Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit! Welcome to June, and welcome to our annual summer reading poll!
Please recommend a great book to add to our summer reading lists, and tell us what fragrance we should wear while reading it.
My recent reading:
I re-read the first two Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson, and then read the next two for the first time, all in preparation for the upcoming fifth book in the series, Big Sky. (I can't picture Jackson Brodie wearing anything but the scent of despair and regret. If you're going to read more than one in a row, wear something that will keep your spirits up. Eau de Cartier Zeste de Soleil would do the trick.)
I read Sarah Perry's Melmoth, after greatly enjoying her first book, Essex Serpent, last year. (I think it was last year. Anyway, Melmoth is dark and cold and mysterious. Maybe Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, pre-reformulation?)
I am smack in the middle of Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life, but I'm reading it at a glacial pace, and it's something like 900 pages long. I hope to finish it this year. (For the life of me I cannot think of a matching fragrance. Perhaps Chanel no. 19 for the determination to stay the course?)
I am also in the middle of Kingsley Amis Lucky Jim, which I somehow never read (something old school by Floris or Penhaligon's?) and I have just started Michael Twitty's The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, which I am pretty sure got on my reading list because Kevin told me about it (I have not read enough of it yet to pick a matching fragrance). Next up on my kindle is Robertson Davies' Fifth Business, because Angie told me to read it.
Just finished Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds, and currently reading The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi so I’m deep in the Smarty Pants Space Opera vein. Very breezy reading, too so it would fit summer mode/alien planet beach category, too. Somewhat appropriately, I’m wearing Hiram Green’s Lustre, which I finally got an intact bottle of (USPS destroyed one bottle during shipping but nice people at Twisted Lily sent me a replacement) which is a very bright, overgrown-garden wild, intriguingly metallic and yes, lustrous rose. I think this is a perfect space scent: all the accounts of “scent of space” talk about burning metal and I have a bottle of Aether Methaldone that purports to imitate that particular notion, but I think Lustre conveys both the metal casing aspect and the longing for green gardens of Earth element. Highly recommended on all accounts!
Lustre sounds really intriguing. Thanks for your mini review. I think placing a sample order for that and some others might be in order this weekend. I still want to try L’Artisan Bana Banana.
Please comment on the Bana Banana!! I’m so curious!
Lustre sounds lovely although I am wary of metallic notes
Love John Scalzi! I haven’t read The Collapsing Empire series but did enjoy the Old Man’s War series. And Red Shirts 🙂 Smarty Pants Space Opera is an excellent description 🙂
Thank you for your thoughts on Lustre, I’m even more keen to try it.
And I should have added that I’ve enjoyed a few of Alistair Reynolds’ books, but I’ve not read Elysium Fire.
Today is my Wednesday, so I’m in Fils de Dieu to keep me happy.
Currently perusing an instantpot cook book and a Nat Geo book listing top 100 scenic drives in the US.
It’s good to know some things never change. If you were around in the 80’s, you know (and possibly love) this:
https://youtu.be/l7GnVHmTiI8
I’m always surprised when it occurs to me that not everyone was around in the eighties. Love this ????
Right? Scares me to think 80s clothes, music, etc is considered “vintage” these days..?
I was in a vintage store and the shopkeeper informed me they consider 90s vintage now. I left feeling older
The historic iris preservation group says that irises from the 1990s are considered heirlooms. I felt old when I read that. Although there are some ancient types of iris. Orris has been around for a long, long time.
I am always surprised when people weren’t around for the 60s. I keep thinking everyone was at Woodstock with me.
Apsara, I was with you in spirit?
I know Deva
I was born in ’91 and have always felt a little wistful about missing out on the ’80s. But then I remind myself that I live in a time when I can enjoy all the excellent new wave alternative music on a device that fits in the palm of my hand. That makes me feel a little better.
As Bob Dylan wrote,
“There is a season, turn, turn, turn”
We all have a different season, holineroli.
Some have more in the rear view mirror than what lies ahead. Some like you, have more ahead. Each decade brings its own story.
What a lovely meditation, apsara. Thank you for that ♥
Thanks for a trip down memory lane… he still sounds fantastic. It IS scary to be vintage age, lol – still, wouldn’t trade it and lose the memories.
Thank you Deva, a real blast from the past, I loved the video from back then too, he had impossibly pointy shoes.
Sigh. Although I’m afraid it makes me sound so old to say it, I swear it used to be that mainstream music was about the MUSIC. His voice is incredible, and I can’t imagine someone with his look making it big these days. I don’t prefer the ultra-manicured look of today, but it’s clear that there’s huge pressure to adhere to a particular aesthetic.
What about Ed Sheeran? He’s got to be worth millions and could have been cast as a hobbit in LOTR.
I can’t listen to any mainstream ‘music’ these days – it all sounds the same, formulaic and over-produced. One thing we can be thankful for is that our favourite songs, artists, bands and albums are available to us to listen to whenever we want, unlike our favourite scents which can be heartbreakingly discontinued or reformulated.
Wow. I was in college when this song came out and liked it at the time but one of those songs (and vocalist) that seems under appreciated in retrospect. I agree with others about music used to be about the MUSIC, now about how everyone looks.
Winding down my staycation. Had a week of mixed chores and nagging unfinished tasks, catching up on work and doing some nice reading and exercising. Did a little shopping and cooking too.
Working my way through some Heeley samples, trying to decide on my next purchase. Oranges and Lemons today though I think this is too straight-up citrus for my taste. I am trying to limit myself to one or 2 purchases a year so I have to make each one count. I am always liked Sel Marin and may pull the trigger on that one.
Thanks Deva! Now I’m having a hard time standing still as I listen to ‘It’s only love’. That bass line, guitar riff, the vocals, horns… Wow!
