Category Archives: Reviews

Poetry Night at the Ballpark

Posted on February 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

Poetry Night at the Ballpark and Other Scenes from an Alternative America © 2015 Bill Kauffman 442 pages  “Lift up your hearts, friends – America ain’t dead yet.”  For thirty years, Bill Kauffman has been blowing raspberries at or haranguing … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Chairman

Posted on January 30, 2018 by smellincoffee

Sinatra: The Chairman© 2015 James Kaplan994 pages Sinatra: “May I? — it’s your stage, figured I’d ask..”Dean Martin: “Hey, it’s your world! I’m just livin’ in it.” (The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands) In 2010, James Kaplan wrote an … Continue reading →

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1906

Posted on January 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

1906© 2004 James Dalessandro368 pages Turn of the century San Francisco was a notoriously corrupt city, filled with vice from the brothels of the Barbary Coast to the opium dens and sex slaves of Chinatown. 1906 is a political thriller  that … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Indian in the Cupboard (and Return)

Posted on January 26, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Indian in the Cupboard© 1980 Lynne Reid Banks I had to keep watch in the children’s department today, and there bumped into an old friend: Omri, the boy with a seemingly magical cupboard that can turn plastic figures into … Continue reading →

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The Truth about Nature

Posted on January 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Truth About Nature:  A Family’s Guide to 144 Myths about the Great Outdoors©  2014 Stacey Torno and Ken Keller212 pages Great news, kids. The tyranny of mom is over: no longer do you have to wait 45 minutes after … Continue reading →

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Every Man a King

Posted on January 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

Every Man a King© 1989 Bill Kauffman277 pages Every Man is a King follows the self-destruction and resurrection of one John Huey Long, a rising star in DC’s intellectual establishment who disgraced himself in a heated television interview. Fired and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Fares Please!

Posted on January 17, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fares, Please! A Popular History of Trolleys, Horsecars, Streetcar,s, Buses, Elevateds, and Subways© 1941, 1960 John Anderson Miller204 pages With her high starch collar and her high-topped shoes,  and her hair piled high above her headShe went to find a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Amsterdam

Posted on January 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City© 2013 Russell Shorto369 pages In the early 14th century, a group of fisher-folk around the Amstel river came together with a dream: to build a place where people could smoke weed … Continue reading →

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Munich

Posted on January 14, 2018 by smellincoffee

Munich© 2018 Robert Harris354 pages By this time tomorrow, Adolf Hitler could be dead… The year is 1938, and Europe is again sliding into war — a war that only one man wants.  The man is Adolf Hitler, who is … Continue reading →

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Fools and Mortals

Posted on January 12, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fools and Mortals© 2017 Bernard Cornwell384 pages Brevity is the soul of wit, so here’s an attempt at a quick  review.  Bernard Cornwell usually writes war novels, and he’s magnificent at it. But he surely gets tired of it, and … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments