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 Dead Beat

Posted on October 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

Searching for obituaries is the most frequent kind of local history request I field at the library, and I like to joke when I’m disappearing into the archives room that I’m off hunting for dead people. I’ve noticed over the … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on October 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

WHAT are you reading? Um. I just finished a book and haven’t gotten into anything just yet. Well, I’m still technically reading The Anxious Generation but I’m overwhelmed with schoolwork at the moment and can’t take anything too serious. This … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Books I Read in School

Posted on October 14, 2024 by smellincoffee

And by “top ten”, I mean “the first ten books that floated up from the depths of memory”. But first, the tease! The professional whistler” alone would make the obit interesting, but to also have Hitler, Frank Sinatra, and a … Continue reading →

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Over my Dead Body: American Cemeteries

Posted on October 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

“There is glory in graves; there is grandeur in gloom”. So begins a poem inscribed on an elaborate tombstone in my favorite cemetery, Selma’s own Old Live Oak. Perhaps it was growing up in a city with such a picturesque … Continue reading →

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Ghosts on the Titanic

Posted on October 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Billionaire Jackson Riggs has a plan: raise the Titanic! Currents and bacteria are steadily eating away at it, so if the Mary Rose can be brought to surface, why not the big T? (Well, 40 feet versus 12,500 feet….) So … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on October 9, 2024 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Precipice, Robert Harris. I found it enjoyable enough to finish, but it was distinctly underwhelming. WHAT are you reading now? In addition to the things I’ve started but have not yet continued in earnest, … Continue reading →

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Precipice

Posted on October 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

Summer 1914: there’s a man dead in Sarajevo, and ominous rumors of war are drifting from eastern Europe. Across the Continent, war machines are slowly cranking up. At 10 Downing Street, though, the long-serving Prime Minister has more pressing issues: … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Bookish Brags and Confessions

Posted on October 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is Bookish Brags and/or Confessions. But first, the tease! “Imagine it — to be the King-Emperor of nearly five hundred million subjects and to be able to locate the twelve dullest, then gather them together around one table. … Continue reading →

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Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries

Posted on October 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

I’ve been wanting to revisit Jon Ronson and Will Storr, whose books visiting extremists and cranks were both amusing and thought-provoking: October seemed an appropriate month to do so, given their tendency to visit the strange. This collection of pieces … Continue reading →

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“Reader’s Advisory: Thrillers!”

Posted on October 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Grad school has kept me very busy this semester, with serious deadlines every single week. It would be the reason I haven’t posted any reviews in the last week, though there are a couple upcoming, if only in a short-round … Continue reading →

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