OK. I’ve been worried about what to do with myself when I retire in June. My dilemma is solved. You have heard of the Horse Whisperer. You may also have heard of the Book Whiperer. But…have you ever heard of the Book Sniffer?
Smelling the Book [MoMA]
So, now I know what to do in retirement. Indulge the Book Sniffer in me. I have always loved the smell of books. As a matter of fact, I can tell by the aroma of a book whether it was published in the U.S. or in another country. Books published in England and Hong Kong have a particularly lovely scent…sort of a combination of tea and spice.
This weird and useless ability originated in childhood. All my life I have received packages for Christmas and birthdays from my English family. Books published there or in Hong Kong or Singapore always have the same wonderful scent. It brings back happy childhood memories and always makes me feel happy. I never knew it, but my son evidently notices the wonderful aroma also. When we took him to visit his English relatives when he was 15, the first thing he did when he got off the plane was take a big inhale and say “Mmmmmm. It smells like England!”
I have worked on this ability to some extent. For awhile, I would find books that I knew were not published in the U.S. – but did not have the “English Christmas Present” smell. They had a rather sharp, but not unpleasant smell. Turns out, that smell indicates a book published in Italy.
Upon reading the comments to the “Smelling the Book” post, I have also found a new perfume I am dying to try. I’ve always wondered about the viability of selling scents on the net – but I really must try this one!
Hopefully every time I use it, I will remember all the wonderful times I have had in libraries since the first day I walked into the Middletown Thrall Library. To me, it was like entering a fairy-tale castle. I could not have been more thrilled had I entered the gates of Disney World. The librarian was a person of power and wonder….purveyor of all good things. I was in absolute awe.
Perhaps I am a retro-librarian after all. As much as I promote and love the convenience of ebooks, downloading a book will never be as magical as visiting a library. After all, the internet is invisible to two of our best senses – touch and smell.
What an interesting talent! Can you smell the difference between wines, kinds of honey, types of chocolate? Maybe you have a future in the food industry after retirement! I’ve always admired folks who can help me notice subtle differences between different wines and different food choices. I talked to a beekeeper at a farmers’ market last summer who showed me how to distinguish different kinds of honey by scent. Fascinating.
So good to hear from you. And that is a very interesting idea. Getting into the wine business would be great fun..though dangerous to my newly rediscovered waistline!
What a fun post. I must develop this talent if I wish to become a truly great librarian! I just sniffed the book next to me (Hamlet)…definitely published in the USA.
When the new books come in I try my best not to let anyone see me bury my nose in those wonderful shiny new books. Next to the people, I will miss new book orders the most!
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