Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Lemony Snicket: the Unauthorized Autobiography

Posted on May 28, 2010 by smellincoffee

Lemony Snicket: the Unauthorized Autobiography© 2002 Daniel Handler213 pages (containing “an overall feeling of doom”, according to the index.) As the official representative of Lemony Snicket in all legal, literary, and social matters, I am often asked difficult questions, even when I … Continue reading →

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Revenge of the Sith

Posted on May 27, 2010 by smellincoffee

Revenge of the Sith© 2005: Screenplay, George Lucas; novelization, Matthew Stover.419 pages Blade to blade, they were identical. After thousands of hours in lightsaber sparring, they knew each other better than brothers, more intimately than lovers; they were complimentary halves … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (26/5)

Posted on May 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

This week at the library…. I read North Korea: Another Country, a work which intended to show how North Korea’s history shaped its current path as a militant  and isolationist state. Cumings drew from Korean culture and the state’s early … Continue reading →

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Homage to Catalonia

Posted on May 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

Homage to Catalonia© 1952 George Orwell232 pages On 17 July 1936, conservative and reactionary forces inside Spain opted to seize power by force, rather than allow the Popular Front government — an increasingly liberal, democratic, and progressive entity that undermined … Continue reading →

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Lord Hornblower

Posted on May 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

Lord Hornblower© 1946 C.S. Forester318 pages       The year is 1814, and Sir Horatio Hornblower, commodore in his Britannic Majesty’s Royal Navy, has been sent to the coast of France on a secret mission. The crew of the gunship Flame … Continue reading →

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The Life of Birds

Posted on May 23, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Life of Birds © 1998 Sir David Attenborough 320 pages As I drove home from the library last week, I watched a beautiful white bird soar above the highway for several minutes. As it passed close by overhead, I … Continue reading →

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North Korea: Another Country

Posted on May 22, 2010 by smellincoffee

North Korea: Another Country© 2004 Bruce Cumings241 pages “It helps in understanding North Korea if you have lived in a fundamentalist Christian community…just like the North Koreans, we believed in the absolute purity of our doctrines. We focused inward and … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (19/5)

Posted on May 19, 2010 by smellincoffee

This week at the library…. Plato’s Podcasts is an informal and slightly humorous take on Greek philosophy, operating from the idea that the dozen or so philosophers summarized within addressed the same essential problems that face people today. I enjoyed … Continue reading →

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The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World

Posted on May 19, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World© 2009 Howard Cutler, Tenzin Gyatso368 pages Perhaps over a year ago I stumbled upon the predecessor to this work, The Art of Happiness. The Art of Happiness, produced by psychiatrist Howard Cutler’s … Continue reading →

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Reading Judas

Posted on May 18, 2010 by smellincoffee

Reading Judas: the Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of  Christianity© 2007 Elaine Pagels and Karen King198 pages, including the author’s own work, the text itself, and commentary on the translation. Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land … Continue reading →

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