The Man Who Invented Christmas
Les Standiford
Nonfiction; biography; holiday
226 pages

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.
The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.
With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

Wow, this was such an interesting look at a wonderful author's life. Charles Dickens didn't create Christmas, but he did reinvent it, as Standiford stated. Every year my family read A Christmas Carol, and now every year, I read it before Christmas. I have always loved the story, but now I know the meaning behind the words. Reading such a wonderful biography of Dickens has made me want to read more biographies of famous authors. I am open to any suggestions that my fellow LJers would love to offer. In all, if you are a fan of Christmas, Charles Dickens, and great biographies, then I highly recommend this book!

Books read this year: 47/50.

doorwindowwall
A stunning collection of images sure to delight anyone with a penchant for architectural elements, this talented community, largely from New York, is hoping to attract new members from around the world. Featuring an eclectic variety of photos depicting doors, windows, and walls, there's an interesting balance of interior and exterior shots, many from urban streets, some from ramshackle rural farmhouses. Wonderful!

Dear Linguaphiles,

once again I need your assistance. I need an English term for non-commercial advertising. To be more exact, the type that is used to promote social awareness, e.g. during campaigns against alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. Also, such adverts might also be used for promoting human values, such as tolerance, respect for the old, or whatever. What would be the term (terms) for this type of advertising?

Please, indicate your variety of English. Thank you!

Tags: english

In Latvia, there are several things with the name "Skonto", most notably a football club, the stadium they play in, and a radio channel.

Does anyone know where the name comes from, whether it means anything in Latvian, or how those things came to bear this name? In German, "Skonto" means "discount" (from the Italian), but that seems like an unlikely origin of the name....

I'd already read the first 3 of the Chronicles of Narnia last year (I stopped after being massively disappointed in The Horse and His Boy) and I read the last four a few weeks ago. I thought Prince Caspian was good, LOVED The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, thought The Silver Chair was really imaginative, but as for The Last Battle... I've been really upset by something that happens at the end of the series and wanted to discuss it here but, well, it's a pretty big spoiler. So I guess I'm going to put it under a cut and say don't read on if you haven't read The Last Battle, okay?

***IF YOU AREN'T READING THIS UNDER A CUT FOR SOME REASON, SPOILERS BELOW***

( Read more... )

Stain the parchment with fictional blood—
mutilate the prince with the pen-point,
blacken the princess’ heart with the ink;
scribble a tempest of words for the villain’s eternal triumph
and rejoice.

So I'm working a paper on external sandhi for my linguistics class, and I figured I should touch on it in Sanskrit since 1) sandhi's namesake is from Sanskrit and 2) Sanskrit is famous for having tons of sandhi. I am including examples of actual phrases in which sandhi has occurred, but I am having trouble translating them because there is no glossing and my knowledge of actual Sanskrit vocabulary is null. Could anyone possibly tell me what the following phrases mean? (They are also romanized only because I can't read devanagari and it's way easier to look at phonology in the romanization, at least for me)

aśvinoṣásam (aśvinā uṣásam)
aśvinā (aśvinā ā)
śamitéva (śamitā́ iva)

EDIT: Solved. =D

Hello, I'm working on some extra credit for my French class, and have chosen to write upon an album of one of my favourite musical groups, and would greatly appreciate if someone could give a quick proof-read...

( La Mecanique du Coeur )

Thank you!

I am new to this community but I studied Chinese in Taiwan for a year and have just gotten back into the US. My problem is that no one in my town speaks Chinese....so will someone talk to me in Chinese please (sorry i would type Chinese right now but i need someone that would also be able to read Englsih so that I can learn more words). Thanks!

For the next part I would like to start learning Korean and Japanese and while next semester I will be learning Japanese my school had to cancel the Korean class...\(ToT)/ So any help would be appreciated in how to start learning the languages. Thank you so much!

Tags: chinese, japanese, korean, learning languages

Hi! I'm translating a work announcement into Spanish for my mom, and I was hoping this comm could help me out on the details. I haven't taken Spanish for over two years, so my Spanish is really rusty.

( English text )

( My attempt so far )

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Tags: spanish, translation