Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

This week: Huck Finn and a world at war

Posted on July 21, 2014 by smellincoffee

Without intending to, this past week I read two science fiction novels that both concerned human genetic engineering, neither featuring it in a positive light. I read The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh after watching “Space Seed”,  The Wrath … Continue reading →

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Rise and Fall of KHAAAAAAAAAN! Volume I

Posted on July 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Eugenic Wars: the Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume I© 2001 Greg Cox520 pages Ah, how well I remember the 1990s — neon colored plastic pants, frizzy hair, and that gang of genetically engineered supermen starting … Continue reading →

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Allegiant

Posted on July 19, 2014 by smellincoffee

Allegiant© 2013 Veronica Roth544 pages  “Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that … Continue reading →

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The Small Mart Revolution

Posted on July 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition© 2007 Michael Shuman285 pages Independence has long ceased to be the American credo, supplanted by another: efficiency. Throughout the 20th century, small businesses supporting towns and families were devoured … Continue reading →

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This week at the library; Huck Finn and the British crown

Posted on July 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

            Try as  I might,  none of the French-related books I investigated this week struck my interest, so for the first time since starting the tradition,  my Bastille Day reading is a nonstarter. C’est la vie. … Continue reading →

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Daily Life in Early America

Posted on July 13, 2014 by smellincoffee

Daily Life in Early America193 pages© 1988 David Freeman Hawke             Daily Life in Early America examines up-close the new world European colonists were discovering and recreating for themselves.  A social history, focused on daily life, the author begins first … Continue reading →

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Last Orders

Posted on July 12, 2014 by smellincoffee

The War that Came Early: Last Orders©  Harry Turtledove416 pages This cover has nothing to do with the plot.  Good things come to those who wait. Such is the lesson of Last Orders, the sixth book in an alternate-history series … Continue reading →

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An Edible History of Humanity

Posted on July 11, 2014 by smellincoffee

An Edible History of Humanity© 2010 Tom Standage288 pages Tom Standage offers a course in human history set at the dinner table, beginning with agriculture and moving swiftly to the green revolution.  His A History of the World in Six … Continue reading →

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Jefferson

Posted on July 9, 2014 by smellincoffee

Jefferson: A Novel© 1998 William Brant448 pages In  the late 1780s,  William Short put pen to paper to create a biography of his boss and mentor, Thomas Jefferson. Then serving as ambassador to France, Jefferson was already a seasoned American … Continue reading →

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Posted on July 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly© 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe          500 pages Written as an indignant response to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, Uncle Tom’s Cabin shook the American landscape in the mid-19th century as few other novels … Continue reading →

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