The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career And Revived Our Holiday Spirits (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
Perhaps this is unfair, but I wanted this book to be more than what it was. I guess I wanted more of the invention of the Christmas holiday than about Dickens finances and legal battles over copyright. If I had let the book be what it was intended to be, I might have liked it more. For what it is, this book is an interesting little expose on how Dickens wrote, his motivations, and the repercussions. Shakespeare is popular for his "play within a play" and Standiford here creates a curious study of how books are marketed, within a book that is curiously marketed. It is packaged like a light-hearted "fireside pleasure" that you buy as a stocking stuffer for a cousin. In reality, it's a history book with much of the source being John Forster's previous biographies of Dickens. I'm not sure how to rate it here but it could be a 4-5 star academic dissertation.If you can hang on until Chapter 10, it gets going with the "inventing Christmas" theme, infused with neat trivia like how Christmas cards became popular. Love the acknowledgment at the end to Adis Beesting of the FIU Libraries!
What do You think about The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career And Revived Our Holiday Spirits (2008)?
A clever little book about Charles Dickens and his famous work. Light and informative.
—SoothingSunlight
Gift-size book about an interesting literary period and an influential writer.
—VTW
Very interesting but reads like a thesis paper so I'm struggling to finish.
—CookiesBangBang
