Category Archives: General

Top Ten Tuesday: Things in Stories I Love

Posted on February 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is a love freebie. But first, teases! “The Camptown ladies sing this song, doo dah, doo dah. Camptown racetrack’s five miles long, oh, doo dah day.” “Shut up, Kurtis. Do you hear me inflicting my perverted folk fetish on … Continue reading →

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Self Help

Posted on February 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Jack Diller is a loser in denial, a failed actor who keeps the bills paid (barely) by delivering food to Los Angeles’ upper middle classes, staring in awe at their mansions while trying not to think about the tiny rental house … Continue reading →

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Teeesing Tooosday

Posted on February 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

After delving through them, I discovered three local history books, none of any significant value. I offered him £15 for them. He told me that he’d never been so insulted and that he was going to donate them to the … Continue reading →

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Movie Watch: January

Posted on February 1, 2024 by smellincoffee

Movie watching has become more of a pasttime for me in the last year or so, so I suspect posting a list at the end of the year would be….ungainly. A buddy of mine and I have been watching 2 movies … Continue reading →

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January 2024 in Review

Posted on January 31, 2024 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the first monthly wrapup of the New Year. My preference in January is to do a grab-bag of topics, a kind of teaser for the year to come. I was….slightly successful in that, since we touched on little politics, … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Authors From 2023 I Want to Read More Of

Posted on January 30, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is authors from 2023 who were new to us. But first, a tease! CUSTOMER: Doesn’t it bother you, being surrounded by books all day? Ithink I’d be paranoid they were all going to jump off the shelves and … Continue reading →

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Short rounds: human scale and bad religion

Posted on January 27, 2024 by smellincoffee

This week I’ve been finishing two works of nonfiction: Kirkpatrick Sale’s Human Scale Revisited and Ross Douhat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics.  Human Scale Revisited is, as its title implies, an update to Sale’s original Human … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday from Bad Religion

Posted on January 23, 2024 by smellincoffee

A tease from Ross Douhat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. The way orthodoxy synthesizes the New Testament’s complexities has forced churchgoers of every prejudice and persuasion to confront a side of Jesus that cuts against their … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday Ice Storm Delay Edition

Posted on January 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

“It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, youstill know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live ourlives trying to find our way. It’s like that Santōka Taneda poem, the one thatgoes, … Continue reading →

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A year after the Selma tornado

Posted on January 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

A year ago I paused to take a quick shot of the turbulent sky, a mix of gloom and glory, of bright morning light and dark storm clouds. I posted it to Instagram with the caption “Skies, current mood: conflicted”. The … Continue reading →

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