Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“Why did people ask “What is it about?” as if a novel had to be about only one thing.”

That is the perfect quote for talking about Americanah. This is not a book about only one thing. It is a book about race, love (both for yourself and romantic love), interracial relationships, leaving home to make a life for yourself in a new country, acceptance and hair.

As she prepares to return to Nigeria after years living in America, Ifemelu reflects on her life to date; on growing up in Nigeria, her family, her relationship with Obinze her high school boyfriend and everything that has happened since her move to the States.

“Racism should never have happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it.”

Things I like about the book; the sense of place. Adichie effortlessly switches between Nigeria, America and the UK making each of them leap from the page.

The dialogue, Adichie doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations.

The switch in point of view; in some of the chapters we follow Obinze and learn about his time in the UK.

Ifemelu’s blog posts are brilliantly written commentaries on the intricacies of not only being black in America, but being a Non-American Black.

Things I didn’t like/questioned about the book; the length. It was about 50 pages too long for me. Tighter editing would have gotten rid of some of the more indulgent passages.

I’m nitpicking now, but parts of Americanah are so raw and honest that I felt they wandered into memoir territory. This is hardly surprising for a semi autobiographical novel and isn’t necessarily a negative here, it just made me wish Adichie had written a memoir.

Overall, Americanah is a thoughtful novel that isn’t afraid to deal with issues that make people (and let’s be honest, it’s probably mainly white people) uncomfortable. This is a book that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes

“If people stop looking at you, do you cease to exist? Does it mean you’re not a person anymore? Does it mean you’re already dead?”

Annabel is a police analyst who has discovered her neighbour’s decomposing body in the house next door. She can’t believe that no-one, including her, made the discovery sooner.

In trying to figure out what happened she finds data showing an increasingly high number of decomposing remains have been found in the town over the last year. Their deaths appear to be from natural causes, yet they are all found long afterwards. They are not being murdered, so what is happening to these people? Have they all just given up on life? Annabel decides to find out.

“Nobody can see pain. They have no frame of reference for pain that’s happening to someone else. They can only see inactivity – which they interpret as laziness.”

Colin is…well, Colin is difficult to explain. He is a man with few friends and some “interesting”, although that doesn’t seem the appropriate way to describe them, obsessions and compulsions including an interest in the girlfriend of his best (only?) friend.

“You never realise what loneliness is until it creeps up on you – like a disease, it is something that happens to you gradually. And of course the alcohol doesn’t help: you drink it to forget about how shit it is living like that, and then when you stop drinking everything looks a hell of a lot worse. So you keep drinking to try and blot it all out.”

Interspersed throughout are poignant snippets of the “victims” lives where we learn why each of them wanted to die.

I don’t want to say too much else about the plot. Not because it’s some big whodunit, it is obvious pretty early on who is involved, but watching the events slowly (and this is a slow paced novel) unfold from both Annabel and Colin’s perspective adds to the atmosphere of Human Remains.

This isn’t your standard crime novel. It is a disturbing, gruesome, frightening and thought-provoking psychological thriller that will stay with you.

Haynes has created a story that could happen anywhere, at any time and makes you think about loneliness, death and the power of the mind in ways you might not have before.

Terrifying doesn’t even begin to cover it. My skin is still crawling even thinking about it.

I have one piece of advice; don’t read this book late at night, especially if you’re home alone. It will either keep you awake or you’ll spend ages turning on all the lights and double checking that all your doors and windows are locked.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

They agreed about everything important and argued about everything else.”

Set in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two teenagers named Eleanor and Park. They meet on the school bus, when Park somewhat grudgingly asks Eleanor to sit beside him on her first day, and soon develop a relationship that runs deeper than either of them had expected.

Things I like about the book; the use of the comics they read and the mix tapes they make and listen to. It’s a gorgeous way to witness the first flushes of love. Getting the story from the point of view of both characters, I liked knowing what was going on in their heads even when they didn’t know what each other was going through.

Things I didn’t like about the book; that significant parts of what looked like a story different to other YA novels ended up being similar to other YA novels. Namely, the home lives of Eleanor and Park. I understand that some drama was necessary, but this was too much.

Park’s entire relationship with his father seemed like an afterthought designed to keep him from being too perfect.

The abusive step-father storyline has been used in more books than I can count, so it needs to be believable and something about Eleanor’s relationship with her step-father and by extension her family didn’t ring true for me. I could see what Rowell, the author, was doing and why but I wasn’t engaged enough to get absorbed by that aspect of the novel in the same way I did the rest.

