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.

Note to revolutionaries: Bard is more cooperative than Bing

Posted on April 4, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today while reading a history of attempts to invade England, I was using Bard as a running cross-reference thing — asking what the Palantine was, for instance, or what a tercio was. (The Palantine is a bit of the old … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday: of natural beauty and human beastliness

Posted on April 4, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is our favorite self-published books, which is problematic for me given how few I’ve read. Disrupting the Rabblement is a much-mention, since it was the first Kindle title I ever read (using Kindle for PC), and … Continue reading →

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Hitler’s Armada

Posted on April 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

Hitler’s Armada: The Royal Navy & the Defence of Great Britain© Geoff Hewitt246 pages Summer 1940. Britain stands alone, its ally France having lain down her sword and surrendered to the German blitzkrieg, which has already consumed Norway, the Low … Continue reading →

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Read of England, 2023!

Posted on April 1, 2023 by smellincoffee

Well, dear readers, it’s April first, and that means ’tis time to Read of England. RoE is an annual tradition at Reading Freely, starting with an annual nod to English history in 2010 before growing into a month set aside … Continue reading →

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March 2023 in Review

Posted on March 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

A fourth of the year has gone by already! If January was SCIENCE MONTH!!! and February was as Southern as fried green tomatoes, then March was a month for the ol’ to be read pile. I’ve got a few unreviewed … Continue reading →

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Gaming on the ZX Speccy, oceans, and harrumphing at the White House

Posted on March 30, 2023 by smellincoffee

I think I’ve managed to avoid doing any ‘short rounds’ posts this year, but three months in the streak ends. It’s not my fault, I swear. It’s the books. First up is The Nostalgia Nerd’s Retro Tech, a mostly-graphic look … Continue reading →

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WWW: Favorite Nonfiction?

Posted on March 29, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s blogging challenge from Long & Short Reviews is ‘Favorite Nonfiction Book’, which is…er, problematic. I read over a hundred nonfiction books a year, and have done since I started keeping a book log in mid-2007. which means I’ve read … Continue reading →

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Purgatorio

Posted on March 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

Purgatorio© 14th century Dante Alighieri, translated 2004 by Anthony Esolen544 pages, including appendices and notes Seven years ago I descended into hell with Dante and his guide, Virgil,   and after that arduous descent into a valley of desolation and … Continue reading →

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Tuesday Tease: The stuff of empire

Posted on March 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

From Waters of the World, by Sarah Dry, on glaciology, geology metereology, and climatology…so far. Only with the leveraging power of certain technologies was British rule in India even thinkable. Much has been made of the importance of railways, telegraphs, … Continue reading →

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The wretch, concentered all in Self….

Posted on March 24, 2023 by smellincoffee
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