Tag Archives: death and dying

The Unexpected President

Posted on September 2, 2026 by smellincoffee

This president reading project has been interesting so far, making me more fully aware of how complex some of the personalities to inhabit the White House have been. Chester A. Arthur, a man I formerly knew only for his muttonchops, … Continue reading →

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Five Days in November

Posted on June 16, 2026 by smellincoffee

In his memoir of working in the Secret Service, Within Arm’s Reach, Dan Emmett said that he was inspired by seeing an agent on television jump onto the presidential convertible during the JFK assassination to join the service. That agent … Continue reading →

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The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

Posted on April 6, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce was one of my favorite books of 2024, and I’ve been meaning to read its sequel for some time now. I thought Read of England as appropriate an occasion as any. … Continue reading →

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Harry Potter and the Teenage Angst

Posted on March 19, 2026 by smellincoffee

Although I’ve frequently re-read some Harry Potter books over the years, I’ve tended to avoid Phoenix after my second read.I found it depressing and irritating my first rounds, and had no desire to ever revisit it. The full cast audio … Continue reading →

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Shadowlands: A Play

Posted on November 22, 2025 by smellincoffee

C.S. Lewis died on 11/22/63, a week before his 65th birthday. Over the years, I have taken up the habit of spending “a week with Jack” — reading something of his in that space, to spend time with an author … Continue reading →

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The Dead Beat

Posted on October 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

Searching for obituaries is the most frequent kind of local history request I field at the library, and I like to joke when I’m disappearing into the archives room that I’m off hunting for dead people. I’ve noticed over the … Continue reading →

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Over my Dead Body: American Cemeteries

Posted on October 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

“There is glory in graves; there is grandeur in gloom”. So begins a poem inscribed on an elaborate tombstone in my favorite cemetery, Selma’s own Old Live Oak. Perhaps it was growing up in a city with such a picturesque … Continue reading →

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Anxious People

Posted on March 19, 2024 by smellincoffee

The scene: an apartment showing, the day before New Year’s. The apartment is filled with people, and then enters one more: a masked individual wielding a gun, panicked. They’ve just tried to rob a bank, only the bank is a … Continue reading →

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The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Posted on January 20, 2024 by smellincoffee

A.J. Fikry is a widower with a bookstore and an increasingly serious drinking problem. (He’s not an alcoholic, he says, he just drinks to the point of passing out at least once a week.) The one bright spot: he has Tamerlane, … Continue reading →

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A Man Called Ove

Posted on June 26, 2023 by smellincoffee

A Man Called Ove© 2012 Fredrik Backman368 pages Ove is a simple man. He likes to wake early, patrol the neighborhood and look for trouble, take care of what needs fixing, grouse about people not doing things properly, and then … Continue reading →

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