Writes Christopher Brosius, "I love books, particularly old ones. I cannot pass a second hand bookshop and rarely come away without at least one additional volume... Don't you find there are few things more wonderful than the smell of a much-loved book?" Good point, but we've all been in that library or used bookstore that smells like silverfish and old-lady-basement, and no one wants to bottle that up (or breathe it in).
Even though I'm not sold on the category, here are more book-scented options you won't find in the department store. Not saying that you smell bad! You smell fine! I mean, you smell like you should! However that is!:
- The indie perfume purveyor Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is out in front with collections based on Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, GOOD OMENS and STARDUST, all proceeds going to charity, plus a Shakespeare line (smell like Yorick?), a Lovecraft line and an ALICE IN WONDERLAND line.
- Un The Au Sahara pays homage to the desert of Paul Bowles' THE SHELTERING SKY. (Sorry, but all I can think of is, "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." Smell like terrible dialogue!)
- Demeter Fragrance Library makes a perfume called "Paperback" described as "sweet and a touch musty."
- The Ex Libris candle from D.L. & Co. is supposed to smell like leather-bound volumes and parchment, but is that parchment burning? Well, it keeps the rare-book librarians at bay.
- According to the San Francisco Chronicle perfumier Yosh Han has created scents for William T. Vollman and the person formerly known as J.T. LeRoy, as well as a time-travel (!) series for the Dave Eggers-related writing nonprofit 826 LA.
- On the fake side, there's this line of room sprays called "Smell Of Books" and, for the atheist on a date, Richard Dawkins' Reason.
Chandler Burr, "The Scent of the Nile," the New Yorker on the creation of a new Hermès scent.
Vendela Vida, "America's Deodorized Fiction," Slate.com on the use of evocative smells in literature.
1 comment:
Vendela Vida's piece is interesting. I immediately thought of Michael Chabon, who picks up on the oddest details sometimes, including smells. When my dad was reading Wonder Boys, I remember him saying that it was really strange Chabon seemed to know--accurately--what it smells like when you pick up an animal that's been dead a couple hours. I also remember how Chabon describes a character in Kavalier and Clay having a spicy, angry smell like freshly sharpened pencils. But those are one-liners, which are apparently not what Vida is looking for. However--I don't think the book she quotes at the beginning of the essay is one I want to read, so the smells she wants to read about may not be the smells I want to read about...
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