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.

Living in Wonder

Posted on December 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

“The world is not what you think it is.” Rod Dreher opens Living in Wonder with that line, one that can rattle the reader when it actually begins sinking in throughout the course of this book. I’ve struggled with writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Selections from Living in Wonder

Posted on December 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Review to follow tomorrow.

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Christmas shorts: of Grinches and Herdmans

Posted on December 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Because of the holidays I’m doing a lot of house and dogsitting at the moment, and driving more than I usually do: consequently I’m also chewing through some audiobooks! Recently I finished two short Christmas “reads”. First up, Walter Matthau … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday & Myths and Legends

Posted on December 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? I listened to an Audible reading of A Christmas Carol (Tim Curry, very strange) and finished a version of The Screwtape Letters that’s oriented toward women. WHAT are you reading now? The Bookshop of … Continue reading →

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Tim Curry Presents: A Christmas Carol

Posted on December 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite pieces of literature, ever, not only for its story of Christmas grace and human redemption, but for Dickens’ frequently amusing writing. I recently saw a theatrical production of it (via the Montevallo … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday + my Favorite Instagram Pics from This Year

Posted on December 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday concerns books to read during storms, so I’m just going to post the Teaser Tueday and then something completely random. This is what the screen gives the humans. It gives them the same escape. They don’t … Continue reading →

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Hitler’s Heralds: The Freikorps

Posted on December 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

I’ve had this review written since September, but had intended to feature it as part of a series on inter-war Germany. That’s not going to happen this year, as I’m certainly not spending Advent reading about Weimar and Nazis! After … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Oceans and fishes and magic needles

Posted on December 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Within the last few weeks I’ve read a couple of science titles, one of which was a big ol’ book that deserves a proper review, but given that my mental energies are entirely focused on my last project for this … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Year of Living Constitutionally

Posted on December 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Although I am a fan of A.J. Jacobs’ ludicrous life experiments (trying to take seriously every bit of health advice he was given for a year, trying to literally follow every single rule in the Bible for a year, etc), … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

WWW Wednesday &

Posted on December 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “Soemthing we wish would come back into fashion”, to which I say…..people wearing actual clothes when they’re in public. Not pajama pants, not fuzzy-wuzzy house shoes, and not vulgar t-shirts. Clothes that … Continue reading →

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