A Christmas Carol


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.5 stars; 701 reviews)

A classic tale of what comes to those whose hearts are hard. In a series of ghostly visits, Scrooge visits his happy past, sees the difficulties of the present, views a bleak future, and in the end amends his mean ways. (Summary written by Kristen McQuillin) (3 hr 14 min)

Chapters

Preface and Stave 1 44:39 Read by Mark Bradford
Stave 2 44:14 Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023)
Stave 3 44:34 Read by Kristen McQuillin
Stave 4 42:09 Read by Hugh McGuire
Stave 5 18:46 Read by Bill Stackpole

Reviews

Uneven but great in spots


(3.5 stars)

The first three readers are excellent but with varying audio quality. The fourth reader supplies the best example of "how not to do a Librivox recording" I have heard. If you survive it, the fifth reader sounds pretty good. All said, this team of volunteers helped put us in the Christmas spirit.

First class


(5 stars)

I am a janitor at a small school in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne Australia.Each year i listen to this rendition and enjoy it very much.I upload it on my walkman about the last week of November and listen to a stave each day.The wonderful voice of Kayra and the others bring the story to life.I laugh at some bits such as "ITs your your uncle scroooge! or at scrooges new life voice.Wonderful.I also shed a tear for Scrooges young life left behind at his school or God bless each one by tiny tim.The readers really love what they are reading.Its a christmas tradition that i cherish each year at a very high stressful time.

love it


(4 stars)

Love how clear it was and the way that you could adjust the speed. I had a paper due in 2 hours and I finished the book in less than 45 min!

Shame on me for not reading this sooner.


(5 stars)

Wonderful and beautiful story. Thank you Dickens for showing in such heart wrenching force what sinful selfishness and avarice does to our hearts, and how beautiful repentance can be for us, and what Joy is to be found in selfless love and giving of oneself. Regarding the recordings, I really found no issue with any of them, provided you dial in the speed on one or two of them to get to a more natural reading pace. It had no ill effect on my listening and was a wonderful way to consume the book. Well done all.

Good reading Stave 1-3


(3 stars)

I enjoyed the reading with the exception of Stave 4. The reader read so slow and with so little inflection in their voice, I actually listened to the whole file and realized that I hadn't heard any of it. I can't say what the last stave was like, when I went back to re-listen, I realized that it just wasn't going to hold my attention. I went and found another version at http://www.archive.org/details/AChristmasCarolReadByPatrickStewart read by Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard). A much better version!

A wonderful Christmas Classic


(2 stars)

The first three readers were decent in quality of reading, though the sound quality of Stave three was lacking. While I admire anyone who volunteers to read, the reader of Stave Four really needs to improve significantly. He made the book so uninteresting and boring I almost deleted the recording from my list. Reader Five was a significant improvement.

Naration lacking


(1 star)

Every stave or chapter had a different narrator. The quality of the recording varied by narrator as well. Some narrators were better than others, but all around the narrators were disappointing. One narrator is ideal. Preferably, one with experience and has been vetted prior to posting the story for listeners.

I am so much delighted by it :)


(5 stars)

The narrators are all too well and I had a feeling while listening them narrate, that I wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much, had I read it.