Top 10 Best-Smelling Books
(That Are Currently On My Shelf In My Dorm Room)
Arbitrary lists are arbitrary lists. This one is an especially arbitrary, self-indulgent list that focuses on one part of a very narrow selection of books I currently have sitting on my bookshelf in my dorm room. Some of them are books I needed for class; others – well, maybe most – are books that I have been telling myself for a long time I will read before the school year ends.
Even more arbitrary: my sense of smell. I had to take frequent breaks because my nose was often confused. During my breaks, I ate a chocolate bagel. Sniffed a freshly laundered sweater. Stuck my head out into the hall, and took a deep whiff of body odor, chlorine, and stale socks, with a hint of an Airwick fragrance – harvest spice, I think.
It is important to note that my sense of smell is not the most delicate, and I do not want to assert myself as a connoisseur of fine book scents (though I do like to smell books before I read them, just to get a hint of the character they have [though that definitely shouldn’t define a reading experience {perhaps we should revise the old adage into a new cliche? Don’t judge a book by its smell?}]).
Have I reached the Buzzfeed level of cringe yet? Is my frequent use of the descriptor “arbitrary” redundant and tasteless? If I have, and if it does, I didn’t initially intend for any of this to come off that way, sorry (not sorry – “high” literature is sort of bogus anyway). My roommates were mildly amused, only a bit concerned, but they still think I’m an okay enough person to eat dinner with. So.
Candidates:
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
→ Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Anchor Books, 2014.
Barbie Chang, Victoria Chang
→ Chang, Victoria. Barbie Chang. Copper Canyon Press, 2017.
The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui
→ Bui, Thi. The Best We Could Do: an Illustrated Memoir. Abrams Comicarts, 2018.
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
→ Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas a Novel. Random House, 2004.
Cloud Atlas: Volume 1, David Mitchell, translator Song Eun Joo
→ Mitchell, David, and UÌn-ju Song. K’uÌLlauduÌ At’uÌLlasuÌ: TeibiduÌ Mich’el Changp’yoÌn SosoÌl = Cloud Atlas. Munhak Tongne, 2010.
⇒ That looks so funky… how does anyone know what to make of that? My romanization: Kulaudeu Atulaseu: Deibideu Michel Jangpyun Soseol… if that helps.
The Creative Writing MFA Handbook?, Tom Kealey
→ Kealey, Tom, and Seth Abramson. The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: a Guide for Prospective Graduate Students. Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
The Death of Tragedy, George Steiner
→ Steiner, George. The Death of Tragedy. Knopf, 1961.
Human Acts, Han Kang
→ Kang, Han, and Deborah Smith. Human Acts: a Novel. Hogarth, 2017.
Notes on the Assemblage, Juan Felipe Herrera
→ Herrera, Juan Felipe. Notes on the Assemblage. City Lights Books, 2015.
Women’s Work, Elizabeth Wayland Barber
→ Barber, Elizabeth Wayland PhD. Women’s Work – the First 20, 000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times. W.W. Norton, 1996.
The Arbitrary Verdict
10. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
I think I smell salty? Spice-y? Reminds me of 뿌셔뿌셔 powder from my childhood? I’m probably just smelling the colored ink. Have not read this yet, though I hear it can be read within a few hours and is very beautiful and profound.
9. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Oh yes, this brings me back to my days in afterschool daycare programs. When STAR testing rolled around every spring, all the kids were given practice workbooks with gray newspaper-like pages. Fun stuff. Also, I’ve loved this book for a long time.
8. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Distinctly onion-y. Sort of newspaper-like, like Cloud Atlas above, but less sweet, more sharp. Have not read this yet, but I hope to get to it soon. Bought it at The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Culver City (along with Pachinko!).
Cloud Atlas (translated, Eun Joo Song)
Okay, I hecking love the smell of Korean books. What kind of paper do Korean publishers use?? So gentle, subtle, and soothing. The best smell for when you have to read a book while you have a hangover. Or am I projecting my feelings of affection and nostalgia for my heritage on to these pages? Hm. Also, I’ve been trying to improve my Korean vocabulary and comprehension by reading translations of novels I’ve read in English, but have yet to get very far.
The Death of Tragedy by George Steiner
The classic “old book” smell. Heavy, strong, reminds me of second-hand Goosebumps books and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Picked up from a box that said “Free Books” in the hall near the English Reading Room. Pairs best with red wine.
Notes on the Assemblage by Juan Felipe Herrera
Ooh, a very light scent. Faintly reminds me of the smell of when you first put watercolors on paper (aka, it smells wet). Love these poems, love Herrera’s voice. Gosh dang. On my Instagram, I have a picture somewhere with Juan Felipe Herrera from a book-signing. I look extremely awkward.
The Creative Writing MFA Handbook by Tom Kealey
Definitely more of a “library book” smell, which makes sense, because I did get it from the library via interloan. So it’s been places. Gives me a more serious and heavy vibe, like I’m supposed to read it with a pencil in my hand, my glasses perched on my nose bridge, and my spine curved under soft warm light. Not too strong of a scent.
Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang
Smells more “wet” than Notes on the Assemblage, and for some reason, that relaxes me? It almost smells like tap water (lmao, has this evoked ‘is water wet’ yet). Not too strong, not too light. Balanced. Also, I love Victoria Chang, especially when she reads. Her poetry isn’t quite the same unless she’s the one reading it, at least to me.
Human Acts by Han Kang
A smell that reminds me of glossy magazines, slightly newspapery. Balanced, though differently from the “wet” way of Barbie Chang. Much love for Kang.
Women’s Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
The most distinct woody scent. Light. I liked it most, and I have the least words to describe why. I would like to be reading a book with this smell as I doze off and my head sinks into the pages. An optional text for my history class last quarter, which I never actually ended up reading.