? A classics blogger should not write such things! But it's true, I'm sorry, but it's true!

I think I was about twenty two, twenty three, when I first read A Christmas Carol, but as I say, I have watched this film annually since I was a very little girl, and so it is with this I associate the find memories of looking forward to Santa, leaving Christmas cake and sherry, and, as I grew up, drinking Baileys and relaxing with my mother on Christmas Eve. 

And, as I say, we all know the story, and this story belongs to everyone, so of course there are discrepancies or alterations, like any good story, myth, or legend. But Dickens knows and writes about Christmas better than any other writer. He captures the spirit, and expresses the warmth, and because of this, because of our familiarity with Dickens, he is a kind of Christmas laureate. Christmas would not be Christmas without Dickens.

Finally, a favourite scene from George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol: