Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

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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The Ice at the End of the World

Posted on October 16, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 2019  Jon Gertner 418 pages My reading journeys have taken me to Greenland recently, but instead of reading more about the Viking settlements there,  I wanted to read about another tribe:   the explorers and scientists who willingly endured months … Continue reading →

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IRL

Posted on October 15, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 2014 Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang 192 pages I happened to see Cory Doctorow’s name on the cover of this graphic novel, and had to take a look.  The plot is heavily based on a short story of Doctorow’s, … Continue reading →

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Needful Things

Posted on October 13, 2019 by smellincoffee

Needful Things © 1992 Stephen King 940 pages A new shop has come to Castle Rock, one with a curious name: NEEDFUL THINGS. Its wares appear to run the gamut from cheap antiques to one-of-a-kind oddities. Even in a small … Continue reading →

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How To Break Up With Your Phone

Posted on October 12, 2019 by smellincoffee

How To Break Up With Your Phone © 2018 Catherine Price 192 pages In just over a decade, smartphones have become ubiquitous and transformative. But for all the ease they add to our lives,   smartphones also have an inherent capacity … Continue reading →

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