Author Archives: smellincoffee

Unknown's avatar

About smellincoffee

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

Quick admin note on comments

Posted on November 14, 2018 by smellincoffee

Reader mudpuddle recently mentioned that he and other users were finding themselves unable to comment on blogs without being Google users themselves.  I don’t know if that was a result of Google making a change, but I suspect it must … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 3 Comments

The Arabian Nights

Posted on November 14, 2018 by smellincoffee

Tales from the Arabian Nights “If you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely, little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:Tales from The Arabian Nights proved an interesting challenge, because most collections … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Talking to the Ground

Posted on November 12, 2018 by smellincoffee

Talking to the Ground: One Family’s Journey on Horseback Across the Sacred Land of the Navajo© 1995 Douglas Preston284 pages “How does the trail look?” Christine asked.“Ask me at the bottom,”  I said, feeling a certain queasiness in my stomach. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Triumph!

Posted on November 11, 2018 by smellincoffee

Considering I’ve only made it to the end of NaNoWriMo twice before, I’m enormously  pleased to have reached the goal even before the two-week mark this year. While my story isn’t finished, I’m in the final act of it and … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 4 Comments

Remembrance Day

Posted on November 11, 2018 by smellincoffee

On this date one hundred years ago, western civilization stopped the greatest bloodletting ever witnessed in Europe. Although the Great War is often dismissed as a mere prologue to World War 2, it deserves special place in the western memory, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 4 Comments

Great Rulers of the African Past

Posted on November 9, 2018 by smellincoffee

Great Rulers of the African Past120 pages© 1965 Lavinia Dobler and William Brown Most of African history is a complete unknown for me; what few kings I can name outside of Egypt and Carthage are familiar to me only through … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies

Posted on November 9, 2018 by smellincoffee

As soon as I opened this package  I knew I’d goofed. “Now Updated to Support Vista!”?    …well, it’s by the same author as the version I thought I was buying, and I do in fact have a Vista machine  which … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 2 Comments

Fear, bikes, and NaNoWriMo

Posted on November 5, 2018 by smellincoffee

Happy Monday! (Or Monday evening, depending on where you are…) My NaNoWriMo is off to a promising start, as I’ve been logging just over 4,000 words per day, well over the 1667 minimum average requirement.   That is completely  unprecedented … Continue reading →

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

The Bicycle Diaries

Posted on November 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Bicycle Diaries: My 21,000 Mile Ride for the Climate© 2014 David Kroodsma428 pages The Bicycle Diaries combines travel and climate-change advocacy, both literally as a trip and throughout the book. As Kroodsma makes his way through Mexico, Central America, … Continue reading →

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

NaNoWriMo 2019

Posted on November 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

It’s November first, and that means it’s National Novel Writing Month!   Every November for the last nineteen years, hundreds of thousands of people across the world devote themselves to the goal of writing a 50,00 page story.   I … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 4 Comments