strange and random happenstance

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: October 17th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Ashley Smith and Emma Chapman might look alike and matriculate at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London but that is where their similarities begin and end. Ashley is American, parentless, and never says the right thing. Whereas Emma is posh, wears cashmere, and grew up surrounded by her family in a manor house in the Cotswolds. She's perfect and always knows the right thing to say. Like when she heard that Ashley would be spending Christmas alone and invited her to join the family celebrations at Stravewood Hall. That was just the absolutely perfect thing to say and do. And here Ashley thought that Emma didn't like her. Now they will be the best of friends. Ashley is off to Clevemoor for Christmas! It's like something out of a romance novel or a murder mystery, a house that's all stone and stained glass and beams across the ceiling and servants quarters! But the real attraction comes in the form of Emma's brother, Adam. He's like Michelangelo's "David" come alive, but with cigarette breath and a penchant for whiskey. If Ashley's luck holds she might actually be in a romance. Though Ashley can't deny the evidence of her eyes when she goes with the siblings to the local pup, the Sheepfold. There she learns about Joanna Davies, a girl who went missing last summer, who might just have been dating Adam. He was questioned by the police and some still suspect him. But the oddest part is that Joanna and Ashley look alike. Her holiday is veering quickly toward the Gothic, a little bit creepy, and little bit sexy. Though Adam then fucks off back to London so Ashley doesn't know what to make of that. Especially as he left her a lovely Christmas present, a white cashmere scarf to keep her warm. Warm on her walks through the woods where she sees a menacing figure with a big bushy beard. Gothic thriller it is then now that the romantic lead has left. She shouldn't have doubted it when she's the doppelganger of a dead girl. Or when Emma returns to Stravewood Hall after being accosted by the menacing figure of Father Christmas. The same figure Ashley had seen. And that is all Ashley wrote. Because her diary ends prior to her brutal death. A diary that Emma has kept all these years with a newspaper article clipped and saved in the back detailing Ashley's murder. Because Emma "killed "Ashley. Set her up as the perfect victim. But why?

This is a novella in two parts. The first part, Ashley's diary, is perfection. It contains the hopes and desires of a young girl who is lovestruck and experiencing the Christmas of her dreams. Until it devolves into a nightmare. The second part is Emma explaining what actually happened and the guilt that weighs her down as she lives under another name in a country far from her family. Because the truth is, pause for spoiler, her brother, Adam, is a serial killer. And all his victims remind him of his sister. Because obviously he's working up to killing her. Which means way back in the eighties she invited Ashley to Stravewood Hall to be her brother's next victim. Ashley was the sacrificial lamb. Which is interesting when you look back on the events of her time in the Cotswolds. I actually liken it to what happened in season two of The White Lotus. Greg takes Tonya to Italy so that his old acquaintances, the 'Evil Gays,' can kill her. She's given the holiday of anyone's dreams. She is treated like a princess. In other words, she is given the treatment that you would give your dog on it's last day alive. Now I'm not denigrating dogs, I'm denigrating any humans who use the excuse of giving someone a perfect experience as some sort of balancing of the scales prior to murder. You can not balance out the scales here. One really good Christmas is not worth a lifetime of Christmases. Now if the person was actually dying, like said dog, well, then it's a sweet denouement to a life, not the brutal theft of a future. The problem I have with this second half is the ghostly aspect. We went from a top-notch, moody, thriller of a period piece with a lovesick narrator to a pale imitation of A Christmas Carol. Yes, Emma has a few more literal ghosts in her closet, but I feel like she should have had some sort of epiphany earlier. It shouldn't have taken her thirty years to get up the courage to rat out her brother. Because it wasn't just Ashley and Joanna, oh no, he's been killing all along. He's racked up quite the body count and if you were connected to one of the victims, how would you feel knowing that there was this person out there who could have stopped it? Personally Emma being haunted and on the run her entire life doesn't in the least make up for not speaking up. She's been a coward her entire life and, with regard to Ashley, a conspirator. I mean, I'll give the story props for trying something new, and I did enjoy it, it's just that it could have been something more. Something original, not Dickensian part deux.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Ashley Smith, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Cotswolds, Emma Chapman, Gothic, Manor House, Murder Most Foul, Mystery, Novella, Peter Swanson, Serial Killer, The Christmas Guest, The White Lotus

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press,
Publication Date: May 19th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Coriolanus Snow's life is about keeping up appearances. No one must know how far the great and illustrious Snows have fallen since the Dark Days. That Coriolanus, his cousin Tigris, and their Grandma'am struggle daily to put food on the table and clothes on their back. Coriolanus is a top student at the Academy but if he has any hopes of continuing on to the University he needs a full ride, something The Hunger Games could give him through the Plinth Prize, a monetary reward set up by the father of one of his classmates. If the tribute Coriolanus is assigned to mentor in the tenth annual Hunger Games wins all his worries will evaporate. But then he gets a slap in the face, he's assigned District 12's female. He knows he has no chance of winning with a tribute from this district, but he must try. This might just involve rewriting the rules but he will do anything to succeed. Lucy Gray Baird might seem unlikely to win, but she captured the hearts and minds of the Capital during the reaping with a song. He decides this unique individual needs a different approach than is traditional, so he greets her when she arrives and treats her like a human being. He makes sure she is taken care of and fed. She rewards his kindness by saving his life when the Capital Arena is bombed during a tour organized for the mentors and tributes. He knows he can't let Lucy Gray be just more fodder in the arena. If she can stay alive long enough she has a chance. Luckily Coriolanus's scheme to allow inhabitants of the Capital to bet on and sponsor tributes has been enacted by the Gamemakers and Lucy is a favorite of the viewers. The only problem is Coriolanus is starting to have too much of a personal investment in Lucy. He doesn't just care about the Plinth Prize anymore, he cares about her, and that makes him reckless. He cheats. He's caught. He's punished. He must find a way to rise again. No matter the cost.

It is a sadly rare occurrence when one of the year's most anticipated books is actually worthy of that accolade. But maybe that's just my jaded opinion because I so rarely agree with all those "best of" lists. Yet another reason for why I make my own. Therefore I was delighted when The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes actually exceeded my expectations as well as proving to all those people who said the title seemed to be randomly generated by a YA book title generator how wrong they were because it makes so much sense in context! IT MAKES SENSE PEOPLE! And yes, I'm dredging up arguments I had with people online almost two years ago over a title of a not yet released at that time book. It's what I do. You'd think a prequel starring an anti-hero who by the time we've met him later is an out and out villain would lack any way for the reader to connect and be invested in the character's journey, but you'd be so wrong. It's not that I felt emotionally invested in Coriolanus, it's that I felt pity for him and became invested in how he manipulated the world around him and those in his orbit to survive and thrive. It was a peak behind the curtain, seeing that this man, at one time, had vulnerabilities and how he exploited his connections to armor himself. There was even a glimpse at redemption, that maybe we had judged him all wrong, until the worm twisted. This isn't A Christmas Carol people, Coriolanus isn't going to give a goose to a poor family after a pleasant memory of charades. He's a tyrant who will die a tyrant after the violent overthrowing of the Capital. What's more we see how Coriolanus's need to grasp the golden ring leads him to make connections that others wouldn't. He finds ways to make The Hunger Games not just a punishment for the other Districts but something those in the Capital can be invested in. Again, this is all backstage stuff, we're seeing how the Capital suffered in the wake of the District uprisings and how they were ravaged and how revenge then festered and bloomed into The Hunger Games as we know them in Katniss's time. This is about the complete human experience, deprivation, desire, determination, and death. This is a prequel not just worthy of the original series but perhaps even better.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Antihero, Coriolanus Snow, Dark Days, District 12, Gamemakers, Katniss Everdeen, Lucy Gray Baird, Money, Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Capital, The Hunger Games, YA

