A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
File size (Pages): 939 KB (104)
Published: 2010 (originally published 1843)
Challenges: e-book, Reading England, The Classics Club
Genre: Christmas, Classics, Fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Personal

Description: The beloved holiday classic with illustrations by John Leech. A Christmas Carol is Dickens' haunting cautionary tale about Ebenezer Scrooge a miserly businessman who dismisses charity and holiday cheer with an icy "bah humbug!" One night Scrooge finds himself visited by the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley returned from the dead with a trio of spirits and a plea for his old friend Ebenezer to change his ways and open his heart to the true meaning of Christmas... before it's too late. (via kobobooks.com)

Thoughts: Probably due to the fact that I was reading other books, I wasn't as engaged with the book this time around as I was back in December 2013.  Nonetheless, the book was worth re-reading.

I did find that some of the book was a bit dry at times, but the words that Dickens uses does help with portraying 1843 London as a place that was not exactly a place a person would want to be.

Dickens also was able to show how man can become easily enamoured with the trappings of the world rather than focusing on helping those less fortunate out and that the lesson that Scrooge is forced to learn, that material wealth isn't all it is cracked up to be.  I also liked how the book is still very applicable to us 170 years after the book was published.

Bottom line: Even though I was distracted with other books and wasn't able to appreciate the book as I did a little over a year ago, it is a book that has application to us now.  Highly Recommended.

Rating: 4/5

Pages in 2015: 2,439

Starry Night - Debbie Macomber

Title: Starry Night
Author: Debbie Macomber
Pages: 256
Published: 2013
Challenges: Christmas Spirit, Outdo Yourself,  I Love Library Books
Genre: Christmas, Fiction, Romance
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author. 

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a mega-bestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.
  Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart. (via Goodreads)

Description: I picked this book basically based on the cover that I saw while roaming my library's OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog, if you wish to know what it means) and because it was a Christmas book that would qualify for the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.  I was just coming off reading Ms. Macomber's book Call Me Mrs. Miracle and I thought I would give the author another chance.

For at least the first half of the book, the writing was pretty decent and the storyline was intriguing and had me flipping through the book at a pretty quick pace.  But as the story went along, the story got into a somewhat predictable storyline.  It was a pretty easy read and something that could be easily consumed in the couple of months prior to Christmas, as the story is light and not too heavy-handed.  I could have probably finished this book in a day, but if read in a short spurts, one could easily finish it in a few days.

Bottom line: If you are looking for something for next year's Christmas holiday season, this is something that you should possibly consider or something of a similar ilk.  Also if you are a fan of Ms. Macomber's other books, I would possibly recommend this to you as well.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5

Rating 2014: 256

A Christmas Carol (1951)

Title: A Christmas Carol
Director: Brian Diamond Hurst
Running time: 86 min
Released: 1951

Description: An old bitter miser is given a chance for redemption when he is haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve. (via IMDb.com)

Thoughts: This is probably my favourite Christmas movie and has been for some time.  I know for a lot of people its something else, but because my dad would often seek out this version of the film, we would usually watch it at some point during the Christmas holidays, usually Christmas Day or Boxing Day.  While I do like the Disney animated version, this is the version that I grew up with as a kid, mind you it was the colour version, but when we did watch the black & white version, it always creeped me out, especially since the shadows seemed more sinister, and it is always the one that I will have a special kinship towards.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Title: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Running time: 97 min.
Released: 1989

Description: The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.  (via IMDb)

Thoughts:  I had never heard about this movie until about 10 years ago and about 3 years ago, I purchased a copy of the movie and ever since I have watched the movie at Christmas time; it is definitely one of my favourites and can see why it has become a modern Christmas classic.  Recommended.

A Christmas Story

Title: A Christmas Story
Director: Bob Clark
Running time: 93 min.
Released: 2003 (originally released 1983)

Description: Nine-year-old Ralphie desperately wants a Red Ryder BB-gun for Christmas, over his parents' objections. (via Fraser Valley Regional Library)

Thoughts: I had heard about this movie from several friends of mine and had seen a few scenes of this movie and when I finally sat down and watched this movie a few years ago, I got what they were talking about and definitely became one of my favourites.  If you are wondering what my favourite scene is, its the one with Ralphie in the pink bunny outfit.

The Holiday

Title: The Holiday
Director: Nancy Meyers
Running time: 138 min.
Released: 2006

Description: Amanda lives in Los Angeles and is a movie trailer editor. Iris lives in Surrey, England and is a journalist. The two live five thousand miles apart and have never met, but are dealing with the same problem: men. Amanda just broke up with her cheating boyfriend. Iris has pined for her ex. They both come upon a website that advocates home exchange and the two swap houses for two weeks at Christmas - both with a goal to forget their troubled love lives. Love ends up finding them anyways. Amanda starts a romance with Iris' older brother, Graham, a book editor and Iris starts a romance with a friend of Amanda's, movie composer Miles. With new found romance, both their lives change forever. (via fvrl.bc.ca)

Thoughts: I didn't know what to think of this movie, as I had heard that it was kinda formulaic, but after a discussion with friends at a Christmas dinner party on Saturday evening, I warmed up to the thought of this movie and thought it might be something that I would like.  And sure enough we did watch the movie and I enjoyed it immensely.  I honestly didn't know what to expect from the movie and by the time the final credits had rolled around, I actually could say that it was a movie that I would put on my favourites list.  While the last movie that I reviewed will always have a special place in my heart, this movie is perfectly sweet without being too sweet.

Bottom line:  If you enjoy watching romantic Christmas movies, but don't want them to be too sappy, I would recommend this movie.  Its good for a snowy/rainy afternoon/evening when all you want to do is curl up on the couch.   Its also good for a girls movie night as well.  Recommended.

