Ha Ha

The excellent new Moreover blog isn't buying what Patrick Reardon is selling:

THE Chicago Tribune's Patrick Reardon comes out as a book-sniffer.

Here he is on the smell of a 1900 copy of Theodore Roosevelt's "Oliver Cromwell"

[I]t brings forth images of mansion foyers where tweed coats and thick furs used to hang amid a profusion of well-polished mahogany furniture.

And on "The Banquet Bug", a Chinese novel by Geling Yan:

There was an almost metallic bite to the way the pages smelled.

He concludes, a touch desperately:

I suspect many readers enjoy the olfactory experience of reading.

Well, actually, no, I'd never given it a thought. But I'll try it as soon as I've finish sucking on this DVD.

My only contribution? I don't much care what a book smells like, unless that smell is strong and perfumed.