There are SO MANY adaptations of A Christmas Carol it's hard to find a unique new spin to get viewers to watch yet another version. Why would I want to subject myself to another adaptation that could never compare to the humor and horror of Scrooged, which in my mind is the only version worth watching, though I will let you argue in favor of the Muppets. The answer is Steven Knight. Steven Knight created the masterpiece that is Taboo, which I'm still waiting on season two and will gladly wait for years Steven just so you know! He's more commonly known for creating Peaky Blinders and oddly enough being one of the three creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? So with Steven Knight at the helm and Guy Pearce staring and Andy Serkis bringing the haunting, I knew it was going to be dark and gritty, so I was instantly sold. Because, I'm sorry, the Victorian age was dark and gritty, and Dickens usually reflected that reality, except oddly enough in this, his most popular piece. So bring on the dark! Bring on the weird backstory about Scrooge being sexually abused? OK, I guess... I mean, it's nice to have some justification as to why Scrooge became who he was but there seemed to be too much riding on this revelation. To me it felt like the adaptation was saying abuse gives you a free pass to be a dick, but if possible, don't be one. So while I loved all this magic and mystery and the reason why these ghosts were called to haunt Scrooge, I felt that the backstory should have been finessed. Yet if we didn't get the backstory we wouldn't have gotten the dream sequence of Kayvan Novak, AKA Nandor from What We Do in the Shadows, as Ali Baba... now that's a tough choice to make. Let's go back to the Christmas wasteland with Marley and mull that over while Andy Serkis throws another memory on the pyre.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Abuse, Ali Baba, And the Emmy Goes To, Andy Serkis, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Guy Pearce, Kayvan Novak, Marley, Muppets, Scrooged, Steven Knight, Taboo, Victorian, What We Do in the Shadows

That Silent Night by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 20th, 2015
Format: Kindle, 63 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Colin and Emily have fled to town to run a few last minute Christmas errands and to avoid their neighbors. It's not that they haven't enjoyed the festivities at Montague Manor, though Colin did refer to them as The Festival of Horror, there just comes a time when enough is enough. For Colin that point was reached at the proposed daylong charades tournament that would include the entire population of a neighboring village. Therefore they are ensconced in their Park Lane house while the snow blankets the city ignorant to the fact that a different set of neighbors is about to cause them a bit of a bother. While Colin finishes some work for the Palace Emily finishes a chapter in the newest Elizabeth Mary Braddon book and looks out the library window to see the most astonishing sight. A woman has appeared out of nowhere and all the warmth of Emily's cozy library has vanished. The woman's clothes are out of date but more disturbingly she had no coat. On such a cold night Emily knew she must help and rushed out into the swirling snow to find no trace of the woman. Not even a footprint. Colin claims that this is what happens from reading sensationalist literature but Emily is convinced otherwise. The next morning their new neighbors, the newly wed Leightons, ask if they can borrow some coal as the delivery vehicles can not come through. Emily and Colin gladly offer up the coal as well as an invitation to dinner. Mrs. Leighton shares a strong resemblance to the lady Emily saw in the street, but tries to brush it off. But when she finds out the young newlyweds have returned from Switzerland where Penelope was taking a cure for her nerves... could it be the young bride is connected to the disturbing sight that Emily saw? And can Emily help her before Penelope is beyond hope and committed?

As I sat down to read That Silent Night there was a bite in the air and the first hint of snow was forecast. In other words, I had circumstances align perfectly to read this tale. Unlike Tasha's previous holiday offering, Star of the East, which went for the more Agatha Christie tradition of all the suspects snowbound in a manor house, here she went for the more ghostly Christmas narrative. Because while Dickens popularized and in some ways standardized this tradition of ghostly tales told around the fire with A Christmas Carol, he didn't start this tradition which goes all the way back to Shakespeare. Just think of some of the most famous ghost stories of all from The Turn of the Screw to The Woman in Black. These stories are framed by people sitting around a fire and trying to scare each other with tales of the otherworldly and supernatural while Christmas Day draws ever nearer. In fact an article that resurfaced this past weekend from last year, "A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghostly Tales," is something I couldn't agree with more after reading That Silent Night. Tasha taps into this tradition and delivers what I easily believe to be a true holiday classic deserving to be read on Christmas Eve that while a part of the overall series can easily be read by anyone unfamiliar with the exploits of Emily and her husband Colin. Over the course of her two Christmas novellas Tasha has written almost pastiches of Wilkie Collins's work, moving from The Moonstone to The Woman in White. But it's the atmosphere of Collins's The Woman in White that makes it a perfect augmentation to this tale. There's more ambiguity, more mystery, and definitely a supernatural bent. That in fact is why I love this tale so much. Tasha doesn't discount the supernatural. She leaves us with ambiguity.

