late-fall reading list

What are you reading? I have four end-of-fall recommendations, all from Nosy Interviewees (all fragrant, foxy, and friendly):

oxes on the Trampoline by Charlotte Boulay
Charlotte, the first-ever(!) nosy interviewee featured on the site, published her first book of poems and it's gorgeous, funny, and brilliant. It gave me chills on a 90 percent humidity day this summer in Boston and now it's giving me comfort as the days grow short, and cold. You can read Charlotte's poem "Scientists Have Discovered," on your phone right now, as you walk to the bookstore to buy her book.

riendship by Emily Gould
Read the first chapter of Emily's lovely and funny and bittersweet debut novel here, and     then get into it with Bev and Amy as they sort out their lives in contrast to and connection with one another in a way that is so welcome.  If this list has you hankering for still more book recommendations, hightail it over to Emily Books and subscribe to receive one great ebook each month for a year.  (Emily, self-proclaimed perfume nerd, also has a great review of Mandy Aftel's Fragrant, next on this list, at Bookforum.)

ragrant by Mandy Aftel

That cover! It matches the amazing packaging Aftel uses in her shop (where you can buy the companion kit to Fragrant and "smell along" as you read), and you can bet what's inside this book will be more beautiful still. How have I not read this yet?!? I revere Mandy! It tops my to-read list, and here's a taste from the jacket copy:

In Fragrant, through five major players in the epic of aroma, she explores the profound connection between our sense of smell and the appetites that move us, give us pleasure, make us fully alive. Cinnamon, queen of the Spice Route, touches our hunger for the unknown, the exotic, the luxurious. Mint, homegrown the world over, speaks to our affinity for the familiar, the native, the authentic. Frankincense, an ancient incense ingredient, taps into our longing for transcendence, while ambergris embodies our unquenchable curiosity. And exquisite jasmine exemplifies our yearning for beauty, both evanescent and enduring.

he Self Unstable by Elisa Gabbert

Elisa's writing is so smart and funny and humane and it will get under your skin in a good way and change the way you see. The cover makes me a little bit dizzy, but champagne-dizzy, where everything holds so much promise and sparkle, and everyone is wittier and more beautiful than they were just a few hours earlier. Elisa makes it so.


{All the pretty drop caps are courtesy Jessica Hisch's Daily Drop Cap.}

12.12.12 smells

At 11:11, we wish, and on 12/12/12, we list: 

1) Smell of generosity: Perfume-world-mensch Andy Tauer is in the midst of his annual advent calendar giveaway-spree. May each of you win something fragrant! 

2) Smell of paper flowers:  Courtney Mandryk is selling her beautiful conceptual calendar. 'Tis the season!

Smell of stars: My spacesuit arrived! Thanks to those of you who encouraged this purchase via Facebook.

3) Smell of innovation: The Institute for Art and Olfaction is launching soon, and has already taught me that John Milton invented the word fragrance (along with moonstruck, pandemonium, and lovelorn).

4) Smell of superheros: Special Powers and Abilities is Raymond McDaniel's awesome new book of poems for your brain & your heart.

5) Smell of heartswell: Adam rescued Billy from a place that smelled horrific, and, as my friend Hillary put it, we all cried and gave Billy money.  

6) Smell of Wisconsin gone Hollywood: Since we last saw her on Nosy Girl, Emma Straub published her dazzling debut novel, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures. 

7) Smell of cocktail sparkle: Mandy Aftel introduced Aftelier Chef's Essence® Sprays just in time for you to flavor-up your holiday cooking.

8) Smell of sweet music: We're lucky that Nitsuh Abebe has shared his rad list of 50 favorite songs of 2012 (you can listen here via Spotify).

9) Smell of Dancing Girl: Lucy Biederman's wonderful chapbook, The Other World, has gone on sale since she graced us here on Nosy Girl.  

#10's smell, but not one of his library books

10) Smell of library books: My husband, Nosy-Interviewee-to-be & PhD-student extraordinaire, is nearly finished with his toughest semester of graduate school yet, and I admire his work ethic & his restless intelligence more than ever.

11) Smell of new baby: Since her interview posted, Katie Miota Stolzman started a badass blog (and became a mother)!

12) Smell of va-va-voom: Charlotte Boulay (the first-ever Nosy Interviewee) had her gorgeous poem, "Talking to the Dead," in last week's New Yorker. Wowee!

Bonus Interview: Mandy Aftel

Mandy in Starburst Galaxy IC 10, © Dietmar Hager & Torsten Grossmann

Mandy Aftel's Nosy Interview was the first I've conducted by phone, and she was kind enough to answer a few additional questions (even after I'd asked her: What do you smell like?). I love Mandy's fragrances, but I think I would admire her even if she were creating artisan doughnut holes (using her chef's essences, somebody probably has). Her commitment to living a creative life--led by her abiding curiosity and her nose, as she says below--is enormously inspiring. For still more Mandy, visit Aftelier Perfumes' Facebook page (and don't miss this great interview, featuring photos of Mandy's gorgeous studio).

Nosy Girl: When I heard you speak in Seattle, you mentioned that in your custom perfume work, you've noticed that the way people present themselves in the world doesn't necessarily connect to how they wish to smell. Could you say more about that?

Mandy Aftel: Most people who do custom perfumes have a questionnaire that they have people fill out about their preferences--their aesthetic preferences, and their smell preferences. From what I've read about other perfumers that's how they operate. And having been a psychotherapist for 30 years, I think people assume that I'm going to ask those kinds of questions too. But I've found anecdotally in my own work of doing custom perfume for many years for hundreds of people at this point, that how people present themselves in the world--the way they talk, the way they look--and then what they choose is lots of times in contrast.  How people present themselves and what [essences] they like have nothing to do with each other. Smell comes from this kind of deeper more animal place inside of a person's being. And words and civilized preferences have nothing to do with things. And so I enjoy very much watching the instinctual, direct experience people have with smell and with different smells when it starts at the root from the essences to find kind of who they are and what they like. 

And for me, the essences have the personalities, so when people pick different things I know more about them because I have a feeling for the essences as being kind of my friends. I sound crazy [laughs], but my essences have all different personalities, so when people pick them I feel like I learn more about them than any other way. It's very intimate.

The story of your becoming a perfumer while researching to write a novel about a perfumer may be of particular interest to the writers around these parts. Can you say more about the connection between your work as a writer and as a perfumer?  

I tend to get very interested in things, and like to go back to the original source of materials. Like my very first book was on Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones and I went over to England and talked to pretty much everyone in that circle, including the Rolling Stones, from Brian's past--I like to go back to the original material, and go down as deep as I possibly can. Nobody could have been more surprised than me that I ended up where I am. My life makes sense in retrospect but not going forward. I kind of do truly follow my nose.

I just got very, very interested in what I was finding out about the materials and perfume itself, and I really fell in love, and just kept moving forward, by passion and not really by design, toward making perfumes and writing books about it, and all of the things I've turned out to do. And I stopped being a therapist a while ago. I mean, I haven't turned my brain off about it but I don't actively do that work anymore. Although I did love it, and I do see a connection between all the things I've done, but I don't think it's obvious to other people. I think it may look more like I'm all over the map, but that's not how it feels to me.  

 Aftelier Perfume Miniatures lined up on Essence & Alchemy

You're involved in every aspect of your business from sourcing to mixing to packaging. How you are able to stay so creative and productive and still be involved in all these aspects of a thriving business?  

I could never imagine doing it any other way. First of all, I would never grow my business past the point where I wouldn't do all those things. I don't want to grow past where I can please myself with the quality of what I do. Stinting on the quality would be very upsetting for me. It's kind of who I am. So I have to do all that stuff because I care about the quality of the customer service from here, acknowledging people on social networks that are so generous towards me. It's all important to me; I don't know what I could do except never grow my business very big which is kind of what I have done. All of those things are important to me. And also: I like them. You know, I like all the packaging stuff which is beyond a nightmare, so hard, and time-consuming and crazy. From getting the essences, to finding the caps, to begging for someone to sell a small amount to me, I get so much pleasure from making this thing that to me is beautiful and unique--I couldn't imagine it any other way. It would upset me a lot more to put out something I didn't feel wholly proud of. Does that make any sense?

Oh, yes! It makes perfect sense. I still marvel... I mean, do you have a secret tea that you're drinking to have this much energy and creative power?

I've always had a lot of energy. I'm not young, at all--I'm old. [laughs] I've always had a ton of energy but I also believe I have the energy because I love what I'm doing. I really, really love what I do. And I am very clear for me that I don't want to grow. A lot of people's goal is to make a bigger business, or to sell their business, or to be in a million stores--I don't have those goals. I don't want that. I don't want anything different than what's going on now, which is to have a very creative life. I feel when you do what you love you have more energy. When you're not compromising you have more energy. You're just in it! 

As an artist, you know, when you think of artists and the amount of work they do, like writers--when I was a therapist I was a therapist for artists and writers. I've always been very involved one way or another in a creative life. Artists do a day job and then they come home and do their art at night. I get to do my art during the day. I feel very, very, very fortunate. To find and connect with people who love what I do and find it meaningful in their lives, I mean, it is a thrill! It is so exciting and a thrill to me. I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it.

Nosy Interview: Mandy Aftel

Mandy in Star-Forming Region S106, © NASA, ESA 

What a treat to feature perfumer and writer Mandy Aftel as the first Nosy Interview of the New Year! I met Mandy in the spring of 2010 when she gave a talk at Essenza, a lovely shop in Seattle. The volume of notes I took as she guided us through the making of Parfum de Maroc and talked about her life as a perfumer, along with Mandy's encouragement when I had her sign my copy of Essence and Alchemy, helped spur me to start this site. Come back later this week for part two of our interview (the first I've conducted by phone), and be sure to visit Aftelier Perfumes to learn more about Mandy and her dreamy creations.

What do you smell like?

I think I smell kind of neutral, actually. When I’ve gone to IFF [International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.] and visited friends who are perfumers there, I’ve always noticed when we share perfumes and smell things, they always put them on a perfume blotter, and I always put them on my hands. So I’m always, always putting things on my own skin. And I think I mustsmell somewhat neutral because I can smell things best on the skin, and on my own skin. So I don’t think my skin, my own body smells that much. I think I have a very sort of neutral faint smell. So I’m a dud in that department. [laughs] Yeah, I’m more like a scent strip.

What do you like to smell?

Me, I love to smell everything. But I really like funky smells. I like intense, alive smells that are out of the atmosphere, out of life. I love, which I’ve said before, the smell of a skunk—not too close, but I do like the smell of a skunk.

I like other peoples’ bodies and how they smell. I like animal smells a ton. I love animal smells. I like dirt, flowers, you know the usual things like beautiful flowers and herbs—the regular kinds of things. But I like smells that feel to me like they pulsate with life, that they bring with them the life that’s in them, you know like the forest and resins and trees. I’m kind of a notorious petal and leaf crusher in my backyard. I crush most things so I can get at the oil and smell things in my hands.