My Name Is Marina And I Am A Book Sniffer

I have been sniffing books and other paper products, since I was a little girl.I think it is due to the fact that I have always been attracted to all types of stationary objects and books in general, and therefore I spent a lot of time in stores that sell these items when I was really young. I still love the smell of these stores [in Italy they are still easily found].Any time I catch a whiff of a new brochure, or magazine, or book, I have to bring it up to my nose and breathe in….mmmhh.

I even painted this to honor my…..passion

And there is more: some books smell better than others. The best smells are those of new books with shiny pages, and certain expensive magazines. But I enjoy also many others: I can detect woodsy or grassy scents mixed with some type of alcohol….

Some books smell like spring, some like summer.

My gloriously blooming azalea

Recently I have been smelling some very nasty books, especially those with lots of colored prints/inks and opaque pages: yuck! they have a pungent smell, like plastic and nasty glue [I think these are the recycled paper ones].

My sketchbooks [they smell good]

I know, I have been told I am weird because of this, but I am sure I am not alone with this odd habit. In fact, there is even a book published on this subject: The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature by Hans J Rindisbacher.

See you at Barnes & Nobles! I’ll be there every now and then. 🙂

Today I am grateful for books.