Tag Archives: Nonfiction 2025

Original Sin

Posted on May 26, 2025 by smellincoffee

It was fairly obvious to critics of the Biden administration that the president was in cognitive decline and increasingly unfit to hold office, despite the barrage of Sharp as a Tack! statements emanating from DC’s faithful handmaidens, the corporate press. … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Fenway 1912

Posted on May 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest continually operating major-league ballpark in the United States, and has developed into a character or an attraction in its own right for that reason.  Fenway has not lasted as long as it has … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baseball Between the Lines

Posted on May 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

Baseball Between the Lines is a direct sequel to Don Honig’s Baseball When the Grass was Real, being an oral history of baseball in the 1940s and 1950s,  recounting interviews with ballplayers of the era.  This was an time of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baseball when the Grass was Real

Posted on May 8, 2025 by smellincoffee

One of my favorite reads from last year was  more of a listen: The Glory of their Times, featuring audio of old-time ballplayers telling stories from the early days of baseball.   Baseball When the Grass was Real is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ty Cobb

Posted on May 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

I’ve known the name Ty Cobb since I was a kid: baseball is an anomaly in that it’s the only sport I’ve ever cared enough to read about,  both as a boy and now in my dotage. I encountered Cobb … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Selma: An Architectural Field Guide

Posted on April 8, 2025 by smellincoffee

Note: Yes, this has nothing to do with Read of England, but the author sent me a copy for review on publication. Additionally, I assisted in some of the background research and fact-checking in the book’s final stages. My hometown … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

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 →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Images of America: Fenway Park

Posted on March 25, 2025 by smellincoffee

I’ve read three previous entries in the Images of America cities, but this is the first that takes me out of state, deep into the heart of Yankeedom: Boston’s own Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. Fenway is the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment