Play Audiobook Sample
The Christmas Stories Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(4.29) - 28 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
No writer is more identified with the modern idea of Christmas than Charles Dickens. In some ways, Dickens helped define the holiday that we now celebrate by immortalizing it as a time of warmth and sharing, with an emphasis on family and friends.
Dickens wrote all the stories presented here during the 1850s as contributions to the special Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. They reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions and offer a master storyteller's vision of the real meaning of Christmas.
Download and start listening now!
"I think that this book was very vivid and creative because it has a moral within itself. It teaches you to be generous and kind to others, rather than be a selfish, greedy person that everybody will hate. This book is truly wonderful, almost like a classic within itself. Highly recommended. "
— Hannah (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
"These stories portray the richness and traditions of a bygone era…The reader effectively creates a tone that delights the ear and enhances the sterling narration.”
— Kliatt -
"[Simon Vance's] narration allows listeners to recognize how much Dickens wrote for the ear. Whitfield reads these stories like he is telling them beside a winter fire. His voice rises and falls with Dickens' rhythms, and it's easy to imagine Dickens acting out the eccentric and vivid characters that fill every story."
— AudioFile
The Christmas Stories Listener Reviews
-
" A must have! I marveled at the descriptive skills of Charles Dickens.a great read.<br/> "
— Spring, 6/28/2011 -
" I've always wanted to read the real version of this story and because I've grown hearing it every Christmas, I never bothered to actually read it. There was nothing new to add but yet, I still enjoyed it. "
— Ruthy, 6/25/2011 -
" And every christmas, I ask myself what will I see when the spirits come? "
— Dodokins, 6/24/2011 -
" Ebeneezer Scrooge - one of the best realised characters in literature :-) "
— Philip, 6/23/2011 -
" This is a good book as good as the film perhaps even better <br/>:) <br/> "
— Zohaib, 6/23/2011 -
" You can't go wrong with Dickens. This is a classic that everyone should read. "
— Heath, 6/21/2011 -
" One of my favorites. Can't wait to see my old school perform the play next year! So exciting! :) "
— Cissi, 6/20/2011 -
" I finally read the book, and loved it! If you like the classic tale, the book is a fun read. The TV and film versions I've seen all have many direct quotes from Dickens. "
— Caryl, 6/19/2011 -
" Just delightful. Dickens is only surpassed by Disney. "
— Steven, 6/14/2011 -
" Performed as a readers' theater in high school "
— Amy, 6/13/2011 -
" it was a pleasure reading this book because i think the guy at the end of all his trials learn that you cant be selfish ,greedy and mean all his life and he learn that being unselifish anf creshirish it for the best . <br/> <br/> <br/> p.s i spelled a word wrong correct me... "
— Rondell, 6/8/2011 -
" I loved reading the original story because I have seen so many film versions of the Dickens classic. Dickens' writing style is well-crafted and entertaining as well. I found myself laughing at some of the side comments Dickens makes. "
— Margo, 6/5/2011 -
" Loved it! could read it over and over! "
— Barbara, 6/3/2011
About Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors’ prison and child labor and afforded him a few years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature’s most iconic characters.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.