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 Old Lion

Posted on October 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

Imagine if someone wrote a fictional biography of Chuck Norris, but they used the internet legend version of Norris as their inspiration rather than the actor himself. That’s what impression The Old Lion gives me, frankly, a worshipful depiction of … Continue reading →

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Against the Machine: a weekend of mysticism and wonder

Posted on October 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

This past weekend I had a rare opportunity to meet not two, but three authors, two of whom I’d read previously and one of whom I consider my favorites. Some months ago Rod Dreher, author of The Little Way of … Continue reading →

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How Librarians Will Save us All

Posted on October 17, 2024 by smellincoffee

As promised, I read This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Will Save us All, by Marilyn Johnson. Before getting into it, though, I found a very quick work on KU that amused me, so I’m sharing it here … Continue reading →

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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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