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.

The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower

Posted on August 31, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower© 1970 C. Northcote Parkinson304 pages Last week I finished C.S. Forester’s series of sea stories following the adventures of Horatio Hornblower, a navy man who rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars. I … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday (31 August)

Posted on August 30, 2010 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesdays are…epic! And oversized, but their subject warrants it. From ShouldBeReading, as ever. How small they appear from the long road that approaches them; did we come so far to see so little? But then they grow larger, as … Continue reading →

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Disease Fighters Since 1950

Posted on August 30, 2010 by smellincoffee

Disease Fighters since 1950© 1996 Ray Spangenburg and Diane Kit Moser164 pages Spotting this excited me, as Spangenburg and Moser’s history of science series (On the Feet of Giants and its expanded and revised successor) were delights for me in … Continue reading →

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Booking through Thursday: Giving

Posted on August 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

Booking through Thursday asks: If you’re not enjoying a book, will you stop mid-way? Or do you push through to the end? What makes you decide to stop? It’s rare that I find a book I don’t enjoy, because I tend … Continue reading →

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Mere Mortals

Posted on August 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Destiny: Mere Mortals© 2008 David Mack433 pages The small, finite lives of mere mortals carry little weight in the calculations of gods. But even gods may come to understand that they underestimate humans at their peril.  (From the … Continue reading →

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The Birth of the United States

Posted on August 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Birth of the United States© 1973 Isaac Asimov274 pages, including a table of dates. While trolling Amazon in search of elusive copies of Isaac Asimov’s Roman history books, I chanced to find evidence of a four-book history series on … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (18 Aug – 25 Aug)

Posted on August 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

This week at the library… Working IX to V, a romp through odd jobs of the ancient and classical worlds. Though informative, the author relies heavily on humor to connect with the reader. Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies was … Continue reading →

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The Lost World

Posted on August 24, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Lost World© 1995 Michael Crichton431 pages “‘Ooh, aah’. That’s always how it starts. Then later there’s the running and the screaming.” – Dr. Ian Malcolm, The Lost World In the 1980s, a biocompany called InGen discovered a way to … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday (24 August)

Posted on August 24, 2010 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesdays are sometimes ominous. Not quite as ominous as this. Consumed by flames, the torso crackled and the fat sputtered, and then as the skin burned away, the black, flat ribs of the skeleton were revealed, and then the whole … Continue reading →

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Sharpe’s Eagle

Posted on August 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

Sharpe’s Eagle© 1981 Bernard Cornwell270 pages The year is 1809, and much of western Europe has been subdued by the First French Empire. Napoleon Bonaparte rules as Europe’s greatest emperor, but there are those who resist. England stands apart from … Continue reading →

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