Author Archives: smellincoffee

Unknown's avatar

About smellincoffee

Citizen, librarian, reader with a boundless wonder for the world and a curiosity about all the beings inside it.

Lovers and Other Strangers

Posted on February 24, 2024 by smellincoffee

Perhaps twenty years ago now, while looking for modded content for The Sims*, a painting to place in game caught my eye. It was of a man and woman at a train station, the man in a somber grey suit … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The World’s Largest Man

Posted on February 24, 2024 by smellincoffee

When Harrison Scott Key was young, his father opted to uproot the family from Memphis and moved to an old farmstead out in the country – -the reason being, a boy needed to grow up outdoors doing things. Harrison did … Continue reading →

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

Neo Cab

Posted on February 23, 2024 by smellincoffee

This is going to be an unusual review, because Neo Cab isn’t a book. It’s a visual novel that people experience as a video game, a novel set in a dystopia that touches on so many topics — corporatocracy, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Royal Society

Posted on February 22, 2024 by smellincoffee

Over ten years ago I devoured a history of science series by Ray Spangenburg and Diane Kit Moser that played a large part establishing my basic adult understanding of science. While reading it, I was particularly fascinated by the role … Continue reading →

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

In the Company of Trees

Posted on February 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

In the Company of Trees is a little volume of photos and reflections on trees, a pleasant mixture of science and cultural writing peppered with arboreal quotes — though not, curiously, the classic “I think that I shall never see … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Littlest Library

Posted on February 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

Such is my mood for cozy village novels featuring libraries and bookstores that I read this even knowing it was a romance. And I liked it. Granted, it’s set in a cozy rural village in Devon and features a librarian, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Downloaded

Posted on February 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

In the 26th century, two groups of humans are awakening. The first are a group of scientists who think they’re on a spaceship headed toward Proxima Centauri, there to begin Earth’s first colony. The second are criminals who were part … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Tuesday Teasing

Posted on February 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

I was starting to get the feeling there was a lot Sloane hadn’t told me. Blood pressure cuffs. Enchiladas. Tall, strange men who weren’t her fiancé. This was turning into a very intriguing book club. The Lonely Hearts Book Club, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 1 Comment

404

Posted on February 18, 2024 by smellincoffee
Posted in General | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Hidden Life of Deer

Posted on February 17, 2024 by smellincoffee

There’s a buck mounted in my living room, but it’s not a head: it’s a large photograph of one standing at a stream in the woods, dawn light softly illuminating the morning mist. I find deer, second to horses, utterly … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , | 2 Comments