From ‘A Christmas Carol’ to my other favorite classics that Dickens penned, I have enjoyed many of his characters and stories, though I do hope and plan to read and see more as time goes on. I’ve barely scratched the surface where Charles Dickens’ literary works are concerned, perhaps because they can be a bit too real for me at times. I lean more to Jane Austen and the Bronte sister’s romantic enjoyments. I guess I’m a pure girl in some respects. I’m not always in the mood for gritty or grubby.

Many of Dickens’ characters’ names reflect who or what they are, which names can become quite comical to read in and of themselves, which I love a bunch. When I wrote my own ‘Prattleton’ about a town of gossips, I embraced this Dickensesque example and had great fun naming many characters in my novel.

I also love the fact that through Dickens’ fiction, he clandestinely criticized what he saw being wrong with government and society at large. Parables of a kind. I’ve come to believe in parables, though I briefly lost sight of their prose power back in years gone by. I try to write parables, or stories that teach things of deeper meaning than what you see initially. Stories can hold truths to be found woven into the tapestry, offering thread upon thread to be discovered as you are ready to see or find them.

One thing that stands out with my Dickens top favorite, ‘A Christmas Carol’, is that it is truly a repentance story and reminds us all that it is never too late to change for the better. You can always wake up from a bad dream or rock bottom, and decide to change from a Scrooge or worse, to become a generous and good person. I think the world needs more of these redemption story reminders. Thanks especially for that one, Charles Dickens! And Christmas Eve is not Christmas Eve without it!