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broodings from the burrow

December 19, 2023


virtual advent 2023: day 19
posted by soe 7:00 am

On this day 180 years ago, Chapman & Hall published Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The first printing sold out by Christmas Eve.

My dad loves this Dickens classic, and so we were exposed early. I was (and am) not a particular fan of ghost stories, so it took many years before I came to appreciate the original text, although I do have a fondness for some of the film and tv adaptations, especially Mr. Magoo’s:

We grew up listening to the old audio plays. This is the Campbell (of the soup fame) Playhouse version, with Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge and Orson Welles as the narrator:

If you’ve got some time to listen — wrapping presents maybe or baking or navigating traffic — here is Neil Gaiman reading the unabridged story from Dickens’ folio:

New York Public Library ยท Neil Gaiman Reads "A Christmas Carol"

And if you are a lucky soul in New York City (know if I’d discovered this earlier, I’d have been on a train now!), Gaiman is doing a costumed reading at Town Hall tonight to benefit the New York Public Library, and tickets still seem to be available.

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top ten books on my winter tbr list
posted by soe 1:51 am

Technically, this was the Top Ten Tuesday topic for last week, but I missed it then. So, we’re getting it today instead!

Ten books I’m looking forward to reading this winter:

  1. Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories by GennaRose Nethercott
  2. Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde (Does it matter that I didn’t particularly like Shades of Grey? No, it does not.)
  3. Virginia Kantrell’s The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale
  4. Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham
  5. Jami Attenburg’s 1000 Words
  6. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
  7. Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
  8. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
  9. Above Ground by Clint Smith
  10. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
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