Category Archives: Reviews

In the Forests of the Night

Posted on August 5, 2025 by smellincoffee

I decided to do my Roswell High re-read this week because I would spend most of it dogsitting in the backwoods, so deep into the green that there would be no internet. My evenings would therefore including reading and rubbing … Continue reading →

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Roswell High, #1-3: The Beginning

Posted on August 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

The scene: a kitchsy diner in Roswell, New Mexico, with a strong “aliens and UFO” theme: the tables are shaped like flying saucers, and the waitresses strut around in Star Trek-esque skirts. Two men at a far table begin arguing, … Continue reading →

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When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Posted on July 31, 2025 by smellincoffee

John Scalzi meets Randall Monroe in a comic SF novel with an insane premise: the Moon has been replaced by a giant orb of cheese. Or, to use NASA’s language, it has “assumed an organic matrix”. How? Who knows?! It’s … Continue reading →

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Bittersweet

Posted on July 30, 2025 by smellincoffee

Recently I was looking for the author Nevada Barr, who has a series about a female park ranger who works across the United States. The library didn’t have the early ones in stock, so I grabbed this one without really … Continue reading →

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The Fighting Little Judge

Posted on July 25, 2025 by smellincoffee

Back in 2016, I played with the idea of reading biographies of various populists, for obvious reasons. William Jennings Bryant, Huey Long, and George C. Wallace were the three figures who leapt most to mind. Although George C. Wallace is … Continue reading →

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The American Nazi

Posted on July 24, 2025 by smellincoffee

How does a man who fought Hitler come to deify him? George Lincoln Rockwell began life as the child of a popular entertainer, and by adulthood was well-poised for a successful life. He’d gone to a good university, though his … Continue reading →

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Short rounds: Fawlty Towers, Samuel Adams, and John Dickinson

Posted on July 21, 2025 by smellincoffee

I’m not sure that posting something about this here is altogether appropriate given that it’s not an audiobook, despite being listed on Audible. This is the audio recordings of Fawlty Towers, the award-winning British comedy from the 1970s, made available … Continue reading →

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Crunchy Cons: The Reread

Posted on July 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

Eleven years ago I stumbled onto a book called Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. I’d begun moving towards ‘localism’ in my later progressive period (circa 2009 – 2011), and had found unexpected insight in online magazines with some localist-oriented writing … Continue reading →

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Reckoning with the Public Library

Posted on July 16, 2025 by smellincoffee

Recently an article at The Free Press which attributed the decline of the public library to the fact that they’ve become homeless shelters has been causing some chatter in some online librarian communities. While looking into it, this book was … Continue reading →

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Kenneth Branagh and the Magician’s Nephew

Posted on July 14, 2025 by smellincoffee

Ohh, dear reader, this is Kenneth Branagh as you’ve never experienced him. When I saw a seven-volume set of The Chronicles of Narnia on goodreads available for a single credit, with each book narrated by talents like Branagh and Patrick … Continue reading →

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