Books, booze, perfumes, flavors, artworks and events involving smell, essential oils, etc.
Category: Reviews
Smell and Taste Reading List * Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry
*This is a dynamic, ever-expanding list of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that engages with smell and taste. In the spirit of mixing disciplines, genres and diverse voices, the list is simply organized in alphabetical order by author. If you don’t see something you think we would like, please let us know in the comments below or by emailing us at info@aromaticapoetica.com* *A* Abood, Maureen. Rose Water and Orange Blossoms: Fresh and Classic Recipes from my Lebanese Kitchen. Ackermann, Diane. …
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‘The Liars’ Asylum: Stories’ by Jacob M. Appel – Review
Some of the flora and fauna in Jacob M. Appel’s The Liars’ Asylum are real and others are made of painted silk and wire, but they are all as vibrant and memorable as the cast of characters whose lives they ornament. In this story collection published by Black Lawrence Press, Appel explores themes of love, disillusionment, and just getting along in the human condition, which is always difficult whether you are an orphan teen or a middle-age transporter of incapacitated …
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“An Artist’s Introduction to the Fine-Fragrance Landscape of Esxence” by Catherine Haley Epstein
I am a conceptual artist who began using scent in my practice ten years ago. By conceptual artist, I mean that I use any medium whatsoever to engage in questions I am asking in the studio. Alongside paintings, drawings and sculpture I use scent, words and photographs to obsessively make sense of things. Last fall, I was asked to be on a panel about scent and writing at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Someone in the audience …
From Art to Bats: Review of Perfumes The Guide 2018 by Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez
Perfumes: The Guide 2018 presents more than 1,200 perfume reviews by Tania Sanchez, a writer with interests in perfume, aesthetics and culture, and Luca Turin, a biophysicist, perfume critic and olfaction-science rabble-rouser of The Emperor of Scent fame, and accomplishes its mission to assert perfumery as an art form, worthy of criticism. I discovered their first guide Perfumes A-Z while researching Aroma Victoriana, where I quoted their admonishment of the perfume industry and its medieval secrecy–a secrecy that has helped …
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Tin House ‘Candy’ is Sweet & Twisted! A Review
In full disclosure, I submitted a story to the Tin House Candy issue in the hopes of busting into the sweet success of a major literary journal, and, as of this writing, my Submittable submission is still “in process.” Whether they’ve forgotten about it or pushed it onto consideration for another issue, I don’t know. Ok, now onto the review (im)proper… How could we at Aromatica Poetica not celebrate an issue which, although full of the tantalizing wrappings of candy …
The Spirit of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
There was “sad news in the spirits world” when it was reported by Eater.com and countless other food and beverage blogs that Robert Cooper, the founder of the wildly popular St-Germain elderflower liqueur, died suddenly at the age of 39. Cooper was born into the booze business, but struck out on his own when his idea to make an elderflower liqueur (like those he’d encountered in London) was pooh-poohed by his father. The elder Cooper had cause to regret his …
The Thistles and Fairies of The Botanist Gin
I’ll admit upfront that I loved The Botanist before I ever tasted it. When my boyfriend Alabaster told me about a gin, which , in addition to nine traditional botanicals, features 22 others that grow wild on the Scottish island of Islay, I was immediately smitten. I asked him to nab the last bottle in the shop where he works and hide it till payday. Meanwhile, I would look into these botanicals… The Botanist Gin’s website is a rabbit hole …