Coming to my Senses is….
Elly Wang!
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Giveaway of Alyssa Harad’s COMING TO MY SENSES
In celebration of A. Harrad’s book, Coming to my Senses coming out in paperback, the publisher has offered to give one book to a lucky winner living in the US.
Leave a comment by June 25, when the official publication date is, and I will draw one name to enjoy the “aromatic memoir” as the publisher called it (I find that to be a quite good description). 🙂
I am leaving you with some of my favourite thoughts about the book:
“The great thing about this book is that if you are a perfume lover, it will make you smile and nod your head in agreement when you recognize the same steps you took in your perfume journey. It will also make you wonder what perfumes is Alyssa referencing by describing the way they smell.
It will also give useful advice on what to do and not to do if you are organizing your wedding.
But basically, it will confirm that enjoying your path in life with the people you love is the only way to live your life. Be it by smelling perfume and sharing it, or doing something else you enjoy.”
This one was mine.
“The best kind of book is one which you simply don’t want to end. Which, when you realise you havejust thirty pages to go – or less, if you have forgotten to factor in the acknowledgements – makes you start to slow down and savour every sentence, or even reread entire paragraphs to postpone the inevitable moment when you set the bookmark to one side and close the cover for the last time.”
“Perfume wears close to the psyche. This beautifully written book is a story of a life reclaimed, a maturity attained by making peace with femininity and with traditions of an earlier time. More than that,it’s a guide to bravery: enough to insist on a little glamour. Here’s how the beauty of the fragrance you’re wearing sinks in and becomes, well, you. Here’s how this little habit, which you might have once scoffed at, changes everything.”
“Alyssa Harad‘s book Coming to My Senses is a wonderful journey of self-discovery through the world of scent, and perfume in particular. Alyssa has a poetic, genuine way with words and that is how she describes perfume – striking a chord yet without ever exhausting the readers like most of us bloggers tend to do. And to my delight – the book is dotted with evocative perfume descriptions that rarely disclose the names of the perfumes she’s referring to.”
“What made the book a success for me, and what did keep me engaged, was the craft of it. I picture Harad as a spinner, each thread of her novel a delicate strand, interwoven and laced just so with another strand. It can’t have been easy to find exactly the right place in her personal narrative to add a bit of history, or chemistry, or discussion of gender in modern culture—but she did it.”
Please share the giveaway, it is truly a lovely book to read. 🙂
Alyssa Harad: Coming to my Senses
I must say, I really appreciate the names given to perfume books I’ve been reading this year. I’m pretty sure you all realize the loaded meanings they carry but I still have to point out I appreciate it. 🙂
The second thing I really enjoyed about both The Perfume Lover and this book, is the fact they took me by surprise, once I started reading, I had to go on. And this coming from someone who never reads non-fiction unless forced by outside circumstance (which didn’t apply here).
So, what can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? Probably not much – but it’s not like I would know, I didn’t read any of the reviews beforehand (I did glimpse some though).
Basically, what can I say – I relate to pretty much everything Alyssa had to say on the subject of perfume (and exercising) – the wedding thing is something I have no experience in.
There are so many points in the book where I was nodding my head in agreement:
- For a long time I didn’t say to anyone how much I was in love with perfume
- Once that phase passed, I didn’t mention to anyone I wrote a blog
- Her NY experience, the scary part and then falling in love – exactly what happened to me in Paris
- Realizing there are smells all around me I never paid attention to and then did smelled which ever I could? – check
- Falling in love with JAR Bolt of Lightning because it smells exactly like the electric, post-thunderstorm air? – check
- Smelling coconut traces in fig? – check (but only after being pointed to it in the book – lucky for me I was on vacation and fig trees grow there)
And the list goes on and on. 🙂
Btw, one interesting tidbit I got from the book is Alyssa’s realization that many of the perfume bloggers (female) tend to be petite women. I agree. 🙂 After meeting Suzanne, and hearing about some of the others, I do see a connection there (and I know all about feeling big in their presence).
The great thing about this book is that if you are a perfume lover, it will make you smile and nod your head in agreement when you recognize the same steps you took in your perfume journey. It will also make you wonder what perfumes is Alyssa referencing by describing the way they smell.
It will also give useful advice on what to do and not to do if you are organizing your wedding.
But basically, it will confirm that enjoying your path in life with the people you love is the only way to live your life. Be it by smelling perfume and sharing it, or doing something else you enjoy.
I received my copy of the book for free from the book’s PR team.
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