Hello! Welcome to Classics Read Aloud. I’m Ruby Love, and I’m delighted to bring you a curated stream of excellent literature—mostly short stories, and the occasional novel.
The public domain archives are awash in terrific things to read, and I am having immense fun hunting around for the most entertaining of morsels. Please sign up to receive new readings directly to your inbox!
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C.D.
December, 1843.
In December of 1843, Charles Dickens gave fresh life to the tradition and celebration of Christmas. The first print of his cherished novella, A Christmas Carol, sold out in a mere five days, and its popularity has continued at a fever pitch for nearly two centuries.
While there are interpretations and adaptations of his work at every turn, there is no substitute for soaking in the words of the original: the mouthwatering foodstuffs, the magical bells, the mirthful Fezziwigs, the inimitable Scrooge, and the many humble scenes awakening Scrooge’s humanity down to his very marrow.
Of all the entertainments bombarding you this holiday, there isn’t a more worthy one on offer to delight, nourish, and bind your family to the spirit of the season. To borrow a turn of the author’s, if that’s not high praise, tell me higher, and I’ll use it.
I relish in reading this story aloud, just as Dickens himself did, giving hundreds of performances across Britain and America over several decades. The whole endeavor exhausted him, but he took immense pleasure in making this story real for packed auditoriums, continually revising the text to its maximum impact in such settings.
I am grateful to have had two of my loved ones joining me “on stage” to bring this cast of characters to life and can understand what must have drawn Dickens to the art of live readings…suffice it to say we are already excited to sharpen our characters for another go at it next year!
Please enjoy…
Before you float off to enjoy the story, please help Classics Read Aloud grow by “♡ Liking” this post and sending it to a friend—word of mouth is more powerful than any algorithm. Thank you!
A Christmas Carol lends itself beautifully to a group engagement. Should you be so inclined, I have provided a set of resources below. There are parts for all ages and temperaments. We recorded today’s reading with a small group of three and layered up on parts, but as you can see from the character list, this is suited for a bustling room of readers. Give it a try and don’t be surprised when this becomes an eagerly anticipated tradition.
The Text:
A Christmas Carol Full Text PDF (via iBiblio):
Abridged Text (~45-minutes; via Ruth Gaskovski – School of the Unconformed):
A Christmas Carol: For Children to Read Out Loud
The Characters:
Listening: When I reflect on Scrooge’s intense repentance and the care Dickens extended in his many provisions for souls forgotten by the modernizing world—Ignorance and Want—I can’t help but hear Cat Power’s soulful, toiling rendition of “Amazing Grace” ringing in my ears.
Pudding: There is no shortage of sweets and savories bursting from these pages to enliven the appetite, but surely Mrs. Cratchit’s Christmas pudding—the very one celebrated by Bob Cratchit as “the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage”—is the one that lingers longest in my culinary desires.
I have not yet mastered this from scratch, and so this year I’m pulling in an assist from the experts at Talbott & Arding. Their Christmas Pudding has received high marks from a few sources I trust. It arrives in a Mason Cash pudding basin, which can be used to replicate Mrs. Cratchit’s crowning glory directly, for many years to come.
Greeting: I came across this heart-warming letter from Hans Christian Andersen to Charles Dickens, which was accompanied by the first seven stories in the former’s collection, A Christmas Greeting. As I am publishing Dickens today and Andersen shortly (see “Upcoming” below), I simply had to share:
TO: CHARLES DICKENS, Esq.
I am again in my quiet Danish home, but my thoughts are daily in dear England, where, a few months ago, my many friends transformed for me reality into a charming story.
Whilst occupied with a greater work, there sprung forth—as the flowers spring forth in the forest—seven short stories.* I feel a desire, a longing, to transplant in England the first produce of my poetic garden, as a Christmas greeting: and I send it to you, my dear, noble, Charles Dickens, who by your works had been previously dear to me, and since our meeting have taken root for ever in my heart.
Your hand was the last that pressed mine on England’s coast: it was you who from her shores wafted me the last farewell. It is therefore natural that I should send to you, from Denmark, my first greeting again, as sincerely as an affectionate heart can convey it.
Hans Christian Andersen
Copenhagen. 6th December, 1847
“Christmas on the Roof of the World” by Ernest Hemingway, 1923
“The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen, 1844
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London, 1908
