Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

French Lessons

Posted on July 11, 2012 by smellincoffee

French Lessons: Adventures with the Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew© 2001 Peter Mayle227 pages Peter Mayle is to be envied. Some people’s work involves overseeing hundreds of people and managing the affairs of a business that skirts bankruptcy other day. Some … Continue reading →

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French Women Don’t Get Fat

Posted on July 11, 2012 by smellincoffee

French Women Don’t Get Fat: the Secret of Eating for Pleasure© 2005 Mireille Guiliano263 pages You may have heard of the French Paradox. In an age of innumerable health crises (obesity, diabetes, cancer) tied to diet, where every item in … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (9 July)

Posted on July 9, 2012 by smellincoffee

I spent this weekend finishing A People’s History of the Civil War by David Brooks, which has the distinction of being the gloomiest book in the series I’ve yet read. Howard Zinn’s original work covering the United States forced the … Continue reading →

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Independence Wrap-up

Posted on July 8, 2012 by smellincoffee

This year I continued in my tradition of reading some appropriate books around the Fourth of July, starting with the excellent Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis and moving on to two collections. The first, Our Sacred Honor by William J. … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (2 July)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by smellincoffee

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…. Well, not quite. At the moment we’re experiencing a heat wave, and in 110-degree heat, the livin’ is anything but easy. After nine o’clock the  soaring temperature makes it impossible to do anything outside, … Continue reading →

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The Green Metropolis

Posted on June 30, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability© 2009 David Owen357 pages Green is probably not the word that comes to mind at the mention of Manhattan, but to David Owen, few … Continue reading →

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Founding Brothers

Posted on June 30, 2012 by smellincoffee

Founding Brothers:  the Revolutionary Generation © 2000 288 pages Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless under our bark, we knew not how, we rode through the storm … Continue reading →

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The Great Stagnation

Posted on June 29, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Great Stagnation: How America Ate all the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better © 2011 Tyler Cowen 110 pages In The Great Stagnation, Tyler Cowen takes a long view of human economic history,  … Continue reading →

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The Great Good Place

Posted on June 24, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and the Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community© 1989 Ray Oldenburg336 pages In Our Oriental Heritage, Will Durant wrote that man is not willingly a political animal, … Continue reading →

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Something from the Oven

Posted on June 24, 2012 by smellincoffee

Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America 306 pages © 2004 Laura Shaprio      The latter half of the 20th century saw the United States convulsed with social change. Millions of women and blacks who found their … Continue reading →

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