I’m just not there yet to think about summer even though it’s time to say rabbit, rabbit, rabbit for June and even though the forecast says that we’re to expect temps closer to 30*C next week already. I am not ready for the heat.
SotD is Nishane Ambra Calabria.
I completely forgot the rabbits! Again..?
I never remember the rabbits. . . ???
Ugh, me too. AGAIN.
I wish I had rabbit app on my Alexa.
*Just* finished (this morning) Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland. It’s a YA book, but juicy enough for adult interest, imo. Set during the post-US civil war, but instead of “reconstruction,” the dead begin to rise up from the battlefields and infect the living. The children of the formerly enslaved get sent to training schools to protect what remains of society, and the cultural battles of the civil war rage on. Pretty good! I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator, a spunky, “modern” girl who’s talented with her weapons.
I’m not sure on what perfume to wear–most of them seem too refined and too femme for Jane McKeene to wear. How about Chanel Egoiste–it’s unisex, and the herbs might help keep the smell of the dead out of your nose.
That sounds like an interesting read! I should venture over to the YA aisles every now and then.
Sometimes, I read YA books as “homework,” so I have something to recommend to my students (or know what the heck they’re talking about). But this one I read for fun–I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of the YA dystopian novels I’ve tried, but some are definitely better written (and less predictable) than others.
It was sad when my son decided he was too old for YA lit, even though he’s just barely a YA even now. I really liked reading some of his books! Dread Nation sounds fun.
Dread Nation only seems “YA” to me in that the heroine is in that age group. Otherwise, it’s pretty grown up in its themes, imo. Not too much for a mature young adult, but not the usual lighter fare, either.
You can still read YA books yourself, even if your son feels that he’s outgrown them. 🙂
YA isn’t normally my thing but I really enjoyed Uprooted and Spinning Silver, both standalone fantasy novels by Naomi Novik.
I haven’t read either of those. Thanks for the recs!
I haven’t read those, but I enjoyed Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. Napoleonic era, but with dragons. The dragons added some interesting twists and turns onto the history I was familiar with. Some parts of the world that in reality had been conquered by European nations and added into their various empires weren’t conquered after all.
Oh, I loved both of those books!!
Thanks! I’ve heard of Spinning Silver and thought it sounded interesting.
Marjorie Rose, I am so glad you mentioned this book and YA in particular since I think there are so many good books from this category that most grownups would probably enjoy. In no particular order, Kristin Cashore’s Graceling series, Holly Black’s Faerie Tale series beginning with Tithe, Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series, these are all fantasy and on the dark side. I think Nichola Yoon is a writer of exquisitely romantic fiction and I loved The Sun is also a Star, boy meets girl and has just one day in Manhattan to live out their love story, the city being as much of a character as, well, the characters. I cannot mention Young Adult books without mentioning Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti books, afrofuturism by way of Nigerian folklore. Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor, exquisite prose and writing about a young librarian, a mythic lost city and the half-human children of murdered Gods. The Barnes&Noble YA podcast is so good and well worth listening to, Melissa Albert is and excellent interviewer and asks authors about their favorite books as kids and also their process. I did not think I would find it interesting but I really look forward to the weekly episode. I challenge everyone to read a Young Adult book this summer!
Melissa Albert is an excellent interviewer, I need an editor!
Funny. I had to go back and reread to catch the typo. 🙂
I haven’t read Strange the Dreamer, but I did read Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy and really liked it. On a completely different YA note–not at all fantasy, very much set in this world–I can recommend The First Rule of Punk. My kid just went as the main character for her school’s character parade this year. It’s a great book, very relatable no matter your age.
Wow! What a great list! Thanks!
I am recommending less serious more “beach bum” books, for mindless reading when you just need to escape into a different world, some of these you hardly have to use your brain! :
1. Bella Figura (I wore Omnia when I read this, Italian brand but with some spice to give a nod to the author who is Iranian)
2. When Life Gives you Lululemons (No 19, for some back bone for one of the main characters whose husband throws her under the bus)
2. Where did you go Bernadette? (Something vintage, I think I wore Vintage Chloe while reading this one)
Mr L is out of town, holding down the fort in Lilli Bermuda Frangipani.
More coffee, please.
Love your list and matching perfumes. Here’s some ☕️ for you?
thanks dear!
How did you like the Bernadette one? I saw the movie preview and had never heard of it. I have it from the library but haven’t started it yet.
Movie?!
I just watched the trailer..Oh my!
yes, do read the book
Thanks!
The book is hysterical!! I laughed out loud while reading it!
My fiction reading has been mostly romances of various kinds, cozy mysteries, and some steampunk. idk on that melange.
Non-fiction that I’ve been working through includes “Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey,” “The Last Palace: Europe’s Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House” and “The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry.” idk on scents for those, either.
Neyronrose, you are allowed to list your romances and cozy mysteries & steampunk too! There are all sorts of readers here, and some of us read from all genres. (I am a fan of cozy mysteries, but have only read a few of what I’d call steampunk lit, depending on how you define it — I really liked the Bedlam Stacks, which is sorta steampunk?)
“The Bedlam Stacks” sounds like an interesting book to me.
I’ve been trying to get into Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, which starts with “Soulless” and is set in Victorian times, with werewolves and vampires and mechanical devices ahead of their time. The series is described as a comedy of manners, among other things. I’ve read the books she’s written as G.L. Carriger that are set in modern times and in the future. I guess it was easier for me to get into them?
Hollis Shiloh has written some steampunk stories that are also low heat m/m romances, with some mystery also in one closely linked series set in that world. That series starts with the story “Wes and Kit.” The steampunk stories are set on kind of an Alternate Earth, post World War I, with machines run by steam and magic. Some characters who fought in the war have had heart or limb replacements that function via clockwork and magic.
Carina Press, an imprint of Harlequin, has some books with steampunk themes.
E-mail me directly for more steampunk recommendations.
Scents of the day so far…I went with Elizabeth Arden Green Tea first. That seems to be one I’m wearing frequently in the hot weather. It feels refreshing to me. And not too demanding, if that makes sense?
The local Target store had a display of Pacifica perfumes and tester bottles. I guess it was the current eight or so perfumes that Pacifica is offering? Anyway, I spritzed myself from a couple of the tester bottles. Maybe it was that they were generous spritzes, but I didn’t think the Indian Coconut Nectar was for me. I also tried the Hawaiian Ruby Guava. It’s rare that I think something is too sweet when it comes to real flowers and fruits, or baked goods and such (lol), but the Ruby Guava perfume smelled too sweet for me. I caught up with Mom, and said, “I’m going to go wash my arms off.”
She asked, “Why do you *do* this?” Because I think it’s better to try something in person than do a blind buy of a whole bottle is why, but that answer wouldn’t have impressed her.
I think I just lucked out with the Island Vanilla, that I like that a lot. The cashier at Whole Foods told me I could return the Pacifica perfumes that I got there if I didn’t like them or had a reaction, but I liked the Island Vanilla. And I had tried a Lemon Blossom sample before I found a bottle of that at Marshalls.
I got a little (11 ml) bottle of Jovan Musk earlier in the day, in the “Good’s Store” by Shady Maple. Irisjasmine will likely have heard of the Shady Maple restaurant, and maybe Robin will have. I’m pretty sure I’d smelled Jovan Musk back when. If I don’t like the present-day version, I’ll pass it along to someone who does. I’ll do a relatively blind buy of that for $3.99, but not for the Pacifica 1 oz. (30 ml) bottles at $22. Something about the idea of spending over $20 a bottle for something when I don’t know whether I’ll like it seems to be my mental cutoff point.
So it’s been kind of a busy day for me so far with perfumes. 🙂
I’ve been getting into cozy mysteries lately, after moving over from more “serious” mystery territory. Are there any particular favorites of yours?
The imprint “Berkley Prime Crime” seems to offer a lot of cozy mystery series, with protagonists who knit or quilt, or cook or bake, or have cats that may or may not help solve the mysteries.
I liked a mystery series that had Greek recipes in the back and was set in a Greek restaurant. The series is by Susannah Hardy. This first book is “Feta Attraction.”
There are a number of mystery series with protagonists who run tea shops, too. I have a few of the Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries by Patrice Greenwood on my Nook, and a couple of the Oxford Tearoom Mysteries by H.Y. Hanna there. I’ve just found that there’s a tea shop series by Laura Childs.
My folks have been reading cozy mystery series by Joanne Fluke and Sheila Connolly. Mom and I have read mysteries by Tamar Myers.
Happy reading!
Thanks for the recommendations, neyronrose!
You’re quite welcome. 🙂
I second the Laura Childs Tea Shop series and also the Scrapbooking store series.
Victoria Thompson has a Gaslight Mystery series set in NYC in the late 1800s.Really good.
I highly recommend the Vintage clothing shop mystery series set in Portland written by Angela M Sanders.Has some great vintage fragrance references I appreciate.
I think I’ll appreciate “Death by Darjeeling” more than Mom did. Although I don’t care for Darjeeling tea myself, I’d appreciate more of the tea references than she probably did.
I think of that historical series by Victoria Thompson as more “serious” mystery, because some of the deaths the protagonists discovered were disturbing to me. But if you’re all right with some gore and a bit of horror about the evils that people can perpetrate on each other, you should be all right.
I looked up Angela’s series, and found I had gotten the first in the series as an e-book sometime in 2016 when the e-book version was free. I’ll definitely have to try that out. I’m sure that was a “Mom and I will like this” thought from me. 🙂
I have just finished The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. I highly recommend it. I found the historical perspective and philosophical discussion interesting and the characters were engaging. And it’s just great writing.
I guess I will match it with Encre Noire, although that seems almost too obvious a choice…
What I actually wore while reading (on the plane for much of it) was Jardin Sur le Nil.
I just downloaded this on kindle for plane trip.
Perfect!
Oh, that one is on my to-read list and don’t know how it got there, but maybe from one of the reading polls? Added a star since you liked it too.
⭐️ !!
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit! Watership Down is my favorite book ever. My Uncle Mike in England gave it to me when I was ten years old and we were visiting them. I don’t even know how many times I’ve read it. These days, I get most of my “reading” done by listening to books on the Libby app that uses my library membership. I get disgusted after awhile listening to the news, so I listen to just enough not to be ignorant and then flip over to a book. Am working my way through the Agatha Raisin and Stephanie Plum mysteries, which are funny and not taxing. Also love Lisa See and Amy Tan and am about to start “Dreams of Joy,” which is a sequel to the heartbreaking “Shanghai Girls.” I have some long car trips coming up, so hoping to finally get around to the Chernow book on Hamilton. No SOTD yet, since I am still sweaty from outdoor yoga and the farmer’s market, but might go for Jo Malone Orange Blossom or O de L’Orangerie later after a shower.
I love audiobooks and listen to a lot of them for the same reason! I also have been practicing my French, using Pimsleur langauge CDs in my car–whenever I get sick of the news, I do a lesson.
I love audiobooks and must have a backup ready in case I get a stinker or a bad reader. Just finished Lisa Brennan Jobs Small Fry and now have When we were yours and Where the Crawdads sing.
Agreed, the reader makes a huge difference! I’ve “followed” a few readers, discovered some authors I’d never had “read” otherwise, because they were read by a particularly good voice actor.
What are your thoughts on Jobs Small Fry?
Majorie Rose, I found her book to be a moving and profound meditation at what it means to have a home. Consistency, the unconditional love from parents. I sat in my car for an extra 30 minutes to finish the final CD.
Loved Watership Down when I read it! I’m a fan of audiobooks as well, currently working my way through the Longmire series. The TV program bears no resemblance to the books AT ALL, so I hope it doesn’t dissuade people from reading the series, which is very well done.
Agree — did not read all of Longmire but did read a few, and the series eventually got WAY more violent than I expected.
And the cartoon movie was too violent for me when I was a kid, so I’ve never reached for the books. . .
Love Longmire, Deva. Another coming out soon. Can’t wait.
I mean to read Hamilton too, but thought I should start with Washington — plus, I can keep renewing the Washington e-book from the library, whereas Hamilton has a long waiting list 🙂
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane was wonderful. I love Lisa See.
thumbs up for Agatha Raisin. She’s so fun. 😀
In the midst of Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson; a short novel which was good for the airport earlier this week. Stoked about starting Courting Mr Lincoln by Louis Bayard. Started reading Bayard when he was the Downton Abbey recapper on NYT’s site. The recaps literally made me lol, so I look forward to seeing what one of his books holds in store.
I loved Housekeeping, years ago! I read most of Balm of Gilead (her second book) but never did finish it, I should go back and try again.
My current read is one of the Lord Peter Wimsey series. The early 20th century British jargon/slang slows me down a bit, but I love that these adventures seem to end several times before they actually do. I’m reading it as an ebook, and am continually surprised when I check to see how close I am to the end and find that I’m not even halfway there. 🙂
SOTM is Annick Goutal Eau de Hadrien, for a haircut appointment and then out to the yard to pull some GIGANTIC weeds. Where do they come from? And how do they get so big so fast??
Loved those books!
Just within the past week (I’ve had a cold) I watched all of the LPW episodes starring Ian Carmichael on YouTube. I’ve always enjoyed them, even as repeats. (I usually forget whodunnit.)
I’d never heard of that series – will check it out! I usually love tv adaptations of sleuth stories.
I had first read a Mercedes Lackey book in the Elementals(?) series that had a character based on Lord Peter Wimsey, but with magic. That led me to try the original Lord Peter Wimsey books myself, but I couldn’t get into the first book, partly because of the way Lord Peter dropped the last letters of words and other aspects of his dialogue, and partly because I just couldn’t understand his social interactions and his daily schedule — why he was doing what he was doing.
However, I got the first few in the series as e-books when they were on sale very cheap and Dad was using a Nook linked to my B & N account. He liked them.
After he lost that Nook, he appropriated my Kindle Fire for several months. I have a Paperwhite (black-and-white) Kindle that I was using more often than the Kindle Fire.
Dad complained quite a bit with both sets of e-readers/e-publishers about the amount of romance novels on the e-readers. I had gotten a lot of free historical romances in case Mom wanted to read on an e-reader someday. I had gotten what free e-book mystery novels I could find for both of them.
Dad also complained about the amount of m/m romances on the e-readers that I had gotten for myself. I found it funny that Dad ended up reading a couple of YA books with gay teen protagonists. After I suggested several times that he get his own e-reader and link it with his own account, he got himself a Kindle Fire and has managed to borrow library books with it.
What’s messing Mom up is that many of the historical romance authors whose books she faithfully reads are putting e-book novellas between their paperback novels. Like there will be a novella that’s 1.5 or 3.5 in the series. I had happened to pick up a few of those novellas as they were offered free, and she started to think that I would be more likely to already have the novellas than not. Sadly, no. I happened to have an Eloisa James “Wallflowers” novella and 1.5 in a Jennifer Ashley series, but I definitely don’t have all of the e-novellas in all of the series she reads.
I told Mom the other day that we’d already read the Lisa Kleypas Wallflowers series, but she didn’t believe me. I found the first three of the Hathaway books in one of my bookcases, and she was still skeptical. I figure by about book 3, she’ll remember she read the Lisa Kleypas Wallflowers series.
We’ve been reading romances by Courtney Milan and Alyssa Cole, too.
That should be *sets of e-readers/e-bookstores or *e-readers/e-booksellers
Goodness, what a good person you are to be helping your parents with so many e-readers! I just have an ipad with apps for B&N and Kindle (and ibooks, of course), and I keep forgetting which app I used to download whatever book I’m wanting to read so am forever hunting for things … but I can’t loan my “Kindle” to anyone without giving up all my e-readers simultaneously. Luckily my mom does the exact same thing (so we trade book advice instead of books) and Dad doesn’t like e-readers at all.
I think it was an “I’m getting into reading e-books — do you want to get into reading e-books too?” sort of thought on my part. Dad likes electronics, and likes having something that lights up that he can still read when Mom turns out the lights in their room. And he’s quite happy that he can get library books on the Kindle.
Mom still much prefers print books. She was a librarian for many years. But she’ll read those 1.5 or 2.5 e-novellas within the series that’s mostly paperback romance novels. And last time we went to Florida she was reading my Nook in our downtime rather than carry paperbacks with her. I had told her that I’d stocked my various e-readers pretty thoroughly with historical romances I’d picked up when they were offered free. She decided to take advantage of that.
Picked up a copy of Perfume: In Search of your Signature Scent by Neil Chapman at the public library, and the next day I put in an order at the local bookstore. Every pefume mentioned is considered worthwhile, even if not Neil’s cup of tea.
His reviews are so personal and thoughtful
I got that book too. Very nicely done and a fun read.
I haven’t decided yet on my own summer reading, but I can highly recommend Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel. And of course, the fragrance to go with them is Jo Malone’s Tudor Rose and Amber!
I read both of those and really enjoyed them!
And they are now saying March 2020 for Mirror and the Light, I had just checked the other day.
In Rose Delight with a spritz of Myrhhe Eglantine on top – this combo is a delight indeed.
I have to read lots of Serious Books for my job so for fun I veer into the brain candy to give my poor mind a rest. But it has to be well-written fluff. Lianne Moriarty’s 9 Perfect Strangers fits this bill. I read it over a weekend recently.
Yasmina, I have made a note of that combo, sounds perfect!
Report back if you try it!
Ah! Well-written fluff is so hard to find. I will have to check this one out!!
Sotd- Eau des Missions layered over yesterday’s Volutes.
Feeling zero motivation to get anything done today….?
Has anyone tried Hiram Green’s newest, Lustre?
No, Lustre won’t arrive in Montreal until mid June, but the reviews I’ve read are all wildly different, so I am really looking forward to smelling it myself.
I am reading The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell, a sweeping multigenerational epic set in Zambia, and I don’t know how else to explain it except to say that it’s really good and there are so many vivid characters whose lives come in and out of view… oh and a chorus of mosquitos. I’d say you should wear something with jacaranda, but I’m not sure jacaranda has a smell! Still, Kim Kardashian lists it as a note, so there you go.
I think that book sounds very intriguing and right up my alley. Thank you!
Currently reading Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, which is a rumination on how we deal with aging in this society. It’s a very interesting book, but I’m not sure I’d want to match a scent with that.
Recent finished re-reading Katherine Arden’s Winter of the Witch trilogy. I’d pair that with something crisp and chilly… Rouge Bunny Rouge Arcadia comes to mind.
Changing topics: have you ever tried out a new (to you) scent, been sure of the notes, then gone to look at reviews and wondered if everyone else is sniffing a different scent? Yesterday I tried L’Occitane Herbae. Their website and other reviewers go on about citrus (yes) and grass notes (no) and sweetness (no). Me, I got: grapefruit open, followed by rhubarb, with rose added in the dry-down. No grass and no sweet. I quite liked it but I seem to be sniffing my own personal version.
I tried vintage Kouros over the weekend and while everyone else is flinching and rearing back from the vial, I got a mild spiciness, so I’m anosmic to whatever musks are in it, but grass and sweet? Hmmm. Dunno.
That book is sitting on my bedside table right now.
pixel,
Anubis would maybe work, the name does describe the god of afterlife!
Being Mortal is so wonderful, and I sobbed my way through every page. It might be better not to pair a beloved scent with that, as you would come to associate that scent with death. Or maybe, the appropriate scent for that book is different for every reader–the scent that their departed loved one always wore…
I’m wearing Bombay Bling and doing chores and some last minute packing before I leave for Korea tonight. Recent reads have been Rough Magic, by Lara Prior-Palmer (she races 1000km across Mongolia at age 19), The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (three sisters take a trip to India together to fulfill their mother’s dying wishes), The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See (women divers on Jeju adapt to changes over 50 years), and books 1-8 of John Sandford’s Prey series, I’m reading all of them in order. I’m terrible at matching perfume to books, all that ever comes to mind are the most obvious pairings. Happy Saturday, or Sunday for some!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/25/at-dusk-by-hwang-sok-yong-review
If you are off to Korea I can reccommend At Dusk by South Korean author Hwang Sok Yong . It’s about an architect and memories of his younger life, contrasting the modern world with his past etc. it’s not a fast paced novel so you have to like less action, more pondering. Have a good trip
Thanks for the recommendation!
There’s a new Lisa See The Island of Sea Women that takes place in Korea.
Have a good trip!
Off to Asia again, you’re a glutton for jet lag punishment! Have fun. 🙂
Watership is good stuff..the newer movie was lame imo. Old one much better-or the book;)
I heard there is a book that has a similar read..forgot the name of it Bees something. The Bees? Idk someone rec’d it to me..when I mentioned I liked Watership.
Idk anyway sampled Tiffany Sheer..blackcurrant pear musk thing-meh lol.
I did not see the movie, new or old! If you remember the name of the Bees one, do come back and tell us.
The Bees by Laline Paull is the book I guess.
Aha, google search turns up “The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games” — thanks, reviews look great.
I’ve realized I tend to be a binge-reader, which can cause problems when I have things I need to get done. If a book captures me, I have trouble not sitting for hours reading…
I recently re-read To Kill a Mockingbird after seeing the old movie on the big screen. Followed that with a set of YA books – The Gateway Chronicles. Six books by K.B. Hoyle. Reminiscent of Narnia books at first but also very different. Now I’m reading the All Souls Trilogy after watching A Discovery of Witches on TV. Very entertaining.
Scent-wise, I used my Cherry Blossom bath powder after a shower and topped that off with Somei Yoshino by Berdoues. Too bad I only have a sample of the scent, because the combination works very well.
Binge reading is a good problem to have!
Excellent problem! My mom had macular degeneration and not being able to read was such a loss for her.
When I’ve been into a book for a while, I start having a hard time separating it from my life. Not like I think it’s *real*, but I start seeing things in life through the filter of the book. Like, since I just finished an historical/zombie book, I couldn’t help but notice all the large windows on the first floor of my house and how vulnerable we’d be against a hoard. . .
This made me laugh. I think every one of us is vulnerable to the zombie hordes, large windows or no. The unnerving part (to me) is that any “pathology” imagined is somehow based on a known or potential reality. ?
Yeah, I always enjoy teaching my students about Cordyceps fungi, whenever I can find an excuse. . .
Marjorie Rose, they will forever remember you for that educational tidbit ?
ME TOO! Never zombies, though.
And how did TKAM hold up for you? And have you read Go Tell a Watchman? (I haven’t; I’m kind of scared to.)
It held up. The movie is incredibly faithful, albeit abridged. It’s interesting that, with all the attention on Scout and Atticus, the movie’s true main character is Jem.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/03/the-heavens-by-sandra-newman-review
I am a little bit ambivilent about time travel novels (David Mitchell wasn’t a love) but Sandra Newman’s The Heavens is pretty good, located in modern day New York and Elizabethan England, multi layered and fresh. At Dusk by Korean Hwang Sok Yong ( a review above) about an architect visiting his chikdhood village, memories etc. I liked it but it is a slow read. Barry Looez has a new book which I am reading, if you liked Arctic Dreams…called Horizon. It is a goodtravel, meditation, dip in collection. I really like the French author Philippe Claudel ( Brodecjs Report, monsieur Linh) and am reading his latest, The tree of the Toraja…about a film maker thinking about death. If you have kids I loved Make Ink…it’s an art book by a guy who wanders his neighbourhood picking up stuff that he turns into ink( leaves, berries, copper naiks…makes a beautiful celadon). Lots of ink recipes and a nice interview with his friend Michael Ondaatje. Fantastic if you want to do cool stuff with your kids or if you are into art making. Finally, an oldie that I reread and still liked Hotel du Lac Nita Brookner. I was a bit snobbish about her writing but HdL is really moving and insightful and I love ‘hotel’ novels eg. VIlla Trste Patrick Modiano. That’s enough, eh? Queens Birthday long weekend here…wearing Gris Clair as it is freezing with a dusting of snow on the hill tops
I read Hotel du Lac years ago, and a few others of hers…had not thought of her in a long time.
I really like novels that are set in hotels, boarding houses, sanatoriums etc for the way they bring different people together And force them to interact. They can also be quite listless in mood, which I like.
New Barry Lopez book? ooooh!
Yes, it’s mixed but some chapters are terrific.
Perfume-free as yet, as I contemplate ripping up some more carpet ahead of the plasterer and painter this week. I had no idea how much plaster would be needed – our apartment must be a bit smaller and a lot heavier than it was!
I’ve just read a Peter Wimsey novel that my mother had had for years and I hadn’t realised I’d never read – Have His Carcase. I’m also re-reading Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton, space opera on a grand scale.
As always, I never have any ideas for perfuming characters.
Have His Carcase is fun. Have you read Gaudy Night as well? That happens to me my favourite Sayers’ novel.
Working a split shift today. On and off storms rolling through. I’m smelling fabulous in Cristalle. I’m sorry that I don’t have any book recommendations. ???
I love these threads here at NST! I have my notebook out to make a summer reading list. In the past I’ve read some great things based on recommendations I read in the comments here, like the Miss Mapp novels, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, and the Joanna Hayworth mysteries by NST’s own Angela M. Sanders.
My recommendation for a novel is The Crossing Places by Ellie Griffiths. It’s the first in the Ruth Galloway series, which follows a forensic archaeologist who helps to solve crimes. I’m a big fan of the pacing, and I love the main character, she’s very memorable.
Ruth herself would wear something inoffensive and maybe a bit behind the times, either a light 90s aquatic like Cool Water or something with a laundry musk like Fresh Clean Laundry. Eric would wear Every Storm A Serenade—I wore this earlier in the week and it’s a fitting choice for this modern day Viking, like a cold fjord. And Detective Inspector Nelson would wear Bleu de Chanel, a gift from his hairdresser wife.
I have her new gothic book but have not read it yet. I did like the Galloway series but NOT her magician series.
I didn’t like the magician series either! I read the first one and had no desire to keep going. I hope the new book ends up being a good read.
I salute you…I read a couple chapters and decided I didn’t care about any of it.
Today I wore Aqua di Parma Profumo and garnered a very enthusiastic comment when I went to the pet store for cat food: “Your perfume is divine!” I do love this one. I’m catching up on the Peter ROBINSON Inspector Banks books and think they’re always very good. They are complex and literate. But my real escapist activity lately is watching the British cop show “Line of Duty.” Wow, it is just so good! (I subscribe to it via Acorn.)
You smell great! AdP Profumo is beautiful.
Wonderful to get a perfume compliment, Profumo is such a good chypre.
I like low-stress reading so lots of travel stories (travel itself is stressful to me but I love hearing about other peoples’ trips) and other non-fiction. Right now it’s The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana. I also just read Evolving Your Yoga by Barrie Risman. Next up is Colin Thubron’s To a Mountain Tibet.
Today I wore L’Air du Desert Marocain.
You smell wonderful
oh I *love* Colin Thubron’s writing, and was just pondering a reread of In Siberia (I was lucky enough to take a workshop with him once, too.)
Oh, see my comment below…which book should I start with?
Probably “Among the Russians” or “In Siberia”.
I’ve not read “To a mountain in Tibet” yet. His silk road book is very good–and fascinating–but not his best.
Thank you!
I’ll look for the Siberia one, I really liked Sylvain Tesson’s book In the Siberian Forests.
I have never read anything by Thubron and always mean to….have you read anything else of his?
No, this is my first one, but looking forward to reading them all if I enjoy it.
I have never read Colin Thubron so a trip to the library is in order!
smelling fantastic in laddm!
just requested To a Mountain in Tibet from my library, looking forward to some armchair travel. 😀
I’m getting lots of reading ideas from everyone.
I recently finished a very exhaustive biography of Charlotte Bronte called Charlotte Bronte: A Life by Claire Harman. It is an easy read and full of new information, Charlotte’s letters are interesting, but I feel the author treats Emily a little bit unjustly.
Charlotte would smell of lavender like Penhaligon’s Lavandula.
I also really enjoyed Mary McCarthy The Group, I noticed that she is a completely unsentimental writer. They would all wear the daring chypre Halston.
I have now started George Eliot’s Adam Bede.
I read The Group so long ago that I sadly remember little of it. I used to be a huge Lillian Hellman fan and found their feud fascinating — thought by now someone would have written a book about it.
There is Alan Ackerman’s “Just words : Lillian Hellman, Mary McCarthy, and the failure of public conversation in America” from 2011…
Oh interesting, thank you so much!
Thanks for answering, Annie, Just Words sounds very interesting.
I agree, and I love LH too, would make a good movie too – and I remember the film Julia, with Jane Fonda as LH and I think Vanessa Redgrave.
It was a great movie, even if it turned out the whole thing never happened to Lillian Hellman.
I read The Group as part of a university paper . I can only remeber how sharp her writing is. I will put Adam Bede on my list. Cold winter days seem to suit reading earlier authors. Maybe it relates to the bleak skies and drab colours through my window?
The Group holds up very well imo. Wintertime and classic authors, I think you’re right, here (UK) it’s the season of roses.
Headed across town this morning to help clean out my dad’s garage for a few hours before it gets too hot. ?
Let the pupster out this morning and smelled smoke in the air, presumably from cookouts last night. The sambac jasmine was in full bloom, so I guess I’m participating in the CP from last week in Jasmine et Cigarette.
The book my nose is in presently is a cookbook as usual. Now and Again by Julia Turshen, which presents menus per season plus plans to use up leftovers in ways that don’t resemble the original dish. It’s good; gotten my culinary juices flowing. Also a couple of bread books, as we’re watching our pennies and I’m baking bread rather than buying it.
I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!
I like Julia Turshen’s “voice’. I have Small Victories, and she co-wrote the first two Gwyneth Paltrow cookbooks – the only GP cookbooks I like.
I’ve had Small Victories in my Amazon ‘save for later’ for awhile now. Good to know she had a hand in the Paltrow books as well. Thanks for the recommendations! ?
Yesterday my husband and I went for a day sail just as fog was rolling in. Fortunately, there was a cart selling sweatshirts nearby so we each got one. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant for paella since we had paella as our catering for our wedding last year. Unbeknownst to us, apparently the restaurant was giving a 50% discount on paella last night. I am amused that the universe is cutely celebrating our anniversary. Tonight, our actual anniversary, we will go out to dinner somewhere pricey with good reviews. I am wearing Iris Ganache which is what I was wearing when he first said “I love you”
Happy Anniversary! Your celebration sounds fantastic! Iris Ganache is a gorgeous perfume! You smell wonderful!
Happy Anniversary!
Happy Anniversary!
A very happy anniversary to you both, and hope your dinner is fantastic!
Aww <3 happy anniversary!
Happy anniversary! You smell wonderful.
love paella! and happy anniversary to you both 😀
Happy anniversary! I hope that there are many more in your future.
Awwww! That’s such sweet day!
I am savouring every glorious sentence of Robert Macfarlane’s new book “Underland”. Probably best paired with Neandertal Dark for the rocks and lichens, especially for the ancient cave art in the sea cliffs…
And catching up on modern paleontology with Michael J. Benton’s incredibly readable “The Dinosaurs rediscoverted: how a scientific revolution is rewriting history” which is making me squeak with excitement at times. Zoologist T-rex, of course.
And a pleasurable drift of rereading through Lindsey Davis’s Falco novels, set in Vespasian’s Rome (and across the Roman Empire, from Britain to Petra). Lots of perfumes in these…
Good to hear that Underland is good. Is there a Barbara hepworth show on in Edingburgh? I would like to find a good biography of her, if you know one.
not that I know of, and can’t find any info. Just about the one in St Albans at the moment. There are a few pieces in the National Galleries here though. (I was lucky enough to spend a day at the garden/museum down in Cornwall a few years back. That was a treat.)
She’s massively overdue for a proper biography.
My mistake. It’s Bridget Riley not BH
One of the positives of undergoing chemotherapy is that I have lots of time to read. I guess the other positive is that it can cure cancer. In the last few weeks I have read:
Pagels, Elaine. Why Religion?
Landy, William. Defending Jacob.
Noah, Trevor. Born a Crime.
Williams, Beatriz. Summer Wives.
Shapiro, Dani. Inheritance.
Moriarty, Liane. Nine Perfect Strangers.
Rubin, Gretchen. Outer Order Inner Calm.
George, Nina. The Little French Bistro: a novel.
Kellerman, Jonathon. The Clinic.
Barton, Fiona. The Suspect.
I have not showered and I’m in my pyjamas, but I will probably wear En Passant because the lilacs are out.
I spent several years on low-dose chemo to treat autoimmune issues. I got lots of time to learn to appreciate daytime television. ? (I’m embarrassed to say, I found myelf following a couple soaps.)
I’m also pretty sure the cats became convinced that 22 hours/day is the proper amount of lap time. They have never forgiven me for being able to go back to work full time.
Hope you have a good, comfy chair/sofa to lounge upon. ?
What an interesting and varied list, thanks. I think the ability to get lost in a book is one of life’s great comforts.
I love John Irving! Any weird perfume could go with his books. I especially love the little silly side remarks that aren’t really nessecary but make the story really come alive.
I don’t like apple notes, but reading the Cider house rules, I might even put up with that.
I have never read Cider House Rules, but it is a joke in my household because my husband was carrying it when I met him and I mistakenly took that as evidence that he was a reader…which, as it turns out, is not the case 🙂
No book rec but wanted to mention that yesterday, I attended my cousin’s daughter’s wedding. She was absolutely stunning and I am happy she’s marrying into a big, seemingly normal family. She’s the child of a divorce so contentious that the rulings became case law. We were all wondering who was going to walk her down the aisle and relieved that it was her mom. My cousin was not even invited but he has been known to crash events (like our uncle’s funeral several years ago).
The wedding was picture perfect held outdoors on a sunny late afternoon. There was a live band / singers (for the wedding ceremony and reception). There was also a drone but it was not clear to me if it was the wedding photographer’s or an intrusion.
