“Coming to My Senses” is a memoir of a short period of
author Harad’s life, covering the time between her discovery of perfume blogs
and shortly after her wedding. It is all about how perfume became not just an
interest, but a passion, and how it changed the way she thought about herself.
Harad was a scholarly, feminist free lance writer who hated
shopping and had no interest in feminine frills. Then she clicked by accident
into some perfume blogs and got hooked on the descriptions of scent- what the perfumes
contained, how they made the wearers feel. This struck a chord in her, and she
started to find out more about perfume, and started using it. For a long time
she kept her interest to herself, not wanting to be made fun of by serious
minded people. But as she started bringing the subject up, she was amazed to
discover that it was a love of many people- including those serious minded
ones.
But it wasn’t just an interest or hobby. Wearing perfume
started to change how she felt about herself. An elegant perfume made her want
to change out of her boring work-at-home clothes and into something prettier.
She started going to a gym, and feeling more in touch with her body, more
balanced. Ultimately, it made her decide, after living for years with someone,
that she wanted a girly wedding.
The book is a memoir, not a treatise on perfumes. It’s all
about her relationship with the scents and with herself, not about the perfumes
themselves, although she does write about a few of the perfumes and perfume
components- it would be hard to write about perfume without giving some
history. One thing that really disappointed me was that the author didn’t give
the names of many of the perfumes she talks about. It would be fun for a reader
to sniff perfumes and compare their reaction to what her’s was. And I really
want to know what is the name of the one that is honey based and makes her
husband follow her around the house?
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