Tag Archives: memoir

Laughing all the Way to the Mosque

Posted on January 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

Laughing all the Way to the Mosque: The Misadventures of a Muslim Woman© 2016 Zarqa Nawaz240 pages ‘A hit religious comedy show about Muslims worshipping in a broken-down mosque, within a broken-down church, living in a tiny town in the … Continue reading →

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Sid Meier’s Memoir

Posted on November 30, 2022 by smellincoffee

Sid Meier’s Memoir: A Life in Computer Games© 2020 Sid Meier304 pages Dear readers, I cannot tell you how much of my life has been spent in worlds of Sid Meier’s making –  discovering his talent for historically-grounded but  still-compelling … Continue reading →

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Afternoons with Harper Lee

Posted on October 31, 2022 by smellincoffee

Afternoons with Harper Lee© 2022 Wayne Flynt256 pages Recently I had the pleasure of listening to historian Dr. Wayne Flynt speak at my local library,  drawing from his new book, Afternoons with Harper Lee.   As with Mockingbird Songs, a … Continue reading →

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Marine Combat Correspondent

Posted on September 1, 2022 by smellincoffee

Marine Combat Correspondent: World War 2 in the Pacific© 1999 Sam Stavisky344 pages Sam Stavisky was a reporter for the Washington Post on December 7th, 1941, when he and the world bore witness to Japan’s bloody ambition to rule the … Continue reading →

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It’s not so lonely out in space: three to celebrate Apollo 11

Posted on July 20, 2021 by smellincoffee

Fifty-two years ago, men from Earth touched down on the moon and inaugurated a new era in human exploration. I usually re-watch From the Earth to the Moon (a Tom Hanks docu-drama that is in my “Everything is burning but … Continue reading →

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Waco: A Survivor’s Story

Posted on July 8, 2020 by smellincoffee

A Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story © 1999 David Thibodeau 381 pages On April 19th, 1993, the arrogance of power was made obvious when scores of people were killed in a outstandingly incompetent, if not deliberately malicious, attempt to … Continue reading →

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To Build a Castle

Posted on June 9, 2020 by smellincoffee

To Build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter ©  1978 Vladimir Bukovsky 438 pages When frustrated Soviet officials asked Vlaldimir Bukovsky why he continued to provoke them, he replied that he doubted he could cause them nearly as much … Continue reading →

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My Disillusionment in Russia

Posted on December 20, 2019 by smellincoffee

My Disillusionment in Russia © 1923 Emma Goldman 271 pages “Is there any change in the world? Or is it all an eternal recurrence of man’s inhumanity to man?”    – Emma Goldman, 1921 In 1919, then-notorious anarchist Emma Goldman was … Continue reading →

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A Forest in the Clouds

Posted on March 11, 2019 by smellincoffee

A Forest in the Clouds © 2018 John Fowler336 pages John Fowler’s A Forest in the Clouds is his account of studying gorillas alongside famous naturalist Dian Fossey.   Although I picked it up for the gorillas (as one would), the … Continue reading →

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Rebel Without a Green Card

Posted on February 22, 2019 by smellincoffee

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card288 pages© 2018 Ssara Saedi Sara Saedi and her older sister Samira were both born in Iran, but following the revolution their parents fled to America by way of Italy.  Although Sara had virtually no … Continue reading →

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