Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

One Perfect Couple

Posted on July 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

Lyla is a frustrated virologist in a relationship with an equally frustrated aspiring actor — so when Nico tells her they’ve been invited to join a new reality show called One Perfect Couple, she hesitantly accepts. A reality TV show … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Saving Cinderella

Posted on July 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

Disney’s adaptations of classic fairy tale and folk stories like Cinderella have charmed girls across generations, but as the decades pass they’ve been subject to increasing criticism that the early princesses were passive sillyhearts lying around waiting to be rescued. … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Lawless Republic

Posted on July 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Oh, the times! Oh, the morals! Marcus Tullius Cicero began his legal practice and subsequent political career in tempestuous times: the Roman Republic was actively failing, critically hit during the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, attempting to salvage itself … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

American Phoenix: John Quincy Adams

Posted on July 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of John Adams, who followed the elder’s irascible devotion to principle and found himself an exile for it — after his support for a general embargo against European powers for continuing to harass … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sharpe’s Command

Posted on July 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

The Duke of Wellington is preparing to invade Spain , but there’s a little matter of prep work to do first. The Duke needs to separate French forces in northern and southern Spain, which means destroying a bridge deep behind … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Extinct: searching for murder amid the mammoths

Posted on July 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Frankie Cash, newly promoted to Agent in Charge at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, has just received a whale of a first case. In an isolated park in the Colorado Mountains, where visitors go to see de-extincted species like woolly … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

We Will Prescribe You a Kitteh

Posted on July 3, 2024 by smellincoffee

Exploring Japanese literature has been a thing for me this year, and We Will Prescribe You a Cat is the latest in my explorations. It’s easily the strangest of the Japanese literature I’ve read this year, with an increasing level … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Recoding History

Posted on June 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

A few years ago I read Broad Band, a history of women in early computing, which blew my mind. I’d taken for granted that computers and the early internet were wholly the domain of socially awkward dudes with glasses wearing … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

ST: Pliable Truths

Posted on June 28, 2024 by smellincoffee

After a half-century of vicious occupation, the Cardassian Empire is finally cutting bait and withdrawing from Bajor, pushed by aggressive resistance movements. The Federation has been asked to meditate the terms of a peaceful withdrawal and settlement and has asked … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A Daughter of Fair Verona

Posted on June 27, 2024 by smellincoffee

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was a cautious tale about the dangers of pride and unbridled passion. A Daughter of Fair Verona says phooey on that, tweaks Shakespeare so that our teenage lovers prove too incompetent to actually do … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments