Author Archives: smellincoffee

About smellincoffee

Citizen, librarian, reader with a boundless wonder for the world and a curiosity about all the beings inside it.

WWW: Favorite Nonfiction?

Posted on March 29, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s blogging challenge from Long & Short Reviews is ‘Favorite Nonfiction Book’, which is…er, problematic. I read over a hundred nonfiction books a year, and have done since I started keeping a book log in mid-2007. which means I’ve read … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 17 Comments

Purgatorio

Posted on March 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

Purgatorio© 14th century Dante Alighieri, translated 2004 by Anthony Esolen544 pages, including appendices and notes Seven years ago I descended into hell with Dante and his guide, Virgil,   and after that arduous descent into a valley of desolation and … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tuesday Tease: The stuff of empire

Posted on March 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

From Waters of the World, by Sarah Dry, on glaciology, geology metereology, and climatology…so far. Only with the leveraging power of certain technologies was British rule in India even thinkable. Much has been made of the importance of railways, telegraphs, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The wretch, concentered all in Self….

Posted on March 24, 2023 by smellincoffee
Posted in quotations, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi

Posted on March 23, 2023 by smellincoffee

© 2005, 2019 General Press Publishers183 pages The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi is a book better judged by its cover than its title, for the title makes it sound like a collection of jokes and sage observations from a … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Other Side of the Bridge

Posted on March 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Other Side of the Bridge© 2022 Timothy E. Paul124 pages This is one of the stranger books I imagine I’ll read this year. Its title, setting, and opening disclaimer make the reader suspect that it’s a story set in … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wednesday blogging: famous book you’ve not read?

Posted on March 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

Long and Short Reviews’ blogging challenge this week is ‘A famous book you haven’t read, and why’. Immediately before college and a little during (before assignments took priority), I sought out books that had changed the world for good or … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 7 Comments

Exciting news

Posted on March 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

Eleven years ago tomorrow I accepted an offer of employment at the library, and have served as its local history librarian and computer lab manager since, growing in both technical and personal skills along the way, and taking no small … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 8 Comments

Invasion! Sie kommen!

Posted on March 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

Invasion! Sie kommen! | Invasion! They’re Coming!© 1960, 1963 Paul Carell288 pages Invasion! is a German account of the D-Day landings and the battles that followed as the Allies worked to unite their separate beachheads and secure a foothold in … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Top Ten + Teaser Tuesday

Posted on March 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s Tuesday teases come from three different books: one, a collection of extended quotations from Mohandas Gandhi; a book on the study of ice, air, and oceans; and a history of D-Day from a German historian. A man who aspires … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments