2025 Readings 116

 On Christmas Day we drove down to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to visit Janet's mom in her assisted living center, have a holiday meal, and then hang around the next day to take her on an extended Walmart shopping extravaganza. (maybe more on on that later). On the way day and back we listened to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. This is hardly the first time I've read or listened to that classic, but I've been deliberate and consistent in recording all of my readings for the year, so it was essential to include this one. Every year we tend to pick out a different performance, and this year I downloaded Tim Curry's rendition. It's a very well-thought of version, although I would argue a bit too highly praised - some of the voices were a bit too similar to each other, and often Scrooge's voice was pretty whiney. I'm actually completely OK with having someone read it without giving voice to the different characters, but if you're going to do it then I suppose you should be judged for it. It's still really solid, and, well, it's Dickens, so you really can't go wrong. As I've often opined, you could make a very compelling argument that A Christmas Carol might be the most influential book written over the last couple centuries. Obviously, highly recommended, and I can't imagine a holiday season that would not include another reading of one of my all-time favorite pieces.