Yet with all the Wilkie of this story in the end it comes down to the Dickens of it all. Not just because Colin is bemoaning Dickens and the pestilential carolers but because That Silent Night couples the ghostly Christmas tale with a social conscience. Dickens strongly believed in showing us the worst of humanity not just to make us feel better but in order to educate us so that we can help others. Christmas might be a time for spooky stories but it is also a time for giving. And not just giving thanks. Emily's social conscience has evolved over the course of the series with many worthy causes being taken up, from suffrage to the plight of the factory worker to female education reform to name a few. Here we see a world of suffering most strongly connected to Dickens, that of orphanages. Through the course of Emily and Colin's investigations into Penelope's past and the ghostly form appearing in Park Lane they end up at an orphanage that Emily says is bleaker than even Dickens could write. The reality of what an orphanage is like, especially during the Victorian era, is terrifying. While the man in charge of running the establishment admits it lacks a certain warmth and holiday cheer he says the sad truth, that at least it's better for the kids than being out on the streets. But it also shows how easy it was for someone to fall through the cracks. In the 1800s, in fact any time before people's identities were so closely monitored and enforced through identification cards and passports and online profiles, you could literally just disappear. You could be lost to this other world of poverty and despair. But in true Dickensian spirit, while we might wallow in misery for a short time, in the end we get our happily ever after. It wouldn't be Christmas if the cockles of our hearts weren't warmed in the end.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Alexander Autumn, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Ghost Stories, Social Conscience, Star of the East, Tasha Alexander, The Moonstone, The Silent Night, The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

That Silent Night by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 20th, 2015
Format: Kindle, 63 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Colin and Emily have fled to town to run a few last minute Christmas errands and to avoid their neighbors. It's not that they haven't enjoyed the festivities at Montague Manor, though Colin did refer to them as The Festival of Horror, there just comes a time when enough is enough. For Colin that point was reached at the proposed daylong charades tournament that would include the entire population of a neighboring village. Therefore they are ensconced in their Park Lane house while the snow blankets the city ignorant to the fact that a different set of neighbors is about to cause them a bit of a bother. While Colin finishes some work for the Palace Emily finishes a chapter in the newest Elizabeth Mary Braddon book and looks out the library window to see the most astonishing sight. A woman has appeared out of nowhere and all the warmth of Emily's cozy library has vanished. The woman's clothes are out of date but more disturbingly she had no coat. On such a cold night Emily knew she must help and rushed out into the swirling snow to find no trace of the woman. Not even a footprint. Colin claims that this is what happens from reading sensationalist literature but Emily is convinced otherwise. The next morning their new neighbors, the newly wed Leightons, ask if they can borrow some coal as the delivery vehicles can not come through. Emily and Colin gladly offer up the coal as well as an invitation to dinner. Mrs. Leighton shares a strong resemblance to the lady Emily saw in the street, but tries to brush it off. But when she finds out the young newlyweds have returned from Switzerland where Penelope was taking a cure for her nerves... could it be the young bride is connected to the disturbing sight that Emily saw? And can Emily help her before Penelope is beyond hope and committed?

As I sat down to read That Silent Night there was a bite in the air and the first hint of snow was forecast. In other words, I had circumstances align perfectly to read this tale. Unlike Tasha's previous holiday offering, Star of the East, which went for the more Agatha Christie tradition of all the suspects snowbound in a manor house, here she went for the more ghostly Christmas narrative. Because while Dickens popularized and in some ways standardized this tradition of ghostly tales told around the fire with A Christmas Carol, he didn't start this tradition which goes all the way back to Shakespeare. Just think of some of the most famous ghost stories of all from The Turn of the Screw to The Woman in Black. These stories are framed by people sitting around a fire and trying to scare each other with tales of the otherworldly and supernatural while Christmas Day draws ever nearer. In fact an article that resurfaced this past weekend from last year, "A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghostly Tales," is something I couldn't agree with more after reading That Silent Night. Tasha taps into this tradition and delivers what I easily believe to be a true holiday classic deserving to be read on Christmas Eve that while a part of the overall series can easily be read by anyone unfamiliar with the exploits of Emily and her husband Colin. Over the course of her two Christmas novellas Tasha has written almost pastiches of Wilkie Collins's work, moving from The Moonstone to The Woman in White. But it's the atmosphere of Collins's The Woman in White that makes it a perfect augmentation to this tale. There's more ambiguity, more mystery, and definitely a supernatural bent. That in fact is why I love this tale so much. Tasha doesn't discount the supernatural. She leaves us with ambiguity.

Yet with all the Wilkie of this story in the end it comes down to the Dickens of it all. Not just because Colin is bemoaning Dickens and the pestilential carolers but because That Silent Night couples the ghostly Christmas tale with a social conscience. Dickens strongly believed in showing us the worst of humanity not just to make us feel better but in order to educate us so that we can help others. Christmas might be a time for spooky stories but it is also a time for giving. And not just giving thanks. Emily's social conscience has evolved over the course of the series with many worthy causes being taken up, from suffrage to the plight of the factory worker to female education reform to name a few. Here we see a world of suffering most strongly connected to Dickens, that of orphanages. Through the course of Emily and Colin's investigations into Penelope's past and the ghostly form appearing in Park Lane they end up at an orphanage that Emily says is bleaker than even Dickens could write. The reality of what an orphanage is like, especially during the Victorian era, is terrifying. While the man in charge of running the establishment admits it lacks a certain warmth and holiday cheer he says the sad truth, that at least it's better for the kids than being out on the streets. But it also shows how easy it was for someone to fall through the cracks. In the 1800s, in fact any time before people's identities were so closely monitored and enforced through identification cards and passports and online profiles, you could literally just disappear. You could be lost to this other world of poverty and despair. But in true Dickensian spirit, while we might wallow in misery for a short time, in the end we get our happily ever after. It wouldn't be Christmas if the cockles of our hearts weren't warmed in the end.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Alexander Autumn, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Ghost Stories, Social Conscience, Star of the East, Tasha Alexander, The Moonstone, The Silent Night, The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

With what we've all gone through publicly and privately this year it's more important than ever to come together with those we love for a wonderful holiday season. I'm sending wishes for the best possible Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate because for all I know you think this is just the day we get new episode of Doctor Who, and yes, we're getting not only a new Doctor Who episode but a new Doctor this year! "Cthulhu bless us, everyone!" Wait... that doesn't sound right...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 12th Doctor, A Christmas Carol, Christmas, Cthulu, Doctor Who, Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry X-mas, The 13th Doctor, Tiny Tim, X-Mas

The Casebook of Newbury and Hobbes Volume One by George Mann
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: October 22nd, 2013
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

From disappearing valets to monstrosities lurking in the shadows of Cheyne Walk, creatures from the deep to lost Indian jewels, become an armchair detective with the best from Sir Maurice Newbury to the Doctor John Watson. And every great detective has to have his or her Moriarty. We learn more about Sir Maurice's adversary, Lady Arkwell, as well as Veronica Hobbes's "chess" partner with whom she has had several contretemps, Zenith the Albino. Whether you are returning to the world of Newbury and Hobbes or just stopping in for your first visit, this collection of stories will chill your spine and leave you wanting to read just one more story before your bedtime. That is if you can sleep once you find out the secret of "What Lies Beneath."

I have said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, books with short stories are always a risk. There's the whole consistency issue as well as flow. I can guarantee that you will spend more time thinking about that one story that wasn't up to scratch then you do all the other ones that were great. But more importantly is the flow of the book. Because each story is so different and starts a new narrative there's sometime not the impetus to keep going to the end, especially if you hit one of those weaker stories. Luckily The Casebook of Newbury and Hobbes is the exception that proves the rule full of unique individual stories within a connected world.

The Newbury and Hobbes series has always lent itself to comparisons with Sherlock Holmes, and rightfully so in my mind. Therefore, like Conan Doyle's writing, it lends itself to the short story format. In fact sometimes the longer Newbury and Hobbes books have too much going on and these little stories are a nice way to have a short and sweet little tale that isn't bogged down by the overarching narrative but still gives you nudges and winks as to the universe they inhabit.

