Tag Archives: memoir

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna be Ok© 2020 Sean Dietrich261 pages A memoir about a boy growing up in the deep shadow cast by his father’s suicide has no right to be … Continue reading →

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The Human Experiment

Posted on February 9, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Human Experiment: Two Years and 20 Minutes Inside Biosphere 2© 2006 Jane Poynter384 pages From this patch of desert in sunny Oracle, Arizona, eight Americans are beginning the trip of a lifetime.  Divided into two tribes and locked into … Continue reading →

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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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