the author – Carol's Notebook

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

The above track is the theme song for the book. The production of the Talking to Strangers audiobook is well-done. We hear the actual voices of people he interviews, it includes reenactments of court scenes and the audio from actual videos of events. I am glad I chose the audio instead of print version. Gladwell present some really interesting ideas. Strangers are more complicated and harder to truly understand than we imagine. Liars can seem honest, spies can seem loyal, nervous people can seem guilty. People’s facial expressions are not a reliable guide to what they are thinking. And a lot of it is really interesting. We tend to default to truth, believing that people are being honest unless there are a lot of red flags that lead us to believe they're not. I know I do, and I'm okay with that. I think Gladwell has a point when he says that's what makes society work. We can't all always suspect...

One Summer by Bill Bryson

July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

I loved One Summer by Bill Bryson. I may have already told my mom she should read it. Unfortunately, I can't just let her borrow mine since a.) I listened to the audio version and b.) I borrowed it from the library. I'm not a history buff or a sports buff. I've only read one of Bryson's books before, Shakespeare, but I was looking for a non-fiction read and One Summer caught my eye. I'm so glad I picked it up. You can tell from the blurb that a lot happened between May and September 1927. People and events I've heard of, and some I haven't. Bryson takes two of the famous men from the era, Charles Lindbergh and Babe Ruth, and tells not only their stories but the story of the time, the inventions, the politics, the deaths, the bad but mostly the good. It's a fun book full of little bits of information. I may have told my family...

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

March 1, 2019March 11, 2019 by Carol11 Comments

I should have loved The Library Book by Susan Orlean. It's both a love letter to libraries and a true crime story of the Los Angeles library fire of 1986; crime and books is often a great combination. While it didn't live up to my expectations, it was a good book. Orlean obviously loves libraries and we learn so much about them here, history, inner workings, the populations they serve and the needs they meet. We learn about the variety of librarians, their passions, their jobs, their backgrounds. She also visits OverDrive, which I didn't know is in Cleveland. I wonder if they offer tours of the facility? The true crime portion focuses on the Los Angeles library fire, which was deemed arson at the time, although Orlean speaks to at least one expert who thinks that was probably not true. As the blurb states, the fire was devastating, but I found the way the community pulled together to help save the...

Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmieri

April 12, 2018April 13, 2018 by Carol5 Comments

First of all, I'm tired of these articles/essays pretending to be books. I picked up the audio of this one for a couple of reasons, but it was only like 2½ hours long. At 190-ish pages, that's really short. I don't know if the pages are an odd size or the print is huge, but it's a bit of a rip off for the price, hardback or audio, in my opinion. Onto the reasons I picked Dear Madam President up. From the blurb, I knew Jennifer Palmieri was the Director of Communications for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign who I did vote for, but it also assured me that it was a not solely about that campaign, that it was a book for all women regardless of politics. The reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are overwhelmingly positive. I read the opening on Margot's blog, Joyfully Retired, last week and it caught my attention. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Palmieri has...