The reception was fun. The band played / sung 80s music so we all concluded that the mom must have picked the music ?. The only negative part about the reception was the entree took too long to come out that my aunt and some cousins left before it was served (kids were not invited and they had to pick up the son who was on a play date) and then it got so late (or we got too old) that my sister & BIL with whom I caught a ride, wanted to leave before the cake was revealed and when we did, another cousin said thank God and left with us. Said cousin is the one who reps for several perfume companies and he is also now styling a new retail space in lower Manhattan. I now have his cell phone and he said to call anytime – w00t!
Oy…scent of the wedding was FM Portrait of a Lady from the shower cream!
Congratulations on a lovely wedding in your family that did not get crashed!
Thank you and thank God!
Is this the same cousin that your aunt told off at your uncle’s funeral?
It was at the repast after the memorial service. The funeral was a day or two later and he crashed that one which was supposed to be for invited immediate family members only.
I’m glad he respected his daughters wishes and didn’t crash the wedding. You’ve had alot going on the past few weeks!
I’m glad everything turned out so well. This phrase, “a divorce so contentious that the rulings became case law.” made my jaw drop.
Forgot to post my Sunday SOTD – El Attarine. Perfect for a cool, rainy day.
SotD = l’air de desert marocain
because cazaubon wore it yesterday, I think. And my little mini bottle sits conveniently on the table next to my bed. Andy Tauer, I heart your perfumes so hard.
I have not been reading much lately. Which is odd for me, as I used to plow through at least a book a week. Hope this summer will give me time to read. The only book I have going now is Outliers, which I tried to read years ago, but young children distracted me, and it was forgotten until now. Now what perfume would go with Outliers? Maybe something bizarre like Bat or that odd tuberose scent that came out a last year or couple years ago now, what was it? Lemme think about it . . .
Ha, and I assume his outliers were not the sort of parents who let kids distract them, right? In fact there weren’t many (or any) moms, if I remember the criticism correctly (I have not read the book).
Exactly! The book is interesting entertainment.
Loved the Watershed Down book cover!
I just started reading The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton. Should be a good book for early summer reading. i am wearing Mary Greenwell Lemon today.
Back from Spain (which was great), getting over jet lag, and enjoying the sunshine. I’m in the middle of reading I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong. It’s great–very accessible science writing, and I think the microbiome is completely fascinating.
I don’t normally like biographies very much, but I recently finished Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden, and found it entertaining.
Thank you, will look for the Ed Yong, that is an area of interest for me too.
I looked through the manufacturer’s samples of L’Artisan perfumes that I had ordered from here and there, and found Amour Nocturne. I like it. Dad coughed some when he came upstairs, but he might have been coughing when he was downstairs, too.
I found the NPR list of their Top 100 books of 2018 a few days ago, and I’ve started reading a couple of them.
?? two thumbs up for NPRs book list, it always makes me want to read more! ?
Oh heavens, I had no idea you hadn’t read Fifth Business — you always seem like one of those people who has read everything! — but can add my recommendation. I loved Davies, the most Ontario writer ever, one of my maternal grandfather’s great favourites, and I always feel guilty for killing the great man. (I once had the opportunity to go hear him read locally and turned it down for some reason, telling my mother “I really ought to go, he’s getting up there and might die on me before my next opportunity.” My mom told me it was very bad luck to have said that and then called four months later to tell me: “You did him in!” ) In my opinion, you don’t have to read the trilogies in order, you can skip around and/or skip books, so if you like Fifth Business, I’d also recommend “The Rebel Angels” and “What’s Bred in the Bone” (the first two of the Cornish trilogy) as well as “The Cunning Man”.
I bought “The Essex Serpent” in hardcover from the UK before it was out here, through a used site, but somehow was never hooked into it and have never gotten past the first 25 pages. Will have to give it another go.
I’m currently enjoying Jennifer Egan’s “Manhattan Beach”, to my surprise — something my brother got me for my birthday and which I would never have picked up otherwise. Just finished two good essay collections, as well: “Impossible Owls” by Brian Phillips and “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us” by Hanif Abdurraqib. But my favourites so far this year have been two newer novels, Fatima Mirzah’s “A Place for Us” and Katya Apekina’s weird “The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish”, and George Packer’s 35-year-old classic memoir of Peace Corping it in Togo, “The Village of Waiting”.
RD is not unknown here by any means, but I wonder if he is better known in Canada? I cannot get those books on kindle from any of the 3 libraries I belong too. But what a funny story that you knocked him off!! (And very good to know I don’t need to read them in order, although my compulsion to read in order is hard to break.)
Still, true that I thought that by my age I would have read EVERYTHING, ha. And here I am just getting around to Lucky Jim.
I found the The Essex Serpent very entertaining, and ditto with Melmoth, but I think many reviewers perhaps rate her writing higher than I would? I would not call either a “must read”.
And thank you so much as always for all the recs, they are all copied to my list.
I loved The Essex Serpent, good to know there’s a new book out, thanks robin!
I’m almost finished the epic novel, ‘The Far Pavillions’, by M M Kaye, hugely enjoyable, set in India, during the Raj.
I’m also reading Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts: close encounters with addiction.
This book is incredibly beautiful, Mate is a brilliant writer, I really think everybody would benefit from reading about his compassionate and insightful approach, certainly society generally would.. (He’s a doctor in the lower east side of Vancouver, working with the most deprived hardcore drug addicts).
I’ve also started reading Border:A Journey to the Edge of Europe one of Victoria of bdj’s recs, also a fascinating read!
Hi Mayfly, wonderful recommendations, thank you so much. Just bought Gabor Mate’s book, sounds wonderful.
So glad to hear this, thanks Gabriella, I hope u enjoy it!