I realize it isn’t even Thanksgiving so perhaps I shouldn’t be reviewing Christmas books just yet. But I thought I would offer a quick take on this slim volume now otherwise I would probably forget to write about it come Christmas.
Here is the publisher’s blurb for Mrs. Scrooge: A Christmas Poem by Carol Ann Duffy:
With her husband, Ebenezer, now “doornail dead,” the coldest Christmas Eve on record finds Mrs. Scrooge outside the supermarket, protesting consumerism and waste. “Spoilsport!” shout the passersby as they load up their shopping carts with Christmas goodies. Just as Ebenezer did, Mrs. Scrooge keeps to her frugal ways…but in the present economy, with loads of meaningless material goods bought on credit, maybe Mrs. Scrooge has the right idea.
That night, alone in her bed with Catchit the cat beside her, Mrs. Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As each in succession takes her by the hand and sweeps through the scenes of her life, Mrs. Scrooge learns not only what the “Christmas Spirit” really means, but the nature of the real gifts we give and receive.
The author is most famous for being the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and perhaps it speaks to my literacy that I had not previously heard of her.
I would guess that you will enjoy this poem if when you think turkey you think animal cruelty and when you think North Pole you think of global warming and melting polar ice caps. If you think the commercialism of the holidays are tied to the inherent greed of capitalism.
Abraham Lincoln first demonstrated his determination and leadership in the Great Secession Winter — the four months between his election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861 — when he rejected compromises urged on him by Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, that might have preserved the Union a little longer but would have enshrined slavery for generations. Though Lincoln has been criticized by many historians for failing to appreciate the severity of the secession crisis that greeted his victory, Harold Holzer shows that the presidentelect waged a shrewd and complex campaign to prevent the expansion of slavery while vainly trying to limit secession to a few Deep South states.
Goldman Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” 
It ain’t always easy being an “objective” book reviewer. I so often find that expectations and mood can have a big impact on my particular take on a book. So afterwords I try to think about why I reacted a certain way so I can offer useful evaluation for potential readers.
A handwritten serial number inside a neglected 1807 Broadwood square piano inspired this illuminating story of an almost-forgotten musical instrument that transformed the musical and cultural perceptions of the western world. Square pianos were the first popular pianos, and the core of the classical piano repertoire—Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven—was written for such early pianos. This absorbing history leads back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution and the birth of mass production, commoditization, and global distribution of pianos from the ports of London to the shores of America and around the world. Both an investigative story and genealogical study that highlights a key period in music history, this chronicle closely examines the roles of John Broadwood—the most successful piano maker in late-Georgian London—and of one of his professional customers, Mr. John Langshaw, an organist and music master.