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carolined314's review
funny
hopeful
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
A slice-of-life of a beautifully privileged, loved cis white woman discovering more about herself. Made me very aware of my aromatic environment for weeks in a great way.
lola425's review against another edition
4.0
Too bad this book was not scratch and sniff. Harad does a terrific job of making you want to smell everything she describes. What she also does is show you passions can find you in the strangest places at exactly the right time, and how you never know how something is going to change your life. That it came just as I was having my own scent epiphany makes me all the more happy.
katherinemcbooksalot's review against another edition
3.0
Part 1 was great and relatable since I've ordered those little samples from luckyscent and spent hours of my life on MUA. Part 2 about the wedding planning I could have skipped over.
ghoulnextdoor's review against another edition
4.0
I was recently explaining to my book club friend that Coming To My Senses is a book that Past-Me wishes I’d read fifteen years ago when I first found myself fascinated with fragrance, when my obsession was in its heady, beginning stages. Reading it now, in 2019, Present-Me wishes that I had written, myself. But one of the issues that I had with the book is also the reason I would have probably never written the book.
Alyssa Harad comes from a background of academia, and when she discovers and becomes obsessed with the world of fragrance and perfume blogs, I think she initially over-intellectualizes it all a bit (and I believe she’s aware of this in her recounting of the experience) and so her beginner’s love for scented treasures is squirrelly and almost secretive and fraught with feelings of indulging in frivolous nonsense. As someone who took a decade to get their Associate’s degree, and who revels in frivolity, I couldn’t quite relate. But also I don’t have that scholarly drive to dive deep into my passions and find out everything there is to know about the thing I’m interested in, so I’m pretty sure that this book never would have been written on my watch! I bristle and get a bit prickly when I know I am reading something written by someone whose education far exceeds my own, and it’s a struggle to tamp that down and find enjoyment while I also find myself feeling insecure. So I guess when I mention above that I have an issue with the book, it’s really an issue with myself.
Wow. All of this to say… I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Following Alyssa’s perfumed journey from sample orders to private museums to fragrant showrooms re-kindled my own love for perfume, which has waxed and waned over the years– and much to my surprise, I was especially interested in how fragrance figured into her wedding plans. I say “much to my surprise” because I don’t think of myself as someone who cares very much for, or about weddings. I don’t think I’ll ever be married, myself. But I have a keen interest in people’s lives (one might even say I am nosy) especially as it relates to a life lived differently than my own. So while, no, I probably don’t want to attend your wedding, I am very much interested in all of the details that go into it! Its sort of like, “seeing how the other half lives,” if that makes any sense.
Harad’s writing is witty and warm and brims with the loveliest turns of phrase–even when she’s not describing perfume– and aside from my own hang-ups, this was a charming book. I came away from it thinking that I’d love to grab tea with the author, swap favorite fragrances, and compare our perfumed paths.
Alyssa Harad comes from a background of academia, and when she discovers and becomes obsessed with the world of fragrance and perfume blogs, I think she initially over-intellectualizes it all a bit (and I believe she’s aware of this in her recounting of the experience) and so her beginner’s love for scented treasures is squirrelly and almost secretive and fraught with feelings of indulging in frivolous nonsense. As someone who took a decade to get their Associate’s degree, and who revels in frivolity, I couldn’t quite relate. But also I don’t have that scholarly drive to dive deep into my passions and find out everything there is to know about the thing I’m interested in, so I’m pretty sure that this book never would have been written on my watch! I bristle and get a bit prickly when I know I am reading something written by someone whose education far exceeds my own, and it’s a struggle to tamp that down and find enjoyment while I also find myself feeling insecure. So I guess when I mention above that I have an issue with the book, it’s really an issue with myself.
Wow. All of this to say… I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Following Alyssa’s perfumed journey from sample orders to private museums to fragrant showrooms re-kindled my own love for perfume, which has waxed and waned over the years– and much to my surprise, I was especially interested in how fragrance figured into her wedding plans. I say “much to my surprise” because I don’t think of myself as someone who cares very much for, or about weddings. I don’t think I’ll ever be married, myself. But I have a keen interest in people’s lives (one might even say I am nosy) especially as it relates to a life lived differently than my own. So while, no, I probably don’t want to attend your wedding, I am very much interested in all of the details that go into it! Its sort of like, “seeing how the other half lives,” if that makes any sense.
Harad’s writing is witty and warm and brims with the loveliest turns of phrase–even when she’s not describing perfume– and aside from my own hang-ups, this was a charming book. I came away from it thinking that I’d love to grab tea with the author, swap favorite fragrances, and compare our perfumed paths.
teaandbooklover's review
4.0
I really enjoyed most of this book. I've just been getting into perfumes for a few months and so was very excited to read this. She is relatable for me when it comes to how she fell in love with perfume and acquiring them. In the back is also some websites for help, which I appreciated. Ms. Harad really knows how to write-I so enjoyed her descriptions of the feelings she had when she smelled a perfume, when she went to shop for them, and her other descriptions, throughout this book.
lisaebetz's review
4.0
I do not read books just because they have beautiful prose.
I am not a big reader of memoirs.
But this book is much more than lovely sentences or touching personal insights. I was hooked from the start--partly because I could identify with the author in many ways (although in other areas we are very different) and partly because she managed to make subject of perfume fascinating.
Since reading this book I have taken more notice of the scents around me.
I am not a big reader of memoirs.
But this book is much more than lovely sentences or touching personal insights. I was hooked from the start--partly because I could identify with the author in many ways (although in other areas we are very different) and partly because she managed to make subject of perfume fascinating.
Since reading this book I have taken more notice of the scents around me.
foxwrapped's review
4.0
Right now I am in the middle of an indie perfume oils obsession (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Possets, Arcana, etc) so I am reading this at exactly the right time. Harad is writing about exactly my position, the position of going on forums and blogs and asking people to trade perfumes and paying for decants. and then you start spending way, waaaaaay too much money on "juice" and attempt, perhaps badly, to describe scent notes and get other people into perfume. All the perfume parts of this book were like, "YESSSSSS that is it exactly." The wedding parts were "Ehhhhh, I have no idea. I must be the unlikeliest bride because I have no desire to become one, at least not like this" and not like, fake No Desire because it would hurt my feminist cool (like what it seems Harad is concerned about), like I seriously have no desire for a wedding. Still enjoyed spending time with her, even though I skimmed the wedding parts. She writes pretty well. She seems mostly chill.
Mostly chill because Harad is recovering from years' worth of, uhhh... what I would call a sort of asceticism inspired by academia and liberal ideals (how much the asceticism is actually in service of creating beneficial social change, IDK. Seems like it was mostly a spiritual, as in being ascetic made her feel like a good, ethical person, or a socially performative thing). Lots of scenes basically described as "My educated liberal social circle of Austinites give me the side-eye when I tell them I love perfume, like I'm secretly some ditz from Dallas." I remember specifically one scene where a friend she was speaking to was all like, "I don't want to be the kind of woman who wears perfume," like OMG, judgeeeeeeey. So that's the story of the title. Coming to My Senses = How I Began to Recognize the Judgemental Killjoy Within Myself and Others and Stopped Being So Sanctimonious. I don't know if she is totally there yet. sometimes there is a tinge of, "oh, those pretty girls in middle school were so mean and superficial!" and she still sounds like the girl making a poster of the school's Cool Hierarchy which is something she says she actually did OMG. I mean who's the mean girl in that situation i don't think she realizes it was kinda her
Mostly chill because Harad is recovering from years' worth of, uhhh... what I would call a sort of asceticism inspired by academia and liberal ideals (how much the asceticism is actually in service of creating beneficial social change, IDK. Seems like it was mostly a spiritual, as in being ascetic made her feel like a good, ethical person, or a socially performative thing). Lots of scenes basically described as "My educated liberal social circle of Austinites give me the side-eye when I tell them I love perfume, like I'm secretly some ditz from Dallas." I remember specifically one scene where a friend she was speaking to was all like, "I don't want to be the kind of woman who wears perfume," like OMG, judgeeeeeeey. So that's the story of the title. Coming to My Senses = How I Began to Recognize the Judgemental Killjoy Within Myself and Others and Stopped Being So Sanctimonious. I don't know if she is totally there yet. sometimes there is a tinge of, "oh, those pretty girls in middle school were so mean and superficial!" and she still sounds like the girl making a poster of the school's Cool Hierarchy which is something she says she actually did OMG. I mean who's the mean girl in that situation i don't think she realizes it was kinda her
clwilliams321's review
2.0
I just couldn't get into this. It did want make me want to go try perfume samples. I just don't care enough to finish the book.