Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Republic or Empire? The True Flag

Posted on August 7, 2026 by smellincoffee

I’ve been wanting to read this title for years now after having found Stephen Kinzer’s various books on DC’s overseas adventures, while at the same time stumbling upon Mark Twain’s anti-war writings collected in Weapons of Satire. Coming of age … Continue reading →

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Stephen Fry’s Troy

Posted on August 6, 2026 by smellincoffee

While I enjoyed Stephen Fry’s Mythos tolerably well a few years ago, it didn’t fire up my engines so much that I went after the next ones immediately; recently a Greek wind has hit my imagination, though, and after listening … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, General | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Age of Eisenhower

Posted on August 4, 2026 by smellincoffee

Apologies if you are on the list and received a blank email earlier: WordPress ate my words. Fortunately I always draft off-platform. Many presidents have a defining moment – a call to arms in a speech, a decisive action,  a … Continue reading →

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Stephen Fry’s Odyssey

Posted on August 1, 2026 by smellincoffee

A couple of years ago I read Stephen Fry’s Mythos, his attempt to bring together some of the primordial Greek mythological characters into one narrative; he followed it with Heroes, Troy, and finally Odyssey. The recent release of an Odyssey … Continue reading →

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The Lincoln Obsession

Posted on July 22, 2026 by smellincoffee

James L. Swanson is something of a Lincoln obsessive. How obsessive? Well, he’s considered an authority for evaluating Lincoln-related artifacts and relics, and he has quite a collection himself — including a lock of Lincoln’s hair. (He can also name-drop … Continue reading →

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The Thirty-First of March

Posted on July 21, 2026 by smellincoffee

I begin the first of presumably several books on LBJ by peering into his office as he made the decision to not run for office again in 1968. The door is opened by Horace Busby, a newspaperman-turned-speechwriter and confidant for … Continue reading →

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Jack and Bobby

Posted on July 20, 2026 by smellincoffee

“You and those Kennedys!” exclaimed the waitress at my usual lunch spot when she walked by to see me deeply invested in yet another title about the Brothers K.   I must admit, becoming obsessed with the Kennedy men was … Continue reading →

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The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on July 17, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner’s Guide  to the Good News is an informal introduction to the first of the synoptic Gospels.   It’s markedly different from the other Gospels in its spareness and pace. Mark moves,  and everything is … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Posted on July 16, 2026 by smellincoffee

Two years ago I checked out Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and began an on-again, off-again fling with Japanese literature. The story concerned young Takako, who had been just been dumped by her boyfriend when he announced he was getting … Continue reading →

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The Rupture

Posted on July 15, 2026 by smellincoffee

One minute, Nymeria was just a college sophomore; the next, she was bewildered, panicked, and part of a world she had no idea existed — one which is now on the precipice of war and destruction. Great lines of light … Continue reading →

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