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.

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Posted on July 16, 2026 by smellincoffee

Two years ago I checked out Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and began an on-again, off-again fling with Japanese literature. The story concerned young Takako, who had been just been dumped by her boyfriend when he announced he was getting … Continue reading →

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The Rupture

Posted on July 15, 2026 by smellincoffee

One minute, Nymeria was just a college sophomore; the next, she was bewildered, panicked, and part of a world she had no idea existed — one which is now on the precipice of war and destruction. Great lines of light … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday & “Would You Go Sky-Diving?”

Posted on July 15, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short reviews is, “Would you go sky-diving?”. Ever since kindergarten when the janitor made our merry-go-round go super-super fast and I got flung onto the grass throwing up, I have been very sensitive to motion … Continue reading →

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The War against Truckers

Posted on July 14, 2026 by smellincoffee

A few months ago, video surfaced of a ‘truck driver’ deciding to execute a U-turn in the middle of a busy highway. If you are familiar with the physics of truck-trailers, you’d know immediately how insane and irresponsible a move … Continue reading →

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Chansons et Livres Français

Posted on July 14, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is books from new-to-us authors we’d like to read, but given that today is Bastille Day, I’m going to salute la belle France instead! There was a period (2012 – 2013) in which I was besotted with France, … Continue reading →

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The Little House

Posted on July 11, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Little House is a strange, lovely, sad little novel.  Our narrator, for the most part, is an aging and retired housemaid named Taki.  “Housemaid” is not quite the right word for her, as she operated in a time when … Continue reading →

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The Promise and the Dream

Posted on July 9, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Promise and the Dream is inherently interesting in being a joint biography of two men who were very active public figures in the 1960s – at first as near-antagonists, then as allies in spirit, and then brother-martyrs in death.  … Continue reading →

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

WWW Wednesday and Places we Miss

Posted on July 8, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “places we wish were still around”. I know a lot of my Millennial people will say “Blockbuster!”. And I get it: Blockbuster was a Friday night ritual for me, too: the diet … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 8 Comments

Warren G. Harding

Posted on July 7, 2026 by smellincoffee

What do I know about Warren Gamaliel Harding? Mm….he’s the “return to normalcy” president, he pardoned Eugene Debs whom Wilson had put in jail for daring to criticize him, there was a huge scandal in his administration, and he died … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday with Bobby

Posted on July 7, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is “Books with ____” in the title. I…don’t really have anything, so here’s doubled-barrelled RFK. Teaser Tuesday “All of it — all the words about whether Bobby Kennedy is a ruthless, mechanical rich guy or a genius mellowed … Continue reading →

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