About book Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career And Revived Our Holiday Spirits (2014)
I really liked this book. It is a limited biography of Charles Dickens and the events surrounding his writing of A Christmas Carol. I enjoyed the story of how that came to be - but it is much broader than just that. I only gave this book three stars because at times it reads a bit like a term paper. There are long passages with very explicit details. For instance, when one of his books came out several papers / magazines / authors wrote their opinions. So many are listed here - along with their comments - that I found myself scanning to get to the next section. There are extensive footnotes. So, for those who might be chasing down information on a certain aspect of Dickens' life, there are valuable links in this book to follow. For the casual reader, some of the more tiresome (to me) data can be skimmed over to the next part of the story. I did not know of the mystery surrounding the death of Dickens, so I was happy to add that layer to my knowledge about an author I enjoy. So, if you like Dickens and would like to know more of his story ... and particularly how A Christmas Carol is a part of that, then you will like this book. I really enjoyed reading this book. I learned a lot about Charles Dicken's, his life and his writings. Dicken's parents always spent more money than they made, and his father ended up in the poor house. Charles dropped out of school at the age of 12, and helped pay his father's debts. He continued to help his parents, and was very frustrated at their over spending. He had ten children, before the marriage ended in divorce. He wrote moral and social messages into his writings. His works were printing in serial form, and then combined into books. He took on the job of publishing A Christmas Carol, hoping to make 1000 pounds on it. He is credited with giving the world the image of today's celebration of Christmas.
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This book is well researched, and highly readable.
—smileyme5
Really enjoyable, a nice Christmas-time read!
—cey
Not what I expected I guess. Not Christmasy.
—Sagal
