Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Plan 9 from Outer Space: Ed Woods attacks!

Posted on May 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

I love watching strange science fiction movies from the fifties and sixties, especially the B+ movies with outlandish costuming, strange set design, and bizarre characters. Ed Woods’ Plan 9 from Outer Space delivered all those in spades, along with genre … Continue reading →

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SHELLI

Posted on May 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

Jake August is a young agent of Homeland Security who has just been welcomed into a special subsection devoted to investigating crimes committed by replican- errr, synthetics. Synths have been integrated into society as intelligent, humanoid tools oriented toward a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Amy ain’t no spice girl

Posted on May 18, 2024 by smellincoffee

Back in 2004 or 2005 I heard NPR reviewing a new album, “Frank”, and after hearing samples from it I immediately became a fan of its creator, Amy Winehouse. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t resonate with any of the … Continue reading →

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Breaking Point: Beating Hitler with Spits and math

Posted on May 17, 2024 by smellincoffee

Britain, late summer 1940. Jerry plans to pay southern England a visit, and Johnny Shaux and the other boys in the RAF intend on giving him a warm reception. Breaking Point is an unusual and fascinating fictional take on the … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Hit Refresh (it’s the F5 key)

Posted on May 15, 2024 by smellincoffee

When I first began using computers in the late 1990s, Microsoft was establishing itself as The Establishment — a successor to IBM, becoming the uncool behemoth. It wasn’t quite there yet, but it would be there soon. A few years … Continue reading →

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Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

Posted on May 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

Major Pettigrew’s entire life is being unsettled. He’d just suddenly lost his brother, and after the funeral, the Major’s self-absorbed and materialistic son arrives and declares his intentions to move closer to the village — along with his new finance, … Continue reading →

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al Khamissi’s Taxi

Posted on May 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

Step into a Cairo taxi, circa mid-2000s, and listen to the rumblings of revolution. I can’t remember how this book appeared on my radar — only that it happened recently, and that I bought a used copy almost immediately — … Continue reading →

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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Posted on May 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

A letter arrives; lives are changed. Harold Fry and his wife Maureen are retired and struggling: their relationship is dead, their beds in different rooms. Then Harold receives a letter that an old friend and coworker is dying of cancer. … Continue reading →

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The Store

Posted on May 3, 2024 by smellincoffee

At a last huzzah in New York, surrounded by former writers who the modern economy has made superfluous, Jacob and Megan announce to their friends that they are doing the unthinkable: they’re joining The Store. The Store dominates the American … Continue reading →

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The Music Shop

Posted on May 2, 2024 by smellincoffee

In a struggling neighborhood in 1988 London, owners and residents like to gather in Frank’s music shop to hear what he has for them. Frank has a gift of being able to hear the music anyone needs at any given … Continue reading →

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