Hey everyone.

This episode's book discusses the story of Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol, which,

fun fact, isn't actually a carol, it's a novel.

Today's book is The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. And this is

The Book Pile, a podcast about the best of books and the worst of books. If this is your first time on the

podcast, welcome. And may we suggest checking out our back catalog of over 160 episodes. We've covered everything from

The Hobbit to the roast of Twilight, to Atomic Habits, to the roast of Transformers, to Elton

John's autobiography, to the roast of the Da Vinci Code, something for everyone. I'm Kalan Erskine.

I'm a comic, a father, and I can't believe that Christmas is

almost here, especially since it seems like I just finished celebrating my number one favorite

holiday, the end of daylight savings time. As usual, my co-host, David Vance, has gone this week,

but he'll be back next week. Today, he couldn't be here

because he's busy looting those toys for tots bins, something he does every year. He goes to

libraries and businesses, and he'll pretend to put a toy in that barrel and take it back out again,

like he's changing his mind about donating, but it's just slight of hand.

There was no toy to begin with. He just walks out with it. Then when he has collected enough toys,

he'll sell them at a higher price to desperate parents on Christmas Eve. I keep telling him,

it doesn't seem like a very Christmas thing to do, but then he's always like, well, that's cool,

Kellan, that you don't have to steal to make money.

You ever have one of those friends who makes you feel bad about doing what's right?

Anyway, before I get into today's book, I just wanted to mention that we have a Patreon that you

can join if you'd like to support the podcast and get extra content.

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