Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Living Memory

Posted on September 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

When Starfleet begins analyzing a series of disruptive and potentially dangerous flares in space, Commander Pavel Chekov realizes there’s a pattern: these flares mostly in places visited by the Enterprise on its five-year mission, albiet in reverse order — and … Continue reading →

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The High Country

Posted on September 15, 2023 by smellincoffee

All Chris Pike wanted to do was take a gander at a strange planet from Enterprise’s new shuttle, Eratosthenes. But then the laws of physics went AWOL, and he’s woken up to find himself living in…eh, the Old West? Well, … Continue reading →

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The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Posted on September 14, 2023 by smellincoffee

(Yes, this book is why I’ve been so quiet the last two weeks.) The relationship between Christianity and Judaism has fascinated me ever since I bolted from the Pentecostalism in which I was raised, and began rebuilding my worldview from … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, General, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

The Lives They Saved

Posted on September 6, 2023 by smellincoffee

“Look for the helpers”, Mr Rogers advised children who were frightened by disaster. L. Douglas Keeney here offers a spyglass to readers. Instead of fixating on the flaming towers, the clouds of smoke filled with dust, jet engine fumes, and … Continue reading →

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Friday the Rabbi Slept Late

Posted on September 1, 2023 by smellincoffee

The small Massachusetts village of Barnard’s Crossing is shaken when the body of a young woman is found lying behind a garden wall, and no one more than Rabbi David Small — because the woman’s purse was in his car, … Continue reading →

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My Name is Asher Lev

Posted on August 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

How to describe My Name is Asher Lev? The book opens with Asher himself describing himself as an apostate, a traitor, a mocker — and yet the reader will find no cruel intentions here, only a young man struggling with … Continue reading →

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Killing, fictional and otherwise

Posted on August 29, 2023 by smellincoffee

Lately I’ve gotten into the bad habit of getting almost to the end of the book, and then saying — “Okay, not enough of that to take to work, I’ll start a new one and then finish the other one … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday: Davy Jones’ Locker

Posted on August 29, 2023 by smellincoffee

Ahoy there, mateys! Today Top Ten Tuesday’s theme be “Water”, so we’ll be lookin’ at me favorite stories of the seven seas, both fiction and otherwise! Hope ye have your sea legs about ye! Oh, but first — a wee … Continue reading →

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Mythic Realms

Posted on August 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

“It’s our duty to search out anywhere the excellent that exists within culture, and to promote it — because the excellent is always going to be in the minority. Excellence is the particular, whereas crud is universal. We find only … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Worst Hard Time

Posted on August 23, 2023 by smellincoffee

I first encountered the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the same history book, and images of houses covered by drifts of dust and those of men standing in line looking for relief or work are forever twinned in … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments