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.

Life Below Stairs

Posted on April 1, 2024 by smellincoffee

If, like me, you became interested in the goings-on of English servants via Downton Abbey, Alison Maloney opens with a word of caution. Many servants didn’t work in small armies at places like Highclere Castle. Instead, they were thoroughly leavened … Continue reading →

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Moviewatch: March

Posted on April 1, 2024 by smellincoffee

There was a….bit of a theme to this month’s movie watching, at least for the ones I watched solo. See if you can guess what it is. I bet you can! The Scout, 1994. Albert Brooks plays a scout who, … Continue reading →

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March 2024 in Review

Posted on March 31, 2024 by smellincoffee

Well, the year is one-fourth spent already. Criminy! March was fairly…all over the place. Didn’t do well with Lenten reading at all, but Opening Day was a solid performance, I think, and I even got a head start on Read … Continue reading →

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Summer of ’49

Posted on March 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

In the summer of 1949, young David Halberstam was fifteen years old, facing a father in declining health and thankful for the distraction that was baseball. The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees would provide it in spades, … Continue reading →

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Hunting a Detroit Tiger

Posted on March 28, 2024 by smellincoffee

Utility infielder Mickey Rawlings is in a fix. A man trying to organize baseball players into a union has been shot dead, and everyone is saying Mickey did it. In self defense, sure, so the police don’t care: indeed, the … Continue reading →

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Tales from the Diamond

Posted on March 27, 2024 by smellincoffee

The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told is a mixed collection of fiction, nonfiction, and in-between pieces inspired by America’s game. The subtitle, “Tales from the Diamond”, makes it sound as though these are stories about amazing plays, games, etc, which … Continue reading →

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Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know

Posted on March 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

Years ago I stumbled upon a podcast called “Great Works in Western Literature” by a man named Joseph Pearce, and immediately a became fan of it. Pearce’s love of literature was infectious, especially seeing I was just beginning to read … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, General, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ballpark

Posted on March 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

Regardless of one’s personal beliefs about the origins of baseball, there’s no getting around the fact that the game as we know it is a product of the cities, particularly New York: the cities were where the people were, and … Continue reading →

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How has technology changed your job?

Posted on March 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

Oh, good lord. Where to begin? As some of you may know, I’m a librarian — not an official Librarian because I’m still working on MLS, but I’ve worked for a library for twelve years as a local historian, IT … Continue reading →

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March’s last Tuesday tease

Posted on March 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is TV shows or movies that would have made amazing books. But first, the teasin’. It is pretty generally recognised in the circles in which he moves that Bertram Wooster is not a man who lightly throws in … Continue reading →

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