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.

WWW Wednesday

Posted on October 15, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? In Distant Lands, Lars Brownworth WHAT are you reading now? I just started The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownsworth. WHAT are you reading next? Perhaps The Devil in the White City, … Continue reading →

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In Distant Lands

Posted on October 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

When the Crusades are mentioned today, it is almost always in the context of weary self-flagellation by Westerners searching for some ersatz virtue in denouncing their own history. Forgotten are the Muslim assaults on the Eastern Empire, the conquest of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Teaser Tuesday

Posted on October 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

“The belief in the inevitability of the past — that whatever happened had to happen — is the great enemy of learning from history.” Lars Brownworth, IN DISTANT LANDS

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Dynasty

Posted on October 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

The names Caesar and Augustus have been known to me for as long as I can remember,   from the Bible’s Christmas story to early world history texts with colorful illustrations of the Forum. Despite the long history of Rome,  … Continue reading →

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

WWW Wednesday + Book Series We’ll Never Read

Posted on October 8, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Iron Dream, a satire of pulp fiction that uses the premise that Adolf Hitler left Germany in 1919 and later became a prominent sword-and-sorcery writer during the golden age of pulp fiction. It’s….all … Continue reading →

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The Iron Dream

Posted on October 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

You know how I mentioned October would have a nod to German history, and maybe combine it with horror? …this is not now I expected that to happen. This will surely be my strangest book read for 2025. There I … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Satisfying Series + Teaser

Posted on October 6, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is “satisfying book series”. But first, a tease… When scolded for not emulating her father’s ostentatious frugality, she only laughed. ‘While he may forget that he is Caesar, I never forget that I am [Augustus] Caesar’s daughter.’ Caesar … Continue reading →

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Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

Posted on October 3, 2025 by smellincoffee

This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for years, though the only thing I knew about it was that it was authored by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium and a public advocate … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

The Best of Oct ’24 – Oct ’25’s Teases

Posted on October 3, 2025 by smellincoffee

Three years ago, I started posting Tuesday Teasers after a long period of dormancy — so long, in fact, that the original host of it from 2009 was no longer around. After a year of consistent teases, I shared my … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on September 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Day of Battle, a girthy history of the Anglo-American invasion of Sicily and Italy in World War 2. WHAT are you reading now? Against the Machine, Paul Kingsnorth. I’m also looking through Starry … Continue reading →

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