Author Archives: smellincoffee

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About smellincoffee

Citizen, librarian, reader with a boundless wonder for the world and a curiosity about all the beings inside it.

Moviewatch, April 2026

Posted on April 30, 2026 by smellincoffee

Paul Blart: Mall Cop,  2009. This is an….action-comedy somewhere on the level of Home Alone 3.   It’s fairly moronic, with lots of “Kevin James is fat” esque physical comedy. The plot concerns a security guard at a mall (remember … Continue reading →

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April 2026 in Review

Posted on April 29, 2026 by smellincoffee

What a month! Despite April being peak tornado season in Alabama, this year the skies were perfectly clement. Not until this past week, in fact, did we have any rumblings of tornadoes at all — seemingly all of our rain … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday and celebrities

Posted on April 29, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “A Celebrity We’d Like to Meet”. Interestingly, one of my favorite authors (Rod Dreher) recently announced he’s returning to the United States, and has chosen Birmingham as his new residence for the … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Tuesday:

Posted on April 28, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s treble T is a freebie, and my initial impulse was to highlight some booktubers I enjoy. However, embedding videos is always hit and miss with youtube, so I’m going to highlight recent books in my browsing history. But first, … Continue reading →

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Rebecca

Posted on April 25, 2026 by smellincoffee

Imagine your life being so overwhelmed by other people’s memories of a woman that her name is emblazoned over your story — and still worse, you don’t have a name in your story, only the title that both you and … Continue reading →

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Author in Chief

Posted on April 24, 2026 by smellincoffee

“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it,” said Winston Churchill, and write it he did – histories of the World Wars and the Anglo-American people. Across the pond, American executives were also doing their writing. … Continue reading →

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Inside Camp David

Posted on April 23, 2026 by smellincoffee

President Herbert Hoover found himself homesick during his term in office in D.C, and decided to buy some land with his own money to develop as a mountain retreat. While security concerns did add some infrastructure, like telephone lines, the … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday & Memories

Posted on April 22, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is, “A few happy memories from my life”. But first. WWW Wednesday! WWW Wednesday WHAT have you finished reading recently? Magna Carta, Dan Jones. WHAT are you reading now? Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier. … Continue reading →

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Harry Potter and the Epic Backstory

Posted on April 21, 2026 by smellincoffee

Half-Blood Prince and Prisoner of Azkaban routinely compete for my favorite HP novel, and for similar reasons — humor and backstory. It is far, far more than that, however: Prisoner of Azkaban had both in spades, but HBP is a … Continue reading →

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Tuesday Teases

Posted on April 21, 2026 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is ‘April showers’, which a challenging one. One obvious approach that comes to mind is books in which rain is a major element, either in shaping the plot or in creating an atmosphere. The problem is that I … Continue reading →

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