What sets this above other compendiums though is that we are given insight into George's process. At the back of the book there is a timeline of events (very handy), but more importantly little story notes in which George talks about why he wrote the story or what drove his decisions. It gives you a feeling that at the end of perusing this volume, like Newbury and Bainbridge, you have sat down on opposites sides of the fireplace in great comfy chairs and had a chinwag with George as to what he was doing. The insight into his writing makes it all the more memorable. There was one turn of phrase that caught me most when he was discussing "The Maharajah's Star" and that was that he likes the "smaller, nested stories that all come together at the last moment." This is exactly how I feel and also how I think some of the stories work and some don't.

To succeed the stories need to be encapsulated, like a little jewel that sparkles on it's own but only at the end does it shine out and radiate among the expanded universe. Which is an overly flowery way of saying separate but connected. Take "Christmas Spirits" as the prime example and easily the weakest story in the book. In this loose re-imagining of A Christmas Carol Newbury dwells on his life and what has happened and what is to come. This stories makes almost no sense without the knowledge gleaned from the longer books. It pulled me out of the moment and destroyed the flow of being entranced by these jewel like stories.  Which goes to show what a balancing act it is when compiling a collection. Just one that's not quite right and you're distracted.

But this one flaw which might have more to do with my hatred of that particular Dickens tale leads me to that aspect which George just nailed, and yes, it oddly has to do with Dickens. George is able to mimic other writers. I wouldn't say he's aping them, because despite giving the feel of Arthur Conan Doyle or Wilkie Collins his writing is still distinctly his own; clean, concise and conversational, with an approachability that I feel Nancy Mitford is the paragon of and which George captures as well. But he's able to lend an air to his stories that connect with writers that are contemporary to his stories, giving them a depth most other Steampunk books aren't able to do.

In my favorite story "The Dark Path" George gives us a more classic detective story that brings to mind Wilkie Collins and The Moonstone... a copy of which is found in the missing valet's room. A coincidence? I think not! "What Lies Beneath" gives us an utterly delicious and creepy story that would have made Poe proud. While the aforementioned "Christmas Spirits" channels some Dickens and "The Case of the Night Crawler" brings John Watson back to life, though in a far more modern story then Conan Doyle would have penned. By writing in this way he acknowledges his predecessors while creating his own path. I am again reminded of something George said in his story notes. George says that in "Old Friends" he shows that "the old guard [can] retire in peace ... safe in the knowledge that someone else is out there now." Well, the old writers can retire in peace safe in the knowledge that George is carrying on their legacy in grand style but never forgetting what he owes to them!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, George Mann, John Watson, Mann Month, Moriarty, Nancy Mitford, Newbury and Hobbes, Poe, Short Story, The Casebook of Newbury and Hobbes, The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Published by: Everyman's Library
Publication Date: 1843
Format: Hardcover, 180 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Ebenezer Scrooge is not a nice man. Miserly and miserable. On this Christmas Eve, the seventh anniversary of the death of his business partner, Jacob Marley, the fates will try to change this man forever. Upon arriving home he is visited by the ghost of Marley who tells Ebenezer that tonight he will be visited by three spirits who will try to change his fate. If he doesn't head their warnings he will be forced to carrying the chains of his own making when he leaves this earthly coil. The ghosts will show him the past, present, and future, and they hope that what they have to show will bring joy and love into Ebenezer's heart... or he too will be cursed as Marley's ghost is.

One of my earliest holiday memories is watching Mickey's Christmas Carol, which had a surprising lack of Mickey, being relegated to the role of Bob Cratchit. But then again, it was only right that it stared Uncle Scrooge... who, while created in the fifties, was in fact based on the Victorian penny pincher. Because of this early exposure, not only was the story ingrained on my very being at a young age, but all other versions tend to be judged by this one, even the source material has to be placed side by side with this magical memory. In my lifetime alone their have been eight feature film adaptations, from Muppets to Murray, to scary Jim Carrey performance capture of 3-D horrors, and twelve adaptations for television, including the Patrick Stewart version which I felt was so flat that it should be excised from the cannon. This doesn't even take into account parodies, which category I technically think Scrooged should really be put in... but you get the picture. A plethora of versions exist and each one has been set up as some kind of "special event." None of them seemed that special to me, but were used as an excuse for family time each time.

I remember going to see The Muppet Christmas Carol in the theaters for New Years in 1992. Now I'm the biggest Muppet fan there is, yet still, it was missing something. Now that I have read the book I think the flaws are in the book, not in the adaptations. Mickey's Christmas Carol is beyond censure because of the glow of youthful memories. I'm sure if I were to watch it now it would make me cringe... but that's how our memories work. Somehow shows like Gummy Bears and She-Ra remain wonderful in our memories, but have you ever tried to re-watch them? I actually did with both these shows... the experiment was painful and shall never be repeated, I'd rather have my memories intact regardless of the truth of the situation. Scrooged is also exempt because it takes the material and goes beyond. It becomes this weird, violent, satirical, horrifying, yet oddly touching movie that you can't look away from. Only by going beyond or mocking the source material has any modern adaptation worked and this is all because of the flaws in the book.

One of my friends chided me saying "Bah! Hum-wha? I thought it was mandatory to love this book?" Maybe that's why I dislike it, because by some mysterious alchemy that I can not conceive of, this book has achieved this hallowed place in literature and the holiday season. Now if I was in a theater listening to Dickens read it to me, well, I might see the appeal. But as it lies there on the page, it was just flat and lifeless. Scrooge, as he is written, is a bit of a milquetoast. He is not as bitter and vitriolic as he has been portrayed over the years. What really got me was that his "goodness" seemed to be buried very shallowly. All it took was the the Ghost of Christmas Present to show him a party with games and Scrooge is all, "can we stay and play games, this is fun." Excuse me!?! You're this bad ass evil man, your name is synonymous with any miserly person, it is in the dictionary for Pete's sake, and just one game and you're ready to throw off your evil ways and help everyone? Sheesh. I expected better of this book, but in the end, I was not swayed... it's lucky those ghosts weren't trying to do a number on me!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Dickensian Denouement, Gummy Bears, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Muppets, Patrick Stewart, Scrooge, Scrooged, She-Ra, The Muppet Christmas Carol

You really didn't think I'd forget about Charles Dickens this year did you? I mean, really!?! There are very few writers who have endured and who will continue to endure like Charles Dickens. Hundreds of years from now, I have no doubt, people will still know who he is, many of them grumbling high school students, but still, people will remember him. To most, he represents an entire time and place in history. He is Victorian London, hence many people calling it Dickensian London. Two hundred years after his birth, the love of his writing has not slacked in the least. Two hundred years! Just think of that! Dickens lived to be 58 years old, and his legacy has lived for almost 4 times the span of his life, so far.

Therefore, taking two months of the bicentenary year of his birth seems small potatoes. Also, I did chose the most Dickensian months, really it was planned, not just me going, damn, two months to fill, what to do, what to do. Ok, maybe it was a little of that, but, I mean really, Christmas has Dickens written all over it, A Christmas Carol, hello! So let's have a little Boz Birthday Bonanza! (Boz was an early pen name of Dickens fyi.) So, there's going to be author profiles, book reviews, movie reviews, miniseries reviews, you name it, you've got it. Also, of course, the obligatory giveaway, below. Might just have to buy that book for myself... so, sit back, be thankful you have a belly full of food and a warm place to call home and a roaring fire, it's time to discuss Dickens.

Prize:
Terry Pratchett's Dodger, where Dickens himself appears as a character!

Description:
"A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's . . . Dodger.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world. breathtaking account of adventure and mystery."

The Rules:
1. Open to EVERYONE, just because you haven't been following me all along doesn't mean you don't matter, you just get more entries if you prove you love me by following.
2. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, either your blogger profile or a link to your website/blog or you could even include your email address with your comment(s).
3. Giveaway ends Monday, December 31st at 11:59PM CST 
4. How to enter:

Answer me this: Who is your favorite character in all of Dickens?

• +1 for answering the question above
• +2 for becoming a follower
• +10 if you are already a follower
• +10 for each time you advertise this contest - blog post, sidebar, twitter (please @eliza_lefebvre), etc. (but you only get credit for the first post, so tweet all you like, and I thank you for it, but you'll only get the +10 once). Also please leave a link! There's a handy code on the side for your sidebars!
• +25 if you comment on any of the posts during Dickensian Denouement, with something other than "I hope I win" or a variation thereof.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Bicentenary, Boz, Charles Dickens, Dickensian Denouement, Giveaway, The Charles Dickens Museum