Transcript of Mary’s reading habits and preferences

Mary Wingate

Carmen Carter

October 28,2025

Mary’s Home

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CC: Carmen Carter her with Beaumont public library patron Mary Wingate on her reading habits and preferences. How are you today, Mary?

MW: Pretty Good, and yourself, Carmen?

CC: I’m doing wonderful.

MW: Good. Good,

CC: Today, I have few questions today

MW: Okay

CC: What is your favorite book?

MW: My favorite Book?

CC: Oh no

MW: My favorite Genre

CC: yes, ma’am what is your favorite genre?

MW: Actually, I don’t have one favorite, but I got several. But I like espionage.

Especially. You know spy stuff, the secret service, or the intelligence, you know, the secret agents that we had.

CC: Ok, what is the first book you’ve read?

MW: I don’t remember the exact first one that I read, but I do remember in high school, I read a book. It was called Thorn Birds, and it was made into a miniseries. This is back in the seventies.

It was about a priest in Australia. But, anyway, I don’t know the author.

CC: What is the most influential book you’ve read?

MW: The most influential? I don’t think there’s anyone. There’s been a few. One of them I think it was Dale Carnagie’s how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. And but some other ones were history, world history, military history. Just during the wars

CC: What is your favorite author? I mean, who is your favorite author?

MW: I’ve always like Stephen Ambrose, and he wrote a lot of military histories such as, he was an author that did personal interviews, like, with soldiers on the ground, like, during World War one or World war two. He also wrote about d day.

CC: Do you prefer paperback or eBooks?

MW: I used to prefer paperbacks, but now eBooks definitely, in fact, right now, what I’m reading is, I read a lot of kindle books on my kindle app and download a lot of eBooks from the public. And recently found that the public, Beaumont public library, allows, here it is, allows me to check book not just from the public library, but it has partner libraries. Anyway, but I can rent books from the Harris County Public Library, which has a lot more, Brian call Brian’s, College Station Brian   and Houston. So, if I can’t find something on Beaumont Public library right, what was that? With the Beaumont public library, I go to partners, and I gives me several other library systems to find books because Beaumont doesn’t have it when the libraries here, help

CC: yes

MW: So, eBooks definitely

CC: What’s the last book you read?

MW: The one I’m reading now is The Martian by Andy Weir. In fact, anyway, that was made into popular movie with Matt Damon yes. And that’s the one I’m reading right now. I really like it. But it’s the Martian is what reading right now. And I also just finished dark money.

CC: What is that about?

MW: It talks about how the ultra-rich actually rule politics and rule the world and how hidden money from the super, super rich, how they control everything. and whether it’s Jeff Bezos, you know, or Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and how they are amassing all the money and how they are actually the ones who make the laws, and they had the power. Anyway, so it’s called dark money. and, anyway, so it’s nonfiction, and it’s it names names and like, the coke brothers. I don’t if you know that. But there was coke refineries or coke industries. Super super, but one of the richest people in the world and how they controlled the different presidencies and how they influenced maybe the assassinate of Kennedy. And they pretty like Elon Musk, they buy everything. Anyway okay, so I love to read.

CC: That’s very great, thank you for joining me here today, Mary

MW: You’re more than welcome. I probably gave more information than you wanted.\

CC: You gave me just enough

MW: Thank you for good thank you so much let me know how it turns out