Amanda lives in Los Angeles and is a movie trailer editor. Iris lives in Surrey, England and is a journalist. The two live five thousand miles apart and have never met, but are dealing with the same problem: men. Amanda just broke up with her cheating boyfriend. Iris has pined for her ex. They both come upon a website that advocates home exchange and the two swap houses for two weeks at Christmas - both with a goal to forget their troubled love lives. Love ends up finding them anyways. Amanda starts a romance with Iris' older brother, Graham, a book editor and Iris starts a romance with a friend of Amanda's, movie composer Miles. With new found romance, both their lives change forever. - See more at: http://fvrl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1472439021_the_holiday#sthash.vLf5POkg.dpuf

Amanda lives in Los Angeles and is a movie trailer editor. Iris lives in Surrey, England and is a journalist. The two live five thousand miles apart and have never met, but are dealing with the same problem: men. Amanda just broke up with her cheating boyfriend. Iris has pined for her ex. They both come upon a website that advocates home exchange and the two swap houses for two weeks at Christmas - both with a goal to forget their troubled love lives. Love ends up finding them anyways. Amanda starts a romance with Iris' older brother, Graham, a book editor and Iris starts a romance with a friend of Amanda's, movie composer Miles. With new found romance, both their lives change forever. - See more at: http://fvrl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1472439021_the_holiday#sthash.vLf5POkg.dpuf

Love Actually

Title: Love Actually
Director: Richard Curtis
Running time: 135 min
Released: 2004 (originally released 2003)

It's all about love and holiday cheer in London. The Prime Minister is smitten with his caterer; a widower's young son nurses the ultimate schoolboy crush; a writer falls for his Portuguese housekeeper; a devoted wife and mother copes with her potentially unfaithful husband; and a lovelorn American is desperately attracted to a colleague.

Thoughts: I reviewed this movie about two years ago and it still remains one of my favourite Christmas films.  Watched it with my mom last night and she had a blast watching it with me.  Like I said in the previous review, the thing I like about the movie is that its about different kinds of love, whether it be love that is unrequited or love that is starting out or love that comes from being a part of a family and so forth.  My favourite part of the movie are the opening and closing scenes of the arrivals lounge at Heathrow.  I also like how the characters cross paths with each other and how they are interrelated with each other, even if its very loose.


Bottom line: If you are a fan of Curtis' other films, Notting Hill or Four Weddings and a Funeral or a fan of any of the actors in the movie, I think you'll enjoy it (and yes at least three of the actors showed up in the Harry Potter films at some point).

Call Me Mrs. Miracle - Debbie Macomber

Title: Call Me Mrs. Miracle
Author: Debbie Macomber
File Size (Pages): 329 KB (257)
Published: 2010
Challenges: Ebook
Genre: Fiction, Christmas, Romance
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: This Christmas, Emily Merkle (call her Mrs. Miracle ) is working in the toy department at Finley's, the last family-owned department store in New York City. And her boss is none other than...Jake Finley, the owner's son.

For Jake, holiday memories of brightly wrapped gifts, decorated trees and family were destroyed in a Christmas Eve tragedy years before. Now Christmas means just one thing to him--and to his father. Profit. Because they need a Christmas miracle to keep the business afloat.

Holly Larson needs a miracle, too. She wants to give her eight-year-old nephew, Gabe, the holiday he deserves. Holly's widowed brother is in the army and won't be home for Christmas, but at least she can get Gabe that toy robot from Finley's, the one gift he desperately wants. If she can figure out how to afford it...

Fortunately, it's Mrs. Miracle to the rescue. Next to making children happy, she likes nothing better than helping others--and that includes doing a bit of matchmaking (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:I had wanted to read this book a few years ago and when I was browsing through the e-book selections available through my public library, I thought why not.  It wasn't great, but then it wasn't particularly bad either.  It was basically so-so. I wasn't exactly expecting a great masterpiece, but I think I was expecting a little more than I ended up getting.  I also didn't expect that the story would be as short as it was, as it was about half of the e-copy that I had borrowed and the other half were two other stories that I didn't really expect.  Maybe I should have read the other stories included in the e-copy to get a better idea, but since I had only wanted the main story of the book, I felt that I had basically done my duty.

Bottom line: Its a good Christmas story and if you are looking for something that will be fairly easy to read during the upcoming holiday season, I would recommend the book, especially if you are needing something to occupy your time for an afternoon.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2013: 17, 377

Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I love Christmas, especially the lead up and with a re-injured foot from an injury suffered a few months ago, I will have lots of time for doing some reading, especially of the holiday variety.  And I have always loved this challenge and have participated in the last couple editions of this challenge and I encourage you to join up, especially if you like reading holiday-themed books.  You can find the sign up here or by clicking on the photo above.

As for me I will be attempting the Mistletoe level:
1. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley (review)
2. The Dogs of Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron (review)
3. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (review)
4. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber (review)

And will also be doing the FaLaLaLa Films challenge as well.
1. Love Actually
2. The Holiday
3. A Christmas Story
4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
5. A Christmas Carol (1951)
I don't know if I will do reviews of the films, but if I do, I will link them here.

But to kick off this reading challenge, will be hosting a readathon for the first weekend of the reading challenge.  You can find more information about the readathon here or by clicking on the photo below.  Hope you can join me there as well.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Title: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Author: Charles Schulz
Running Time: 26 min.

Thoughts: I have watched this a number times, at least I did when I was when I was a kid.  But a number of years had passed until I watched it again a couple years ago.  While it is a simple message, in that we need to find the true meaning of Christmas and not focus on the commercial aspects of Christmas as much as we do.  Overall its a great little film that one can pull out year after year and the meaning won't be lost.