Photo Credit: We Know Memes
Please.
This blog is coming up on 12,000 comments, and you would not believe how many people have said something about the smell of a new book. I’m pretty sure each and every time I’ve read that in a comment I’ve rolled my eyes and proceeded to scream loudly on the inside.
I mean, new cars have a nice smell. New shoes have a nice smell. Heck, a pile of clothes out of the dryer has a nice scent, but books? I’ve never once smelled a new book. And I’ve never even thought to do so. I guess I missed the memo that told everyone how great paper and ink smell.
I’m writing this imagining all of you walking through Barnes and Noble or your local bookstore just picking random books off the shelves and smelling them. And repeating this over and over until….I don’t even know. Until you catch someone looking at you like you should be institutionalized? Seriously, there might be something wrong with you if you’re smelling your books so much.
Oh! I know! You’re actually in the drug trade and you’ve laced the pages of your books with some illegal substance and you sniff them to get your high. Glad I finally figured it out.
Johnny Reads 
It’s not the paper and ink that smell great – it’s the words that lie inside
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Except they don’t smell at all.
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Well I can’t say anything for a new book smell…but walking into a used bookstore – especially those ones that have books on every surface and from floor to ceiling. Musty paper just seems like the RIGHT smell, one that makes me want to sit down and read everything in reach.
I don’t claim that it’s sane…but it is what it is. 🙂
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Nope. Not sane. I have no idea what musty paper smells like, but it can’t be good.
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I can’t believe you’ve never sniffed a new book! I agree with Brittany that old books smell heavenly. I have 2 books that were gifted to me by my fiancé that are roughly each 100 years old that smell amaaazing. But even newer books just have a brilliant paper and ink smell to them that’s kind of… warm? And comforting. Not gonna lie, I may have sniffed a book from one of my bookshelves just earlier this week… no shame.
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I don’t know what to say to this. Books are books. I’m not smelling them. Nope.
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I LOVE the smell of books…I mean most of them. Literally every time I buy a book (unless it’s from the goodwill) I always smell it…I can’t help myself! I work in an office with piles of paper and yeah….96 bright 24 lb. paper smells AMAZING….yes I’ve smelled it when no one was looking. Ha ha! I’m one of those weird ones that would love the smell of books even if I wasn’t a writer or hated reading.
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You’re a crazy person!
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I smell books new and old. Plus I like to feel the paper … some may call it weird, I call it guilty pleasure 😉
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Yess. I call it weird! Cause it is!
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Stop fighting it John, face your fears. Go sniff some books! 🙂
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Haha never!
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It’s actually very common and studied. There have even been studies of “old book smell” versus “new book smell”: http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/06/01/newoldbooksmell/
I also believe there have been some studies about the associated scent making bolstering memory, but I can’t seem to find that now.
But “new book smell” is very similar to “new car smell,” or “new shoe smell.”
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Book sniffing is one of life’s pleasures. I am often found in bookshops sniffing away..
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Do you ever get thrown out of said bookshops? 😂
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Hey, John – looks like you’ve just received another four comments about smelling books. I don’t think you’re ever going to stop book-lovers from loving books.
Maybe I have an underdeveloped sense of smell, or maybe it got mixed up with my other senses, but I really like the clean electronic feel of my trusty Kindle…
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Haha no. You’re normal. Everyone else is weird. Unless you also like the smell of your Kindle…
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I no longer notice an aroma from a new book, but ages ago, ahem, years ago, in my childhood, I remember sniffing the pages and thinking what a wonderful fragrance arose from within. Blessings…
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It was your imagination.
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Books smell me. All the time. It’s horrible. I can no longer go into a bookstore.
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I don’t even understand this. Lol…you stink? Haha
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Sigh. I wish I knew what I was talking about. . . I really do.
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I wish the same thing several times a day.
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HAHAHAHAHA! When did you get so funny?
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I’m basically a comedian. Always have been.
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Hahaha! This made me laugh so hard! I’m one of those people who smell books! Love this! 🙂
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Noooo. Why does everyone do this!? 😭
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I shared this post on Twitter to let everyone know that smelling books are soo good! Like you said, “you sniff them to get your high” 😀
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Haha I already favorited it. I always like when other people share my posts. 😊
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I know what “book smell” is, but I’m pretty indifferent to it. I don’t really get the fascination. But I’m more of a visual/tactile person – I like when books have pretty bindings, etched pages, etc. I appreciate when a book is made with interesting materials. I like books to look pretty on the shelf. But hey, what’s inside is the main thing that matters.
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Hm. I also don’t get it. But I don’t care about covers or paper or whatever, I just like the stories books tell.
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Sorry, man. You’re surrounded by a bunch of loons. Embrace it! Crazy people make the world interesting. I also love the smell of books, but not enough to try and scavenge for a perfume of the same scent. I just notice it when I flip through a book, embrace it, then bury myself in the story held between the covers. It’s a nice smell. Don’t be hating on the smell!
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Haha yes I am! And no! I refuse!
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It’s crazy, I know. I’ve been caught smelling my books more times than I’m proud of but damn, that book huffing is hard to quit.
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Hahaha you’re just weird. 😂
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I know. It’s a curse. Is there rehab for this book huffing thing? 😛
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Yes. Read on your Kindle until your desire no longer persists.
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Good call 🙂
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Call me Dr. John. 😊
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Well, okay. But I disagree. 🙂
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Disagree with what? That you’re a crazy person if you smell your books?
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Um. Crazy person? Exactly why would that make me crazy? To each his own, right?
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Cause there’s no reaaon to snell books. Period.
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Well. Like I said, to each his own.
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For you, there isn’t. You can’t just say the same for the rest of the world.
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The point of this blog is to share my opinion. Is it not?
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Well, duh. But don’t say I’m crazy because I don’t agree with you.
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[…] Stop Smelling Your Books […]
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I don’t sniff books, I just can’t stand kindles and electronics. I love my pages way too much. I hate the feel of slick glassy screens, and I’m really not sure why. ._.
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I don’t think my Kindle screen is slick or glassy. It’s more of a plastic feel to me. But at least you don’t smell your books. Thankfully.
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Hah, I know plenty of people who do. I think the ink might give them literal brain damage. I mean, isn’t it kind of like sniffing wet ink except it’s not wet? I know that can cause actual brain damage.
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Haha I don’t know. But literal and actual are the same. I JUST wrote about this! 😭 Evidently Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary actually altered the definition of “literally” because everyone always used it incorrectly. How sad. Here’s the post.
https://johnguillen.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/writing-pet-peeves-5-literally/
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Yeah, I am aware, and it ticks me off too! I just use them interchangeably when I get bored with writing one of the two. I wish everyone would use words properly. … At the very least, I wish they would spell it correctly. Reading an essay of a friend and having to ask what ‘littarilly’ is, now that ruined any chance of a good day.
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Wellllll don’t be lazy. 😊
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