Tag Archives: memoir

Fresh Air with Terry Grosz

Posted on November 21, 2025 by smellincoffee

When it’s time for me to do my annual writeup in a month or so, I will have to mention the Black Swan event that was game warden-oriented books suddenly exploding onto the scene, bursting out of nowhere like a … Continue reading →

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Riding with Evil

Posted on September 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

Ken Croke spent two years living a double life, one in which the ATF agent’s suburbanite existence was increasingly overshadowed by his second life as a sergeant in arms for the notorious PAGANS motorcycle club. The story unfolds in the … Continue reading →

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From the Inside Out: Twin Tower Escapes

Posted on September 8, 2025 by smellincoffee

Erik Ronningen came close to death several times on 9/11 as he made his way from the heights above Manhattan to the relative safety of the sidewalks below. The day after, while comparing notes with his wife, Ronningen was struck … 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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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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Alice, the White Rabbit, and Nixon: Short rounds, audio edition

Posted on June 2, 2025 by smellincoffee

That is not a “Go Ask Alice” reference, though I suppose it could. I’m kicking this week off with an audiobook short round. First up is The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, read by Scarlett Johansson . I reviewed the … Continue reading →

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Selma’s Mayor

Posted on April 29, 2025 by smellincoffee

Like most, if not all, Selmians, I was surprised and saddened by the sudden death of former Mayor George Evans. The mayor had been a figure in my life since I was a child, as he was the school superintendent … Continue reading →

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Short rounds: people and their places

Posted on April 29, 2025 by smellincoffee

In One No, Many Yeses, journalist and green activist Paul Kingsnorth detailed his journeys across the world, spending time with people who were actively resisting globalization — or rather, the disruptions that globalization caused in their local communities. Real England: … Continue reading →

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Vigilante Rewilding

Posted on April 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

While scouting for science books that could also fit into Read of England a few weeks back, I saw Brining Back the Beaver and was instantly on board. I like beavers, though I’m not entirely sure why: perhaps it was … Continue reading →

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Sidetracks

Posted on February 15, 2025 by smellincoffee

Gary Oberg grew up in Minnesota hunting and fishing, and has continued to do so for seventy years — mostly for fun, but sometimes for business as he was also a mechanical engineer who designed reels and other sporting equipment. … Continue reading →

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