Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter/Greenlights

Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter by Edward Streeter

Mr. Baxter, an affluent business man living in New York City, is at a loss to understand why otherwise sensible people all lose their minds at Christmas. Every year he and Mrs. Baxter decide they will be reasonable and do things more simply this Christmas, and every year as the day approaches they forget  their good intentions and go overboard again. Mrs. B. succumbs joyfully, happily planning, shopping, and wrapping. Mr. B. sighs and grumbles.  

There isn't much of a plot, but it's great fun seeing the holidays through Mr. Baxter's slightly jaded eyes. He's not a curmudgeon exactly, just a bit more down-to-earth than Mrs. Baxter thinks is necessary. They remind me of tv couples from the 1950s - darling this and darling that, then completely ignoring whatever the other is saying. It's very entertaining. 

I searched for a paper copy without finding one at any kind of sensible price, but then stumbled onto archive.org, a remarkable site where there are all sorts of old books available to read free. I'm not terribly keen on reading from a computer screen - too hard on the eyes - but on an old tablet that isn't good for much else it wasn't too bad at all. If you haven't checked out the archive, you can do that here: internet archive.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

This one had the look of a scrapbook with its pictures of post-it's and lists and Mr. McConaughey's pithy sayings throughout. I can't say I enjoyed the format but some of his story is interesting.