[WT Sharpe]

Well, I kind of liked it. It was no Christmas Carol, but it served its purpose. I thought the idea of using something as simple as a cricket's chirp to get people to pause and rethink things was interesting.

I read it twice. First I read HarryT's excellent version on my Kindle (contained in his Christmas Books by Charles Dickens upload to our library), then I listened to a free Librivox audio version read by Ruth Golding (an excellent reader, by the way).

I also read the runner-up for this month, The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, which, in my opinion, after a great start ran out of steam before it reached the finish line. I found it to be half hilarious and engaging, followed by a too-long wait for the end.