Category Archives: Reviews

Tiny houses and zero waste

Posted on November 26, 2019 by smellincoffee

I’ve recently read two books which can be paired together nicely, so that’s what I’m doing.      Enter Tiny House Living and 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.      In the last few weeks I’ve been watching Tiny House Nation … Continue reading →

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I Must Speak Out

Posted on November 20, 2019 by smellincoffee

I Must Speak Out: The Best of The Voluntaryist, 1982-1999 © 1999 Carl Watner 485 pages What distinguishes the State from an organized gang?     Carl Watner argues in I Must Speak Out that nothing whatsoever does, except its subjects’ belief. … Continue reading →

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A Lesson Before Dying

Posted on November 15, 2019 by smellincoffee

A Lesson Before Dying © 1993 Ernest Gaines 256 pages “And that’s all we are Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood. until we – each of us, individually- decide to become something else. I … Continue reading →

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The Unthinkable

Posted on November 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes — and Why © 2008 Amanda Ripley 288 pages   We all wonder what we would do in an emergency. How would it feel to be onboard a doomed plane, or trapped in … Continue reading →

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A Plain Life

Posted on November 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

A Plain Life: Walking my Belief © 1998 Scott Savage 224 pages You have to be careful about working in a library. Sometimes books change your life.  Scott Savage and his wife were both librarians whose environmental interests put them … Continue reading →

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Conquerors

Posted on October 25, 2019 by smellincoffee

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire © 2015 Roger Crowley 364 pages Roger Crowley’s Conquerors is a history that starts with hope and ends in horror, at least of the slasher-film kind. Suffice it to say, if you … Continue reading →

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Gun Guys

Posted on October 22, 2019 by smellincoffee

Gun Guys: A Road Trip © 2013 Dan Baum 353 pages     Why do Americans love guns so much?  Dan Baum knew why he loved them. He was the skinny misfit who was mocked and left behind at summer … Continue reading →

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Agatha Christie and Tony Soprano

Posted on October 21, 2019 by smellincoffee

Over the weekend I finished two titles that don’t bear elaborate reviews. First up was Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party,  a murder mystery set during this spooky-fun season.  Not everyone is having fun, though, especially not little Joyce, who – – … Continue reading →

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American Rifle

Posted on October 18, 2019 by smellincoffee

American Rifle: A Biography © 2008 Alexander Rose 512 pages The quintessential American firearm is the rifle,   which through centuries of colonization and growth,  has served in both myth and fact.  I use myth not in the modern disparaging sense, … Continue reading →

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The Hidden Life of Trees

Posted on October 17, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World © 2016 Peter Wohlleben 288 pages Joyce Kilmer offered that he had never seen a poem as lovely as a tree —  and I … Continue reading →

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