Welcome to Litsy!

I started this one last December and never finished it so I decided to try again this year. I don‘t know why but it was just hard for me to connect with the story. Richard Armitage is one of my favorite narrators so I really don‘t know why. I may need to try this one in another format because I feel like I just couldn‘t get into it this time. #WinterReadathon Also this was my December #BookSpin

I had a hard time focusing on this. The narration is kind of soporific, which was a big part of it. And I found myself wondering if this was something that would have worked better for me if I had some nostalgic Christmastime association with it already. #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

Goals for #DashingDecember. I‘ve started most of these.

#WinterGames2021
#TeamGameSleigher

Enjoying a cup of sencha while reading. 💙☕️📚

#carolofthebells #Decembersong @Eggs
This is not my edition - but I wish it were!

#12coloursofdecember Dec 15 Evergreen 20 points plus 1 #wintergames #merryreaders @Clwojick

Listened to two of dickens‘ Christmas books including the #merryreaders team read. I do see why a Christmas Carol is more famous but I unexpectedly loved the chimes as well. Uplifting in the end but harrowing on the way there. Nobody writes about poverty like dickens.

#merryreaders #wintergames2020 @Clwojick +76

The Chimes is a more difficult read than a Christmas Carol for modern readers, especially before Dickens gets to Toby Veck‘s story. Even then, it‘s a tough read because he and his daughter have a hard hard life and they are treated most cruelly by those who purport to treat the poor well. Still, fine Dickens and a good life lesson. #wintergames #tmskellington @crimson613 @clwojick @staycurious

#24b42020 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 @jb72

Another Dickens‘ novel, another #winteryread. I like this story about Toby Veck and his daughter but it is very sad how they are treated by the well-to-do. The first part of the book is confusing and hard to read, but once you get into Veck‘s story it is hard to put down, hoping for the best for Veck and his daughter. Recommended. #holidayread

#wintergames #tmskellington @crimson613 @clwojick @staycurious

It seems we have the same worries now as existed in 1844! #holidayreads #wintergames #tmskellington @crimson613 @clwojick @staycurious

#24b42020 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 @jb72

I decided to read more Dickens. I listened to this one on Audible by Richard Armitage a few years back. But there‘s something about the written word to catch Dickens‘ humor. Here is a description of the main character with enough detail one can immediately picture him. I like the repetitive use of the word “very” to do so. #holidayread #wintergames #tmskellington @crimson613 @clwojick @staycurious

#24b42020 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 @jb72

🎧 I‘m not really sure what happened during key or pivotal moments in this short story. Published a year after ‘A Christmas Carol,‘ it seems to have some common aspects: A review of the MC‘s life with a preternatural guide, social commentary, and melodrama. But everything was less clear... Some of it may have been due to Richard Armitage‘s narration but I think I just need to sit down and read this Christmas horror story next time.

1. Christmas day...and we wait until Christmas night as well
2. Scrooge
3. Snowmen
4. Sugar cookies
5. @ReadingDownUnder
#TuesdayTidbits #ThisorThat @JenlovesJT47

Dickens is keeping me company while I wait on the snow...it has started coming down now! ❄ I don't know about my Litsy friends out there, but where I live we go crazy at the first mention of snow! 😆⛄ Anyone else getting some wintry weather tonight?
#winter #CharlesDickens #snow #tryingtostaywarm

I recently listened to a collection of classic love poems narrated by Richard Armitage and now I want more! I wasn‘t planning on reading these this year, but they are definitely my current #TBRtemptation for the near #future when I #WantToFeelAllWarmInside 🔥 #readingresolutions #startinganewjanuary #audible

This story is about Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working-class man who has lost his faith in humanity. On NYE his faith is restored by a visiting spirit and some chiming #silverbells ? Really hoping I have time to get to this book sometime this month!
#decdays

This is our December book club pick, and though I voted for it, I was expecting something a little fresher from Dickens and less the New Year‘s Eve edition of A Christmas Carol... but it does feature #KidsInLove and makes for a #CozyHolidayBook or in my case, listen, for some holiday #Audiocoloring #DecDays @Cinfhen #DecInBooks17 @bookisglee

Time for some 2016 wrap-up!

First, the dishonorable:

My annual Dickens Award goes to the most tedious, contrived, meaningless book I read all year, & this time, it goes to the man himself 😉. I listened to The Chimes for some Christmas spirit. But not even Richard Armitage's narration could turn this into a worthwhile endeavor. I said it before & I'll say it one last time: I hate Dickens 😊

Apparently, I'm going to have to read this in print next year. I've listened to it from start to finish three or four times in the last two weeks, but I keep zoning out and have no idea what the story is about. I love Richard Armitage's voice, but something about the combination of his voice and the Dickensian prose has a soporific effect on my mind.

A delightful story about a poor man meeting the "rich" who had very strong opinions about how he could better himself (all sounding very familiar today) and how he can find his own sense of happiness. Reminiscent of a Christmas Carol but apparently written first. Armitage's narration? Easily 5 ?. For sure here's another movie I will never watch the same anymore after hearing this performance, The Hobbit. What a talented actor.

This is my #BookChristmasTree from 3 years ago, where I tried out this design. I really loved how it turned out. I didn't get around to making one this year. #midnightbookgirl

I'm going to be honest, I'm only listening to this one because it's Christmas time and it's narrated by Richard Armitage. #midnightbookgirl #dickens #sexynarrators

It's official: I hate Dickens.

I am going to officially read A Christmas Carol tomorrow, & see if it is worthy of the many screen adaptations done of it. Fingers crossed.

Listening to a holiday tale to get in the spirit

So, I love A Christmas Carol so much, but my mind really wandered during this one. I missed a lot of details because of that, so I probably am not doing it justice, but this one didn't grab me. Also, is it kind of really similar to A Christmas Carol?? I will say that Richard Armitage did an excellent job with the #audiobook narration!

Dickens always does such a great job depicting the chasm between the rich & poor in his work, and this one not only does that discrepancy justice, but is also quite timely today. There are magical figures once again showing our characters the error of their thinking, but it takes quite a different turn then the better known A Christmas Carol, and in today's rhetoric of lazy ne're-do-wells perhaps it is even more poignant. Great narration also!

'The Spirit of your child bewails the dead, and mingles with the dead—dead hopes, dead fancies, dead imaginings of youth,‘ returned the Bell, ‘but she is living. Learn from her life, a living truth. Learn from the creature dearest to your heart, how bad the bad are born. See every bud and leaf plucked one by one from off the fairest stem, and know how bare and wretched it may be. Follow her! To desperation!'