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.

Pride and Prejudice

Posted on February 13, 2013 by smellincoffee

Pride and Prejudice © 1813 Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice is the old story of girl meets boy, girl declares boy to be Worst Man in the World and humiliates him,, girl’s family is saved from social and financial ruin … Continue reading →

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

The Bloody Ground

Posted on February 12, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Bloody Ground© 2001 Bernard Cornwell398 pages In the fall of 1862, Robert E. Lee took the initiative after a string of triumphs over the bungling Union army and launched an attack into the north, aiming to bloody the Federal army’s nose … Continue reading →

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

Waiting on a Train

Posted on February 9, 2013 by smellincoffee

Waiting on a Train: the Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service© 2009 James McCommons304 pages You leave the Pennsylvania Station ’bout a quarter to four, Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore! Dinner in the diner, nothing could be … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Walkable Cities

Posted on January 31, 2013 by smellincoffee

Walkable Cities: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time© 2012 Jeff Speck312 pages   For most of human history, cities were limited to the area that people could cover on foot within a day, but the advent … Continue reading →

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Home from Nowhere

Posted on January 30, 2013 by smellincoffee

Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century© 1998 James Howard Kunstler320 pages “History doesn’t believe anybody’s advertising.” (p.1) James Howard Kunstler penned The Geography of Nowhere in an attempt to answer the question: why is America … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday (29 January)

Posted on January 29, 2013 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly event in which particpants share excerpts from their current reads. Play along at Should Be Reading! Now we aim — after some work — to connect in the reader’s mind, with a single thread, elements … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 3 Comments

This week at the library: Little Ice Age, and Bernard Cornwell

Posted on January 23, 2013 by smellincoffee

Last night I finished Battleflag, third in the Nathaniel Starbuck series. Seeing as I just finished and commented on Copperhead, posting extensive thoughts on Battleflag seemed redundant. Nate is still the son of a Boston abolitionist preacher fighting for the south … Continue reading →

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Copperhead

Posted on January 21, 2013 by smellincoffee

Copperhead: Ball’s Bluff, 1862© 1993 Bernard Cornwell417 pages Nathaniel Starbuck is a man with a mighty grumpy enemy.  Wealthy Virginian planter Washington Falcouner rescued Starbuck from a mob, asking him for his service in arms alongside his son, Adam, in … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

This week at the Library: Hunger Games, Hunting, and Baseball

Posted on January 12, 2013 by smellincoffee

I started this year off by finishing The Hunger Games: its finale, Mockingjay, utterly consumed my attention. It’s the story of revolution, a war against the oppressive Capitol which erupted in the course of the 75th Hunger Games, a teenage deathmatch … Continue reading →

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

The Best of 2012

Posted on January 8, 2013 by smellincoffee

Previous Wrap-Ups: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011             Another year has come and gone, and once again it’s time to reflect upon the previous years’ reading. 2012 was a banner year for reading, with a flabbergastingly excellent array of books. It was nonfiction’s comeback … Continue reading →

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