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.

Mythos

Posted on June 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

This book will hold a record for the title it took me the longest to complete, as I’ve been listening to it off and on since fall 2021, attracted by both the premise and (chiefly) the narrator, Stephen Fry — … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Zero Days

Posted on June 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

Jack and her husband, Gabe, are professional security analysts — pen-testers, red-teamers. Their job is to test the security measures of companies, both digital and physical, to find weaknesses. After one case goes a little sideways and Jack is briefly … Continue reading →

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Summer readin’, have me a blast

Posted on June 18, 2024 by smellincoffee

Summer readin’, happening so fast….today’s TTT is top ten books on our summer TBR list! If that title got a song stuck in your head, I’m sorry/not sorry. But first, the tease! “Once, men turned their thinking over to machines … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 32 Comments

Happy father’s day ft. one of my favorite videos on YouTube

Posted on June 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today is Father’s Day in the United States, and to celebrate I’d like to share a father and son duet from Johnny and Nick Clegg. Johnny Clegg was a groundbreaking musician who, in apartheid South Africa, creating several illegal mixed-race … Continue reading →

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The spice must flow: Dune, the Graphic Novel(s)

Posted on June 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

Purists may give me the stink-eye, but when I spotted these in our new acquisitions in the children’s department, I snatched them right up. I aim to read Dune this year, and I figured a graphic novel version might break … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 33 Comments

Tiger Chair

Posted on June 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

War. War never changes. Oh, the execution of it changes — spears become rifles, scouts on fast horses are replaced by drones and mining photos for GPS data — but the horror of it remains, as does certain truths like … Continue reading →

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

Top Ten Bookish Wishes

Posted on June 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s a day for sharing the books we’d really love to own. But first, teases! Pondering the implications of a red-hot cowpat landing on my head, I felt a surge of unease and retraced my steps. I hadn’t gone far … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 20 Comments

AI Book Art Game Results (and alter-images!)

Posted on June 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Last week I posted fifteen AI-generated images created by prompts inspired by books. Davida Chazan of the Chocolate Lady’s Book Blog won with nine correct guesses! (1) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. Pretty much everyone got this one. … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 9 Comments

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Posted on June 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Last week I finished A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, the second in the Monk and Robot duology. In the first book, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, we were introduced to the Monk, Dex, who journeyed into the wilderness looking for … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The Lives of the Stoics

Posted on June 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

Some seventeen years ago I discovered The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the Discourses and Handbook of Epictetus. Neither men meant to publish these: the first was a private diary that was publically shared after the Emperor’s death, the second … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments