Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Breaking Bad & Bama Baseball

Posted on May 11, 2023 by smellincoffee

If you’re an obsessive fan of Breaking Bad — and is any fan of Breaking Bad not an obsessive one? — this little book is a quick treat, consisting of summaries with commentary of each respective season, along with character … Continue reading →

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

The War as the South Saw It

Posted on May 10, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Confederate Reader: The War as the South Saw It© 1999 Richard B. Harwell416 pages Mention ‘The War’ in the South without any context, and most anyone will understand which one  you’re referring to – the only War that has … Continue reading →

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

Our Man In Charleston

Posted on May 9, 2023 by smellincoffee

Our Man in Charleston© 2016 Christopher Dickey416 pages Our Man in Charleston is a fascinating history of British diplomacy in the South, 1850s-1865, about a British consul working to defend Her Majesty’s interests in the erstwhile colonies, focusing specifically on … Continue reading →

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

Brittannorum

Posted on May 8, 2023 by smellincoffee

A ferventi aestuosa Libya Volat Aquila LegionumSupra Terra BrittannorumVolat Aquila LegionumRoma, Roma, O RomaLegio! Aeterna! Aeterna! Victrix! Winter is coming, both for Britain and for the Druids. Rome, drawn to Britain because of its tribes’ support of their Gallic brothers … Continue reading →

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

Of Cicero and base-ball

Posted on May 5, 2023 by smellincoffee

This week I’ve been finishing up a couple of audiobooks. The first is How to Grow Old, a short one by Cicero written during the early part of his retirement from Rome, before the odious Mark Anthony sent men to … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, history, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dead Acre

Posted on April 30, 2023 by smellincoffee

Dead Acre© 2020 Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime CastleRead by Roger Clark. 3 hours and change If you read Cold as Hell, you were introduced to Crowley, a gunman of the old west who died trying to protect a young … Continue reading →

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

Scenes from Prehistoric Britain

Posted on April 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

Scenes from Prehistoric Life: From the Ice Age to the Coming of the Romans© 2021 Francis Pryor320 pages Scenes from Prehistoric Britain is a curious mix of extreme detail and fanciful speculation, visiting twelve sites in (mostly) prehistoric Britain that … Continue reading →

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

The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights

Posted on April 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Acts of so-called Arthur King and his Noble Kannnnnigits© 1976 John Steinbeck364 pages It befell in the days of yore, as I rode by a book-stall in a great city, that mine eye was caught by a fair volume … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna be Ok© 2020 Sean Dietrich261 pages A memoir about a boy growing up in the deep shadow cast by his father’s suicide has no right to be … Continue reading →

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

Robin Hood and his men most merrie (and Welsh)

Posted on April 24, 2023 by smellincoffee

Enter into the greenwood and consider two tales of Robin the Hood! One, the triumphant finale of Stephen Lawhead’s “Hood” trilogy, setting the Lincoln green-clad figure betwixt the rivers Wye and Severn; the other,  an examination of Robin Hood ballads … Continue reading →

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