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.

Teaser Tuesday, Bakken Oilfields Edition & Classics Club Spin 43

Posted on February 3, 2026 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the first week of February! I am starting to feel a bit burned out on all the heavy history I’ve been reading, and am planning on reading some detective thrillers or other relaxing fiction this week. Teaser Tuesday … Continue reading →

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Provoked (not Justified)

Posted on February 2, 2026 by smellincoffee

Coming of age amid 9/11 and the terror war made me obsessed with DC’s foreign policy – understanding its actions in the world, and their consequences.  The government’s  line that “[terrorists]  hate us for our freedoms” fell apart pretty quickly … Continue reading →

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Moviewatch, January 2026

Posted on February 1, 2026 by smellincoffee

January was….a serious month, movie-wise. Lot of emotional intensity. Perhaps that’s right for a month often defined by people taking stock of the past, looking for the future, and deciding how to navigate the bridge betwixt them. I almost had … Continue reading →

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January 2026 in Review

Posted on January 30, 2026 by smellincoffee

The first month of 2026 is now ‘in the books’ so to speak. In Alabama, winter finally came in and made itself comfortable — taking off its boots and growing to be a pest, ordering us to leave the water … Continue reading →

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The Reversal

Posted on January 30, 2026 by smellincoffee

Mickey Haller has been asked to do the unthinkable: to cross the aisle and serve as a prosecutor.   The reason is simple: an old case is being re-tried, and for propriety’s sake,   the City of Los Angeles wants … Continue reading →

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“The Personification of the Nation’s Story”: John Quincy Adams

Posted on January 29, 2026 by smellincoffee

In his biography of Abraham Lincoln, Jon Meacham referred to John Quincy Adams — hereafter referred to as Quincy, following John Adams’ practice — as “the personification of the nation’s story”. That’s a hell of a epithet, one so striking … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on January 28, 2026 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? John Quincy Adams, Robert V. Remini. Also finished listening to a production of The Importance of Being Earnest that featured Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell. WHAT are you reading now? About to finish The … Continue reading →

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Top Ten…Bookish Discoveries?

Posted on January 27, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is “Top Ten Bookish Discoveries Made in 2025”, which is not a topic I feel confident I’ll be able to fulfill, but we shall see. First up, the Teaser Tuesday. Abigail [Adams’] biting words only prompted John Quincy … Continue reading →

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James Monroe

Posted on January 23, 2026 by smellincoffee

What do I know of Jimmy Monroe? I retain from Founding Rivals some notion of Monroe as a fundamentally military man, in opposition to his strictly-political allies like Jefferson and Madison, and that he was the last of the “Virginia … Continue reading →

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The Real Lincoln

Posted on January 22, 2026 by smellincoffee

Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light was a fairly flattering biography of Lincoln, seeing him as a visionary who checked his hatred of slavery only for politics’ sake, and who was finally allowed to lean in to and even weaponize … Continue reading →

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