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.

Roswell High, #1-3: The Beginning

Posted on August 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

The scene: a kitchsy diner in Roswell, New Mexico, with a strong “aliens and UFO” theme: the tables are shaped like flying saucers, and the waitresses strut around in Star Trek-esque skirts. Two men at a far table begin arguing, … Continue reading →

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July 2025 in Review

Posted on August 1, 2025 by smellincoffee

Well, here we’ve come to the end of July, though for central Alabama we’re still a long way away from the worst of summer. I had an unusually high amount of audiobooks this month, and my fiction & nonfiction are … Continue reading →

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Moviewatch: July

Posted on July 31, 2025 by smellincoffee

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, 1993. This is the one where April buys a weird lamp at a thrift store and then she gets teleported to  feudal Japan, and the guys have to go after her and they get caught … Continue reading →

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When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Posted on July 31, 2025 by smellincoffee

John Scalzi meets Randall Monroe in a comic SF novel with an insane premise: the Moon has been replaced by a giant orb of cheese. Or, to use NASA’s language, it has “assumed an organic matrix”. How? Who knows?! It’s … Continue reading →

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Bittersweet

Posted on July 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

Recently I was looking for the author Nevada Barr, who has a series about a female park ranger who works across the United States. The library didn’t have the early ones in stock, so I grabbed this one without really … Continue reading →

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

WWW Wednesday & Books I Loved but Didn’t Review

Posted on July 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Fighting Little Judge, a biography of Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama and his political career. WHAT are you reading now? Nixon’s White House Wars, an inside look at the Nixon administration. WHAT … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday

Posted on July 29, 2025 by smellincoffee

[Nixon’s] concern was my conservatism. “You’re not as far right as Buckley, are you?” he asked. “I’m a great admirer of Bill Buckley,” I replied. Nixon was then in a nasty dispute with National Review over a comment he made … Continue reading →

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The Fighting Little Judge

Posted on July 25, 2025 by smellincoffee

Back in 2016, I played with the idea of reading biographies of various populists, for obvious reasons. William Jennings Bryant, Huey Long, and George C. Wallace were the three figures who leapt most to mind. Although George C. Wallace is … Continue reading →

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The American Nazi

Posted on July 24, 2025 by smellincoffee

How does a man who fought Hitler come to deify him? George Lincoln Rockwell began life as the child of a popular entertainer, and by adulthood was well-poised for a successful life. He’d gone to a good university, though his … Continue reading →

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The Last 10 Books Tag

Posted on July 24, 2025 by smellincoffee

This has been a quiet review week, in large part because I am trudging through a book I don’t like but have spent too much time trying to read to abandon it. Good ol’ sunk cost fallacy, how can I … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 11 Comments