Category Archives: General

WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 27, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Operation Underworld, a look into collaboration between the Italian America Mafia and the American government during World War 2. WHAT are you reading now? There is No Place For Us, on the working poor … Continue reading →

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Top Ten of my Most-Watched Youtube Favorites

Posted on August 25, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is a non-bookish freebie, so I’m going to….spotlight YouTube clips I tend to watch and re-watch, excluding purely music videos. But first, the tease! Maranzano had tried to live like Julius Caesar, so Luciano’s board of directors ordered … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 20, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, Jason Bailey. WHAT are you reading now? Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba, T. J. English WHAT are you reading next? Frequent readers should … Continue reading →

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Gandolfini

Posted on August 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

Like many, I was awed by James Gandolfini’s performance throughout The Sopranos,  which made him an actor whose presence guarantees I’ll watch any movie he’s in. Gandolfini is a professional biography of an actor whose charisma and commitment to his … Continue reading →

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Top Ten High Pagecount Books

Posted on August 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT prompt is books with a high pagecount. I’ve read the entire Story of Civilization, so this should be easy. But first, a tease from Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend. Jim had built an entire … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come, Danny King. Geri had been a naturalist for less than a year. Before that, she’d worn clothes like Sienna (and most other people) but then, last Solstice, … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Authors Whose Work I’ve Read the Most Of

Posted on August 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

The newspaper world was rough-and-tumble, to say the least. Editors lambasted each other and often came to blows. When in 1835 James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald, charged Benjamin Day of the Sun with being an infidel, Day replied … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on August 6, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Roswell High: The Vanished. WHAT are you reading now? Still making good progress through A Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson. Politics is only a small part of the book, as it’s … Continue reading →

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My Top Ten SF Favorites

Posted on August 5, 2025 by smellincoffee

Tuesday Teaser: On April 8, 1826, the two met on a field near the Potomac. Clay’s bullet ripped through Randolph’s white flannel coat without wounding him. Randolph’s hit a tree behind Clay. In a second round, Clay again missed Randolph, … Continue reading →

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July 2025 in Review

Posted on August 1, 2025 by smellincoffee

Well, here we’ve come to the end of July, though for central Alabama we’re still a long way away from the worst of summer. I had an unusually high amount of audiobooks this month, and my fiction & nonfiction are … Continue reading →

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