Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Immoderate Literati

Posted on October 30, 2016 by smellincoffee

This is a screencap I took back in May, something I spotted while reading reviews of Wilbur Smith’s River Gods. At least no one is ambivalent about it!

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Jasmine and Stars

Posted on October 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran© 2007 Fatemeh Keshavarz180 pgs Fatemeh Keshavarz’s Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran rebukes Azar Nefisi and other writers for contributing to a ‘new Orientalism’ that looks at Iran … Continue reading →

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Short rounds: explosives and Martians

Posted on October 24, 2016 by smellincoffee

Tonight I finally gave up on Hayduke Lives!, the sequel to Edward Abbey’s Monkey Wrench Gang. The plot only arrives four-fifths of the way into the book, having been preceded by lots of stream-of-consciousness rambling, pointless arguments, and enough breast … Continue reading →

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Reads to Reels: Brave Cowboy/Lonely are the Brave

Posted on October 23, 2016 by smellincoffee

Lonely are the Brave dramatizes Edward Abbey’s Brave Cowboy, and I daresay improves upon it.  As with Abbey’s original, the plot features a cowhand who still lives and breathes in the Old West, thrown into conflict against the forces of … Continue reading →

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The Brave Cowboy

Posted on October 21, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Brave Cowboy: An Old Tale in a New Time©  1956 Edward Abbey277 pages “Where’re your papers?” “My what?” “Your I.D. — draft card, social security, driver’s license.” “Don’t have none. Don’t need none. I already know who I am.” … Continue reading →

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West of the Revolution

Posted on October 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776© 2015 Claudio Saunt288 pages In 1776, the bid of thirteen colonies for independence wasn’t the only interesting goings-on in North America.  From Alaska to Cuba, colonial and native powers were fighting, … Continue reading →

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The Sword of Summer

Posted on October 18, 2016 by smellincoffee

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer© 2015 Rick Riordan491 pages Magnus Chase is the Boy Who Lived.  As a youngster he witnessed his mother sacrifice herself for him, dying at the hands of some evil … Continue reading →

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World War Z

Posted on October 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War© 2006 Max Brooks352 pages Reading Night of the Living Trekkies put me in the mood for more weird fiction, and World War Z fits the bill!  Fictional, but not a … Continue reading →

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Week of Enchantment: Nerd on Pilgrimage

Posted on October 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

I left Las Cruces in the early morning, joining the interstate with no problem at all. This was,  I realized with a sigh, my last Epic Drive.  At some point today I would arrive in Albuquerque, and from there I … Continue reading →

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Katherine of Aragon

Posted on October 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen© 2016 Alison Weir624 pages Mention the Tudor court, and invariably people think of Henry VIII and his famed mistress, Anne Boleyn. But the wife Henry abandoned came from a far more interesting family. Catherine … Continue reading →

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