Friday, March 15, 2013

Friday Five : Perfume Book edition


          Happy Friday! As someone who has been a perennial student, I've become something of a professional textbook reader. Powering through  hundreds of pages of dense, technical text is an all too familiar endeavor. However, devoting so much time to necessary reading has almost made me forget that one can read for pleasure. Like many young bookworms, in grade school almost every night was spent with a flashlight, reading classics from the school library under the covers. I've been thinking about reading for fun again, but haven't really known where to start.

           As you probably know by now, I picked up writing about perfume on Cute and Mundane several months ago at the encouragement of the person who knows me best. I have no extensive background or special knowledge when it comes to fragrance; I just like smells of all sorts, and enjoy following my nose. Perfume reviews are relaxing to write; all I need to do is smell, and a story will unfold itself. (Whether the reviews are relaxing or interesting to read is another story.... so thanks to those who do read them!)  Up until this point, I've been penning my reviews mostly while living in my own simple bubble of sniffing, then scribbling. However, recently, I've grown curious about what else is out there. With that in mind, I added a couple perfume blogs to my diet and ordered a few books to read..... for fun! Typically on Friday Five, I share a few links to online reads I've enjoyed. This Friday, I'm sharing the five paper-print reads that made it onto my bookshelf this week:
  1. Essence & Alchemy : A Natural History of Perfume by Mandy Aftel
  2. Perfume : The Alchemy of Scent by Jean-Claude Ellena
  3. Perfumes : The A-Z Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez
  4. The Little Book of Perfumes : The Hundred Classics by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez
  5. The Perfect Scent : A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York by Chandler Burr.
         Thanks for reading! Do you have any perfume book recommendations? What are you reading for fun lately (in any genre)?

Love, Dovey.

16 comments:

  1. Oh, this is great! Like you, I just started rambling about perfume (with S.'s encouragement, actually), but sometimes I think I should sit back and actually do more research, like I do with every other topic. I'm going to see if the library has some of these!

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    1. Hi Larie,

      YAY, I'm so glad you're a perfume person too; I hope you can find these in the library, I'd love to hear what you like!

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  2. Dovey!! So THAT'S how a perfume review gets written! I never even thought of doing that! You are amazing! I will try that next time! And I LOVE that picture. <3
    Happy Friday and Happy weekend Dovey! xo

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    1. Hi Tracy, Yay! Thanks for the comment and photo <3!

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  3. I LOVE Perfumes : The A-Z Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. It's actually a really witty, scholarly book.

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    1. Hi Aerialgrrl, I've read parts of it and am liking it so far! I like how I can flip back and forth looking for things I'm interested in :-)

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  4. I love your perfume reviews Dovey! These books look like interesting reading. I have just one perfume book that I ordered a while back, but haven't read yet: Perfume: Joy, Scandal, Sin - A Cultural History of Fragrance from 1750 to the Present by Richard Stamelman. I am not an expert on perfume, but love to read reviews and try out new fragrances.

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    1. Hi Shannon,

      Thank you so much! Thanks for the recommendation--- I actually had not seen the Stamelman book yet. I'll have to check out reviews now :-)

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  5. i've always been a big reader, but have never read a perfume book. thanks for the titles

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    1. Hi Xlovehappyx, Thanks for the comment!

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  6. Thanks for the recommendations! I am just getting in to perfume and would love to know more.

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  7. I'll have to check out your suggestions - thanks, Dovey! Hope you're having a nicely scented weekend. ;)

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  8. Hi Dovey, We celebrated my birthday last night and my son and daughter-in-law gave me Chanel-Collections and Creations by Daniele Bott. Beautiful photographs! Looking forward to reading about Coco Chanel today!

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  9. i love reading very knowledgeable and poetic(?) perfume blogs but never read a book!
    only perfume book i've read is a novel "perfume" by patrick suskind (he is one of my favorites. the story is about a genius perfumer who because a murderer to create "the perfect scent". i'd recommend this although it wouldn't serve the original intention of yours. ;)

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  10. Perfumes: The Guide is a classic! And I wish I had a copy of Modern Alchemy. I think that La Cuisine des Nez is the most fascinating perfume book- it's a cookbook, with all of the recipes provided by the most famous perfumers of today, such as Jean-Claude Ellena and Francis Kurkdjian. Sadly, it's only in French, so I don't own it myself.

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  11. I picked up a book about Journals at my local libray, Journal It! perpesctives in creative journaling by Jenny Doh.. one tip she has is take an old book, and recover the pages and use for a journal,, I am very much an arts craft artist writer person. A project I am working on is making my own carry case of eyeshadow pans, but something cute and not looking like it was generic/garbage/thrift store (which it will be) you know how TwoFaced makeup has cardboard makeup palette holders? I can get some cardboard and glue and gift wrap and make my own. The trouble is that most eyeshadow pans are not uniform in size (round or square or rectangled)

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