Are you a book sniffer?

[mellysw]

This used to be a huge secret of mine. The only person who knew I sniffed books (god that sounds so awful!) was my best friend, who thought I was wierd anyway. But recently I have discovered a LOT of readers sniff books out there!

So do you sniff your books?

I can always tell a good book by how it smells. I KNOW that sounds wierd! I KNOW! But it is so true! I swear, if you sent me to a bookstore (new or used, doesn't matter) and gave me two AWESOME books I really wanted but told me I could only have one, I would sniff them to figure out which one I wanted. After I cried and whined and begged to have both of course! But by sniffing the pages, I would be able to tell which would be better, even if I can't tell from the blurbs.

And there is a technique to it! Sure, you can just lean over and get a whiff. Most of the time that is not enough though! You need to faaaaaannnnnn the pages out to really get a good whiff of it's real smell.

I promise you, every book smells different. I have opened boxes of books I had stored away in a closet for years, and the books still retain their individual smells. Strong environmental odors CAN affect their individual smells over a long time though. There is one book from my childhood where I love the smell so much I keep it in a ziplock bag so nothing affects it's smell. No lie, I swear it! As a matter of fact I will go take a whiff of it right now....be right back....

Ahhh....the smell of childhood.... This is the one thing I miss using my e-reader.

Anyway! Tell me about how you sniff your books, if you do!

[obiebookworm]

Yes, I am! I love the smell of old books as well as new. But I especially love the smell of old ones. There's something in the ink and the way the paper is made that when they age it gives off this amazing aroma.

[ALynnPowers]

This just made me lol, for real, but I know it's a real thing. Old books have a great smell, but I had no idea that you could tell individual books apart or judge their quality from it.
Can you smell other things as well? Fear? Time?

[Linda7228]

This just made me lol, for real, but I know it's a real thing. Old books have a great smell, but I had no idea that you could tell individual books apart or judge their quality from it.
Can you smell other things as well? Fear? Time?

Haha! I love the smell of books, I usually give them a good sniff, I didn't actually know you could tell how good they are by how they smell, I'm definitely going to my bookshelf right now I have to test that. So I'm going to get my sniff on! That was terrible I know but I had to

[rssllue]

Hi everybody. My name is rssllue, and I am a book sniff-aholic.

[Wind Wise]

Yeah, I've done it. If they made an air freshener that smelled like new books, I would totally buy it!

[rssllue]

Coming soon to a bookstore near you! I can see the promos now: "If you enjoy that fresh, clean, crisp new book smell, then you are in luck! Now for a mere $3.99 you can take that wonderful smell with you after you leave the store. That's right folks, you can hang the new-book-smell air freshener in your car and ride around in your own personal book-mobile! And coming soon, you can take the smell on your very person all day long with our new-book-smell cologne for men and perfume for the ladies! In stores, book stores of course, in time for Christmas!" Or something like that.

[obiebookworm]

Coming soon to a bookstore near you! I can see the promos now: "If you enjoy that fresh, clean, crisp new book smell, then you are in luck! Now for a mere $3.99 you can take that wonderful smell with you after you leave the store. That's right folks, you can hang the new-book-smell air freshener in your car and ride around in your own personal book-mobile! And coming soon, you can take the smell on your very person all day long with our new-book-smell cologne for men and perfume for the ladies! In stores, book stores of course, in time for Christmas!" Or something like that.

I love it! LOL!

[rssllue]

I try.

[klnadams]

Yes, love the smell of a book.

[mellysw]

This just made me lol, for real, but I know it's a real thing. Old books have a great smell, but I had no idea that you could tell individual books apart or judge their quality from it.
Can you smell other things as well? Fear? Time?

Nope, just books. Let me know how it works out! It truly does work for me, I can't remember the last time I misjudged a book by its smell.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you! I can see the promos now: "If you enjoy that fresh, clean, crisp new book smell, then you are in luck! Now for a mere $3.99 you can take that wonderful smell with you after you leave the store. That's right folks, you can hang the new-book-smell air freshener in your car and ride around in your own personal book-mobile! And coming soon, you can take the smell on your very person all day long with our new-book-smell cologne for men and perfume for the ladies! In stores, book stores of course, in time for Christmas!" Or something like that.

I would totally buy that up!

[darkfae2317]

I always smell books, lol! I had to giggle when I read that topic. And I wont read a book if I dont like the smell of it!

[hyram]

I ALWAYS sniff my books! There's nothing like the smell of ink on pages

[Abbydan14]

I absolutely love the smell of books. There is nothing better!!

[Ryan]

I love the smell of books almost as much as petrol (I'd never burn a book, I promise). It's one of the best things about buying a new one, second only to reading it