Author Archives: smellincoffee

Unknown's avatar

About smellincoffee

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

Gandolfini

Posted on August 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

Like many, I was awed by James Gandolfini’s performance throughout The Sopranos,  which made him an actor whose presence guarantees I’ll watch any movie he’s in. Gandolfini is a professional biography of an actor whose charisma and commitment to his … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Top Ten High Pagecount Books

Posted on August 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT prompt is books with a high pagecount. I’ve read the entire Story of Civilization, so this should be easy. But first, a tease from Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend. Jim had built an entire … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 34 Comments

Husk

Posted on August 16, 2025 by smellincoffee

A plague has destroyed much of human civilization, but in Texas, at least, there is a remainder. Before the plague and subsequent collapse, pioneering scientists had created a way for human consciousness to be transferred to a digital world — … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Henchman’s Book Club

Posted on August 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

Mark is a henchman who has served the Agency for several years, surviving numerous bosses’ demises at the hands of talented superspies. The overwhelming majority of the time, he and his fellow minions are sitting bored, waiting for something to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Of Ben Franklin and Andy Jackson’s America

Posted on August 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

For whatever reason I’ve been struggling to find inspiration or motivation to review two history books I’ve read in the last month or so, and since they’re similar — early American history — I’m going to regretfully short-round them. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come, Danny King. Geri had been a naturalist for less than a year. Before that, she’d worn clothes like Sienna (and most other people) but then, last Solstice, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come

Posted on August 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

Sienna Clay has a secret: she’s an Auditor.  Her job is to investigate her fellow Britons who are accused of thoughtcrime, or whose ancestors may have committed horrors like eating meat.  New Britanna’s  status as an island of tolerance set … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Top Ten Authors Whose Work I’ve Read the Most Of

Posted on August 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

The newspaper world was rough-and-tumble, to say the least. Editors lambasted each other and often came to blows. When in 1835 James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald, charged Benjamin Day of the Sun with being an infidel, Day replied … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 33 Comments

Roswell High, 7 – 10: Converging Villains!

Posted on August 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

At the end of The Stowaway, the gang formed a psychic link with one another, and then with the alien collective consciousness, in order to create a wormhole to send the villain back home for justice. Unfortunately, at the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Roswell High, 4-6: Boy, that Escalated Quickly

Posted on August 6, 2025 by smellincoffee

Continuing in my Roswell reread. The Watcher begins pleasantly enough, with relationship drama between the six teens more or less stabilizing. Liz is no longer angry at Max for shying away from a formal relationship on the grounds that it … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment