Scan barcode
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.
jenslate's review
4.0
Though it might not interest everyone, I really enjoyed this. Sometimes it seemed like her "thesis" wasn't so clear - becoming a woman/finding femininity through discovering perfume/planning a wedding - the words she chose to describe her journey were just lovely.
dianawr's review
5.0
Easily my favorite book about perfume and the love thereof. Alyssa is a beautiful writer and her moving, descriptive prose brought me to tears more than once. A must read for anyone who loves scent.
infinitezest's review
4.0
"Coming to My Senses" is Harad's memoir of falling in love with perfume, and I really had no interest in perfume before reading this book, but I'm so glad I decided to give it a try. I truly enjoyed reading Alyssa Harad's poetic and detailed descriptions of scents. Every time she described a perfume, I felt like I was diving right into the bottle. While she never discounts the pure physical pleasure she derives from perfume, she also explores the way perfumes and other scents create nostalgia and connect us to favorite moments, memories and places. I also enjoyed reading her journey from a closet perfume fan, embarrassed at enjoying something so frivolous, to a more confident woman who used perfume to create connections with other people. Occasionally Harad did get on my nerves- she was so self-deprecating and so determined to show herself as an anti-bride during her wedding preparations that I found myself getting bored and waiting for her to go back to talking about perfume. (Why does she describe herself as "an unlikely bride" in the title? Because she was a little older than the average bride? Because she's not a Barbie? Give me a break.) But overall I enjoyed getting to know the author through her story. And once I had finished, I searched out a bottle of perfume I bought on a trip to Paris in college, and I've been wearing it every day since.
satyridae's review
3.0
I loved the smells conjured by this book. I really enjoyed Harad's evocative prose, and I think this memoir shone for all the perfumery parts. I didn't love the wedding parts quite so much, but even that was fun to read. I found the part about her mother's perfume, near the end of the book, to be almost unbearably poignant and so moving. I wished she would have called out more of the perfumes she described by name. Recommended, if you love perfume.
superkaren's review
3.0
The first section about the author discovering perfume and her own self was beautifully written full of beautiful finely wrought language. Unfortunately, the author kind of looses this florid style half way through when she starts talking more about her personal life. I wonder why... I am looking forward to reading more by her.
helenmcclory's review
This book lends itself to a slow reading, to allow for the descriptions to unfold and personalise. It's a book for tangents into the reader's own life and experience of scent. It's good read with a cup of fragrant coffee and a ginger biscuit. It weaves words in such a way that it is a dream, and these interconnected instances - eating, reminiscing, staring out the window - flow into it, become a part of the experience of reading this lovely, lovely book.
glazebrookgirl's review
4.0
As a fellow perfumista, I enjoyed watching the author "fall down the rabbit hole" into the fascinating world of scent. This was a quick and enjoyable read that gives a lay of the land for those unfamiliar with the obsessive culture surrounding perfumes and those who love them. I only wish she had named more of the perfumes she described. I have identified almost all of them based on the notes, but there are a few that are driving me mad!
More...