Author Archives: smellincoffee

About smellincoffee

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

Corona Diaries #1

Posted on March 17, 2020

March 17, 2020  Earlier today in conversation with a priestly friend, she mentioned that she and some of her  fellow clergy were keeping “Corona Diaries” to document their respective organization’s practices in the wake of the current pandemic, to monitor … Continue reading →

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Station Eleven

Posted on March 12, 2020

“I stood looking over my damaged home and tried to forget the sweetness of life on Earth.” In New York City, an acclaimed actor collapses in the middle of his King Lear performance. Hours later, the world as we know … Continue reading →

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American Dirt

Posted on March 9, 2020

American Dirt © 2020 Jeanine Cummins 387 pages It was the garden party from hell. One moment,  Lydia Pérez was enjoying her niece’s quinceañera; the next, she and her son Luca were huddling in the shower, listening as their family … Continue reading →

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Quotes from the Ground Beneath Us

Posted on March 5, 2020

“Quotations to follow tonight,” I said. I didn’t expect AT&T to have another network outage, though mercifully this one wasn’t as long as the twelve days (you better believe I counted) of February. But enough telecom griping! On to the … Continue reading →

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Of murder and meaningful ground

Posted on March 4, 2020

A friend recently introduced me to the terms lentic and lotic, referring to stagnant and fast-moving bodies of water, respectively.  My Lenten series has so far been very lentic,   as I’ve been distracted by life’s goings-on.    I have done a … Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 26, 2020

Today is Ash Wednesday,  called for the service in which western, liturgical Christians contemplate the inevitability of death, and the need to focus on that which matters.  The forty days of Lent will  follow, and that season of preparation is typically used by … Continue reading →

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Second Sleep

Posted on February 23, 2020

Second Sleep © 2019 Robert Harris 302 pages Sometimes, readers, it pays not to read anything about a book before you start it. Take Second Sleep, for instance, which I picked up purely on the strength of its author (Robert … Continue reading →

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