Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Wrapping Up and Boldly Going

Posted on April 30, 2016 by smellincoffee

Read of England 2016 was by any reckoning a roaring success. Not only did I finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. but I sampled a good variety of renown English authors from mid-March ’til yesterday. English ClassicsReturn of the … Continue reading →

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The Voyage of the Beagle

Posted on April 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Voyage of the Beagle© 1839 Charles Darwin448 pages* As a young man, Charles Darwin lacked sharp direction. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but he hated the sight of blood.  His passion was natural philosophy, the observation … Continue reading →

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In the Days of the Comet

Posted on April 27, 2016 by smellincoffee

In the Days of the Comet© 1906 H.G. Wells276 pages Have you been cyanogened yet?  Carl Sagan delivered that preposterous line in the original Cosmos, reading the newspaper headlines of a century past. Then, as Halley’s Comet approached the Earth, … Continue reading →

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Much to Hope from the Flowers

Posted on April 27, 2016 by smellincoffee

(Wild Roses, Rick Hansen) Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. … Continue reading →

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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Posted on April 26, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes256 pages© 1894 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Has it been five years since I read a Holmes collection? I remember picking up Memoirs shortly after reading The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, not nothing that Memoirs was published well … Continue reading →

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Funny in Farsi

Posted on April 24, 2016 by smellincoffee

Funny in Farsi: Growing up Iranian in America© 2003 Firoozeh “Julie” Dumas240 pages Imagine a time when most Americans had never heard of Iran, when a little girl from a village thereof might as well be from Podunk, Eurasia.   … Continue reading →

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The Quest for Shakespeare

Posted on April 23, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Quest for Shakespeare: the Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome© 2008 Joseph Pearce275 pages Although April 23rd is, historically, the feast of England’s patron saint George,   it is also the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s  death.  2016 … Continue reading →

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The Promise

Posted on April 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Promise © 1969 Chaim Potok 336 pages Growing up is never easy, but for Orthodox boys in the mid-20th century, it’s especially hard. The Jewish people are in turmoil after the horrors of the Holocaust, some pinning their hopes … Continue reading →

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Waterloo

Posted on April 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles© 2015 Bernard Cornwell352 pages Bang upon the big drum, crash upon the cymbals We’ll sing as we go marching along boys, along And although on this campaign There’s no whiskey … Continue reading →

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Dawn of Battle

Posted on April 19, 2016 by smellincoffee

Four hundred years before, near a village called Azincourt, an English army had waited to do battle with the French, and on that October night it had rained and rained and the sky had echoed with thunder. It had been … Continue reading →

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