Reading in the Garden

The Scent of a Murderer Perfume : The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind is about a man who has a serious obsession with scents.  Set in eighteenth century France, Genouille is born with a prodigious proboscis, not in size like Cyrano de Bergerac, but wholly in his ability to sniff out and differentiate all odors. His snout involuntarily works overtime.  To him smells are like a drug, a serious boost in his serotonin levels.  Even as a young child, he memorized and categorized all odors he encountered in the file cabinet of his mind. It’s all he ever thinks of. He has an uncanny gift of being able to check out any scent in his nasal library as if it were a book, or drink it in like intoxicating alcohol. He follows his nose to the perfect career as a perfumer’s apprentice, where like a true craftsman, he begins experimenting with all the various kinds of odors. And though he eventually moves on from the perfume profession, scents are ingrained in his being. He c...

Prairie, Prairie, Quite Contrary The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas had me smiling from the beginning. Right off, this book promised to be a fun read and it did not disappoint. It’s the story of a young woman who gets an unexpected proposal from a man and is then whisked away to the Colorado Territory just weeks later.  The proposal came as rather a surprise since Luke had never even asked Mattie out for a date.  Mr. Luke Spenser was quite the attractive catch.  But in her own opinion, Mattie considered herself very plain. “Handsome is the best I might be, and then only on special occasions, and in poor light.”  Mattie writes about her new life with a husband who is practically a stranger on the harsh new homestead.  Like all pioneer stories the book is filled with hardships and dangers as well as determination and resourcefulness.  The adversity the pioneers faced head on always amazes me.  Although this book is a novel the general cir...

Cherished Ladies Get the Cold, Hard Boot The Floribama Ladies’ Auxiliary and Sewing Circle by Lois Battle is a story about women in a little town called Floribama, Georgia who have just been laid off from The Cherished Lady undergarment factory when it closed its doors to move the operation to Mexico.  The title of the book implies that the main story is about these unemployed women who now form a sewing circle, although that is a little deceptive.  The sewing circle doesn’t come into play until half way through the book and even then it’s not where the story hinges.  This book is mainly about three women, all affected by the lay-offs.  Bonnie, a once well-to-do divorcee settles into her new job at the local community college as a coordinator for the “Displaced Homemaker’s Program,” which is offered to the women from the plant. Bonnie’s job is to help the women find new careers through college education. Ruth is one of those women.  She is a widowed grandmo...

On Vacation with 36 Books I’m off on vacation this week!  I've been planning it for a long time. There are so many options. It’s always difficult to decide what to do.  At first I thought it would be great to visit all my friends.  I haven’t seen Rebecca in a long time, but I also wanted to see Frida , and Jane Eyre , or Agnes Grey . Let’s not forget Anne of Green Gables , or Silas Marner , or Ethan Frome .  Too many friends, too little time.  So then I considered spending Three Weeks with My Brother until I remembered that he’s overseas— A Year in Provence! What a life.  Must be nice.   Well that got me to thinking—why not take a great, big, unforgettable vacation, too?  I could go Around the World in 80 Days .   So, I crunched the numbers and, whooo wheee. No can do.  I pared it back, Around the World in 72 Days .  Still too much! By that time it was already late into the Night ; actually it was The Other Side of Mid...