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.

Top Ten Tuesday & Teaser Tuesday

Today’s TTT is books set in _______, so I’m going to fill in the blank with….the American Civil War! “I have even made attempts to see if I could finance a psychiatrist, not because I really do think I am … Continue reading

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Short rounds: Fawlty Towers, Samuel Adams, and John Dickinson

I’m not sure that posting something about this here is altogether appropriate given that it’s not an audiobook, despite being listed on Audible. This is the audio recordings of Fawlty Towers, the award-winning British comedy from the 1970s, made available … Continue reading

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Crunchy Cons: The Reread

Eleven years ago I stumbled onto a book called Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. I’d begun moving towards ‘localism’ in my later progressive period (circa 2009 – 2011), and had found unexpected insight in online magazines with some localist-oriented writing … Continue reading

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Reckoning with the Public Library

Recently an article at The Free Press which attributed the decline of the public library to the fact that they’ve become homeless shelters has been causing some chatter in some online librarian communities. While looking into it, this book was … Continue reading

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Favorite Quotes & WWW Wednesday

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “Favorite Quotes from Books“, which is ridiculously unfair. I am a quote-hoard. But while I despair of winnowing out ten standouts from my collection, here’s the WWW. WHAT have you finished reading … Continue reading

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Teaser Tuesday: American-style chess

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is books with honorifics like Doctor, Mrs, etc. I went back through my booklists all the way to 2018 to find enough titles. First up, though, a tease! Another times, [Franklin] was playing with his equal, … Continue reading

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Kenneth Branagh and the Magician’s Nephew

Ohh, dear reader, this is Kenneth Branagh as you’ve never experienced him. When I saw a seven-volume set of The Chronicles of Narnia on goodreads available for a single credit, with each book narrated by talents like Branagh and Patrick … Continue reading

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Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates

“From the halls of MONteZUUUUUUMA, to the shores of Tripoli” — ever wonder where that Tripoli business comes from? While I’d sometimes encountered references to the early United States having issues with pirates in the Med in its early history, … Continue reading

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Friends Divided

When I first read Gordon S. Wood, his Revolutionary Characters annoyed me in its short shrift given John Adams. Adams was one of the earliest voices inveighing against Parliament’s abuses of the American colonies, and I was flabbergasted that he … Continue reading

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WWW Wednesday and Visiting Literary Worlds

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Friends Divided, Gordon S. Wood. This book is why I’ve been so review-quiet the last week: it’s a beefy boy. WHAT are you currently reading? I’m listening to Kenneth Branagh read The Magician’s Nephew, … Continue reading

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