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Browsing by tag: literature

Lazy 3-day weekend poll ~ summer reading list, edition 16

Posted by Robin on 11 July 2026 127 Comments

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.

(Or, do what I do and record here everything you have read since the last quarterly reading poll. And if you want more recommendations, scrolling through the literature tag will bring up all the older reading polls.)

Or, as always, just talk about something else, and of course, do report your fragrance of the day if you like.

I am still reading a bit less than usual, but here is what I’ve done since the spring poll…

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The shaving ritual of stately, plump Buck Mulligan

Posted by Robin on 16 June 2026 Leave a Comment

The Irish perfumer Meabh Mc Curtin, working with the Joyce scholar Christine O’Neill, has attempted to bring the olfactory world of Ulysses to life by creating 14 of the scents that are described in [James Joyce’s Ulysses].

The series of fragrances begin with Ulysses’ famous opening passage: the shaving ritual of stately, plump Buck Mulligan on top of the Martello tower at Sandycove, in Dublin. It was a work of partly historical, partly artistic reconstruction.

— Read more in Beery Men and Peatsmoke: For Bloomsday, an Irish perfumer in Paris creates the smells of Ulysses at The Irish Times.

Lazy 3-day weekend poll ~ spring reading list, edition 7

Posted by Robin on 25 April 2026 131 Comments

Welcome to our 7th annual spring reading poll! Please recommend a great book to add to our reading lists, and tell us what fragrance we should wear while reading it.

Or, do what I do and record here everything you have read since the last reading poll. And if you want more recommendations, scrolling through the literature tag will bring up all the older reading polls.

Or, as always, just talk about something else…

Read the rest of this article »

Lazy 3-day weekend poll ~ winter reading list, edition 14

Posted by Robin on 31 January 2026 287 Comments

There are 47 days until the spring equinox, but only 29 days until the first day of meteorological spring. (Plus, if you’re reading this on Sunday, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit and welcome to February). That means it must be time for our annual winter reading poll!

Tell us about a great book to curl up with on a frosty winter night, and what fragrance we should wear while reading it. (Or, do what I do and record here everything you have read since the last quarterly reading poll. And if you want more recommendations, scrolling through the literature tag will bring up all the older reading polls.)

Or, as always, just talk about something else…

Read the rest of this article »

Lazy 3-day weekend poll ~ fall reading list, edition 7

Posted by Robin on 18 October 2025 119 Comments

Welcome to our 7th annual fall reading poll! Please recommend a great book to add to our fall reading lists, and tell us what fragrance we should wear while reading it.

(Or, do what I do and record here everything you have read since the last quarterly reading poll. And if you want more recommendations, scrolling through the literature tag will bring up all the older reading polls.)

Or, as always, just talk about something else, and of course, do report your fragrance of the day if you like…

Read the rest of this article »

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