Non-fiction – Carol's Notebook

Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang

March 11, 2026March 11, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I found Separation of Church and Hate interesting, informative, and funny. But I'm an anti-death penalty, anti-gun, pro-LGBTQI rights Christian who believes we should provide food, health care and safety to people. I attends church every Sunday and work in the office every weekday afternoon. Mostly, I just agree with Fugelsang, who believes in a Christianity embodied by love, mercy, and service. If you don't, your mileage may vary. Fugelsang takes every hot-button issue- abortion, universal health care, gun control, etc., shows us the scriptures the extreme right tends to use to support them and teaches us why, in his opinion, they're being misinterpreted or are more Paul's opinion and hang-ups than Jesus' actual views. He then points to other scriptures that support a more loving, graceful, and inclusive understanding. I can't really judge how solid his theology is and I might question a couple of his suggestions, but overall I think he makes some really good points. I also appreciate...

Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam

June 6, 2025June 6, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

I love going to baseball games. I'm a Pirates fan, though, which means I can sit back and have fun but don't really expect too much. Not like the people watching the Red Sox and Yankees in 1949. Summer of ‘49 is in theory about the 1949 pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox. We know the Yankees ended up beating the Red Sox and going on to bee the Dodgers in the World Series, but really the book is about the people - the players, managers, press. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of numbers - hits, games back, percentages, salaries, it's what baseball boils down to after all, but the fun part is hearing about the people - who they are, where they came from. We get stories of how they interact with each other and how they view the game. Some are people I've heard of, but most weren't. This is definitely a nostalgic...

How to Piss Off Men by Kyle Prue

February 11, 2025February 11, 2025 by Carol7 Comments

How to Piss Off Men is not a book I would usually pick up, but I was looking for a How To book for one of the challenges I'm doing. "Funny" books don't usually work for me, but maybe I was just in the right mood, or it was short enough that I actually found it amusing. The author/narrator is funny and sincere. Not all of the "insults" are particularly original and some I didn't quite get, but it's not just ways to insult men. Although it is that, it's also an invitation to men to look at why those comments/questions make them angry. I think the author also sees it as a call to continue to tear down the patriarchy. I listened to the audio which the author narrated himself. I think it made the jokes funnier than if I read them in print and the musing more heartfelt. It also included a conversation between Prue and his mom at...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

May 16, 2024May 17, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a true crime classic and I don't know why it's taken me so long to read it. I will say it reads more like a novel than non-fiction, in part because the author inserts a fictionalized version of himself meeting the people of Savannah long before he actually arrived in town. He gives us a front-row seat to the characters and events leading up to the day Jim Williams shoots Danny Hansford and what follows. The first third or so of the book is meandering in a good way. We meet some of the people of the city, from the old money folks to the "upstarts," from pianists to drag queens. Some characters are so over the top that knowing they were true is fun. We also learn some of the history of the place and the historical figures associated with it. After the death (murder?) of Hansford, we see how old rivalries,...

Agatha Christie’s Poirot by Mark Aldridge

March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

I loved this book. But I adore Poirot and I do think you need to be a fan to want to read it. The book is broken down in decades, from Poirot's first appearance in 1920 in The Mysterious Affair at Styles through Kenneth Branagh's movies. Aldridge discusses the books, plays, films, television & radio stories in a straightforward way that can be a little dry at times. He summarizes each story, but but without giving away any spoilers. He includes excerpts from Christie’s journals and correspondence, and talks about the interactions between Christie and her publishers, which weren't always positive. He also shares reviews from newspapers regarding the stories. There are a lot of illustrations, including book covers, movie posters, and photos of actors, but all in black and white. For me, this was an absolutely fun book. It's thorough and well-researched and was a joy to read....

The Plaza by Julie Satow

February 22, 2024February 22, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

The Plaza was a fascinating look at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, its history, its owners, and some of the people who lived here over its history. The original hotel opened in 1890 and then reopened as the luxurious hotel we know in 1907. We follow its story from the Gilded Age, through the Jazz Age and Prohibition, two World Wars, to 2018. I loved the people's stories, from the construction workers to the rich and famous, even the fictional little girl, Eloise. It's a little bit like reading the society papers over the years. I didn't care quite as much about the real estate deals in more recent years. I listened to the audio though and the narrator, Jefferson Mays, kept me engaged throughout. The book is well-researched and I enjoyed it. I do think it might have been a bit tedious in print for me, but mostly because I cared more about the anecdotes and less about the...