Author Archives: smellincoffee

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About smellincoffee

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

Inside Biosphere-2 in 2021

Posted on February 9, 2023 by smellincoffee

Related to today’s posting of The Human Experiment. Biosphere-2 has been modified somewhat since the original eight did their two-year stint, but it’s mostly the same. Worth watching just for the “lungs”, the scale of boggles the mind. 40,000 lbs … Continue reading →

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The Human Experiment

Posted on February 9, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Human Experiment: Two Years and 20 Minutes Inside Biosphere 2© 2006 Jane Poynter384 pages From this patch of desert in sunny Oracle, Arizona, eight Americans are beginning the trip of a lifetime.  Divided into two tribes and locked into … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday

Posted on February 7, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s tease comes from My Ántonia, by Willa Cather. On the edge of the prairie, where the sun had gone down, the sky was turquoise blue, like a lake, with gold light throbbing in it. Higher up, in the utter … Continue reading →

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The Hidden History of Chilton County

Posted on February 6, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Hidden History of Chilton County© 2022 Billy J. Singleton144 pages Forget Georgia peaches. The best to be had are in Chilton County, Alabama,  which has been so long proud of its peach orchards that the local water tower, visible … Continue reading →

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Whistling Dixie

Posted on February 4, 2023 by smellincoffee

Sean of the South: Whistling Dixie© 2015 Sean Dietrich198 pages A few weeks back I read The South’s Okayest Writer, a collection of articles by Sean Dietrich. Whistling Dixie is very similar in content and in theme, as this also … Continue reading →

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Cold as Hell

Posted on February 3, 2023 by smellincoffee

Cold as Hell: A Black Badge Novel© 2022 Rhett C. Bruno, Jaime CastleAudible narration provided by Arthur Morgan Roger Clark419 pages | Audible edition ~13 hours James Crowley was a notorious outlaw and gunman, riding with a band of bank-robbers … Continue reading →

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January 2023 in Review

Posted on February 1, 2023 by smellincoffee

Well, so ends January — and it’s got the year off to a good start! The Big Reads: The Jewish Annotated New Testament: I’ve read through Matthew and began reading some of the accompanying essays, but no major strides just … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Reasons to Destroy Mount Doom

Posted on January 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

I’m currently under a book-buying interdict until such time as the mountain of unread books in my bedroom no longer attracts selfie-taking tourists wearing North Face jackets.   As incentive to hastening my conquest of said mountain, though, I’m using … Continue reading →

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The South’s Okayest Writer

Posted on January 30, 2023 by smellincoffee

The South’s Okayest Writer: The Adventures of a Boy Columnist© 2018 Sean Dietrich241 pages There is a Japanese art, kintsugi, of putting broken pieces of pottery back together again with gilded paint, with the result that the repaired object is … Continue reading →

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Laughing all the Way to the Mosque

Posted on January 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

Laughing all the Way to the Mosque: The Misadventures of a Muslim Woman© 2016 Zarqa Nawaz240 pages ‘A hit religious comedy show about Muslims worshipping in a broken-down mosque, within a broken-down church, living in a tiny town in the … Continue reading →

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