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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
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Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end. So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.     |
| Smells Like Teen Romance Over on "Question of the Day!"  today, the discussion is all about bookshelves and their arrangement. Since I have very few books these days, I didn’t have much to contribute, but something that was said made me remember an important fact that influenced my book buying back then.This is an esoteric art that may, at first, seem irrational, but it works. The secret is never to buy a book until you’ve smelled it. Open it up somewhere in the middle, shove your nose right into it and take a deep breath of its smell. They all smell differently and, in time, you get to know the smells that indicate good books and those that warn of a stinker. So now you’re scoffing, pointing out that all new books smell of print, paper and glue. And you’d be right to a point. But it’s the subtleties that make the difference. Whether it makes sense or not, there are differences between books and, with practice, you can learn to discern these nuances. Try it and you’ll see. The really weird thing is that all the copies of a particular book will smell the same. They will all have the same distinctive smell that identifies it as belonging to that edition of the work. This is really what proves the theory. If it were just a matter of the physical constituents of the book, all the products of a printer would smell the same, regardless of their literary quality. But it just doesn’t work like that. I never bought a book without smelling it first and (as far as I can remember), I never bought a bad one. Oh, I’ve read a few but most would have been pressed on me by someone who thought they were doing me a favour. You may ask why I didn’t smell the books recommended by others. It only works with new books, that’s the reason. Ownership of a book imparts new fragrances and pongs that interfere with the book’s pristine originality and one doesn’t want to get involved with that can of worms. So remember, the next time you’re in a bookshop and you see someone with their nose in a book, don’t laugh. You are in the presence of a connoisseur! Word count: 382 |
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Quite good is quite a good compliment 
As someone who just reviewed an item in your port, I can't help but wonder, Did I pick an item that you'd throw out? 
