Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

This Republic of Suffering

Posted on August 21, 2020 by smellincoffee

This Republic of Suffering:  Death and the American Civil War © 2008 Drew Gilpin Faust 401 pages     Oft in dreams I see thee lying On some battle-plain Lonely, wounded, even dying — Calling, but in vain Weeping sad … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Great Ron Paul

Posted on August 21, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Great Ron Paul: The Scott Horton Interviews, 2004-2019 © 2019 ed. Scott Horton 315 pages Selected quotes Who is Ron Paul?    That question was on posters across my university campus in 2008, and I couldn’t help but be curious.   … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Shiloh 1862

Posted on August 18, 2020 by smellincoffee

Shiloh 1862 © 2012 Winston Groom 448 pages Although I’ve been aware of the small Winston Groom collection of Civil War books in my home library for years, I’ve never thought to read them because I invariably associate Groom with … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

American Illiad | Reluctant Voices

Posted on August 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

As part of my attempts to scale Mount TBR,  I read two smaller works on the Civil War this week. They may be later joined by This Republic of Suffering,  a survey of the war’s unprecedented death toll and its … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Selections from “How Dante Can Save Your Life”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

Review of Book Great art speaks with wisdom and authority to what is eternal in the human condition. The presence of God radiated from the Chartres cathedral so powerfully that it even pierced the dark wood into which I had … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

How Dante Can Save Your Life

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History’s Greatest Poem © 2015 Rod Dreher 322 pages Selected Quotations How Dante Can Save Your Life is one man’s account of how that Renaissance poet’s epic  tale of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Left, The Right, and The State

Posted on August 11, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Left, The Right, and the State © 2009 Lew Rockwell 556 pages “Society is held together not by a state but by the cooperative daily actions of its members.” Who’s up for six hundred pages of essays on politics … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved But Didn’t Review

Posted on August 10, 2020 by smellincoffee

This week’s TTT …books we read, loved, but didn’t review. The Death and Life of Great American Cities,   Jane Jacobs. This book  completely revolutionized my worldview before I made halfway through. One day I’ll make some meager attempt at reviewing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 17 Comments

The Architecture of Happiness

Posted on August 5, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Architecture of Happiness © 2006 Alain de Botton 280 pages I never thought much about the meaning of architecture until attending a lecture by James Howard Kunstler, given at my university in autumn 2008, entitled “Peak Oil and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The End of October

Posted on August 1, 2020 by smellincoffee

The End of October © 2020 Lawrence Wright 482 pages COVID-19 gotcha down? Cheer up! It could be worse. A lot worse. Like…the US president dying on live television, bleeding from the eyes worse.   The End of October was published … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 7 Comments