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.

American Illiad | Reluctant Voices

Posted on August 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

As part of my attempts to scale Mount TBR,  I read two smaller works on the Civil War this week. They may be later joined by This Republic of Suffering,  a survey of the war’s unprecedented death toll and its … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Selections from “How Dante Can Save Your Life”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

Review of Book Great art speaks with wisdom and authority to what is eternal in the human condition. The presence of God radiated from the Chartres cathedral so powerfully that it even pierced the dark wood into which I had … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

How Dante Can Save Your Life

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History’s Greatest Poem © 2015 Rod Dreher 322 pages Selected Quotations How Dante Can Save Your Life is one man’s account of how that Renaissance poet’s epic  tale of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Wisdom Wednesday: Merlin’s Advice

Posted on August 12, 2020 by smellincoffee

Well, it was bound to happen. I forgot to schedule a Wisdom Wednesday.  I blame  the library’s very odd Monday,  in which we were sent running from the building a half-hour into our workday by noxious fumes coming through the … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 6 Comments

The Left, The Right, and The State

Posted on August 11, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Left, The Right, and the State © 2009 Lew Rockwell 556 pages “Society is held together not by a state but by the cooperative daily actions of its members.” Who’s up for six hundred pages of essays on politics … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved But Didn’t Review

Posted on August 10, 2020 by smellincoffee

This week’s TTT …books we read, loved, but didn’t review. The Death and Life of Great American Cities,   Jane Jacobs. This book  completely revolutionized my worldview before I made halfway through. One day I’ll make some meager attempt at reviewing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 17 Comments

COVID has infected my gaming

Posted on August 9, 2020 by smellincoffee

Between the corona chill and the sweltering heat outside, I haven’t been doing much out-and-abouting with friends  —  I had a close circle who I was seeing every weekend, but  now it’s more of a every two-weeks kind of thing … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Progress report of sorts

Posted on August 7, 2020 by smellincoffee

A few weeks back, I read an article from Leo Babauta, of Zen Habits,  which  offered readers both an observation and a challenge: You can go to the latest memes and viral videos (which are fun!) … or you can … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 4 Comments

The Architecture of Happiness

Posted on August 5, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Architecture of Happiness © 2006 Alain de Botton 280 pages I never thought much about the meaning of architecture until attending a lecture by James Howard Kunstler, given at my university in autumn 2008, entitled “Peak Oil and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Wisdom Wednesday: Perspective

Posted on August 5, 2020 by smellincoffee

This week, I’m bringing together four different quotes, all with a similar perspective —   one on the value of books to the pursuit of wisdom. “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 11 Comments