My feelings about the ending are equally as mixed. I didn’t like the circumstances that lead to how the novel concludes, but elements of it were so well written they felt like a punch in the gut.

Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume

A story about one man and his dog doesn’t sound original, yet Spill Simmer Falter Wither is an extraordinary novel.

Our protagonist and his dog, One Eye, take off on a road trip after One Eye bites another dog. From a socially awkward man who likes to stick to his routine this is clearly a decision made in a panic.

As the journey progresses we learn more about Ray (our protagonist, although his name is only eluded to), his upbringing and why he views the world the way he does. It is a simple story adeptly told.

What stands out is Baume’s gift as a writer, there is a great sense of place and the seasons are described beautifully. There were passages that I read numerous times solely to soak in the poetry of the words.

I didn’t want it to end, so much so that, about three quarters of the way through I put it to one side and read other books simply so I could look forward to coming back to Baume’s gorgeous words.

Spill Simmer Falter Wither is a haunting look at loneliness, isolation and ageing in our society. It’s a novel I see myself returning to frequently and discovering something new with every reread. Baume’s debut novel is one of my books of the year.

Not Lost by Sarah Maria Griffin

I first came across Sarah Maria Griffin’s writing online. I read and enjoyed some of her essays and articles, including her food column for The Coven, so when I discovered she had written a book about her first year living in the US I couldn’t wait to read it.

“Memoir is not what this thing is. It is just a true story. Except for the parts that are enormous staggering lies…”

Not Lost tells the story of a year in Sarah Maria Griffin’s life. The year she moved from Dublin to San Francisco.

From the beginning Griffin lays out that there is no tragedy here because she assumes people expect something awful to have happened in a memoir. I’m glad there are no tragedies here; instead what we are treated to is a beautifully written experience of finding your feet not only in a new home, but in a different country.

Full of observations about emigrating, job hunting, adjusting to a new kind of domesticity, exploring your surroundings whether they are new or not, and the importance of food, Not Lost is a thoughtful love letter to Dublin as much as it to San Francisco, settling down and dealing with the anxieties that life throws at you.

This book is littered with moments that made me laugh as well as some that made me cry.

Good Girls Don’t by Claire Hennessy

Emily Keating should probably spend more time doing her homework, but instead she is busy trying to figure out her place in the world. Something that isn’t easy for a 17 year-old, especially when you’re trying to help your friends.

There is Declan, who is suffering from depression. Lucy, who Emily used to have a crush on, whose current relationship looks like it is getting more serious than anyone expected. Hugh, Emily’s ex-boyfriend who is dating someone else. Barry is Emily’s best friend, the person she can always rely on and the one that almost everyone else thinks she is destined to be with.

Emily’s interventions don’t always make things better. In fact she often makes things worse, for everyone including herself.

At its core Good Girls Don’t is a story about teenagers getting to grips with friendship, sex and sexuality and everything that entails.

There are times when Emily isn’t particularly likeable, there are times when she is irritating, there are times when I want to bang certain characters heads together and tell them to cop on; typical teenage stuff really. But I kept turning the page because I wanted to see where their friendships and relationships were going.

I read Good Girls Don’t by Claire Hennessy when it first came out in 2004 and loved it. I was a couple of years older than the characters, at the time, but what struck me was that it was one of the first contemporary novels (especially YA novels) I came across with gay and bisexual characters. That it was written by an Irish author, and a teenager at that, was a bonus.

More than that, while the sexuality of the characters is entwined with the plot, the story isn’t all “So and so is gay or bisexual, shock horror”. There is normality to it all. This, somewhat depressingly, is as refreshing today as it was in 2004.

After reading Hennessy’s marriage equality related short story, Good Girls Vote Yes, involving Emily and her friends I decided to track down a copy of the original to re-read.

I’m glad I did. It’s still an enjoyable read.

Tender by Belinda McKeon

Advance Reader Copy (ARC) via Netgalley included.

Sometimes you come across a book that you know you will re-read numerous times and recommend to anyone who will listen. Tender by Belinda McKeon is one of those books. Not since I read The Hours by Michael Cunningham for the first time have I been so enamoured with a novel.

Set in 1990s Ireland, this is a novel about friendship, youth, love, obsession and sexuality.

Catherine Reilly, from Longford, is living in Dublin to attend college when she meets James Flynn. Their friendship quickly becomes one where they want to spend as much time with each other as possible. Catherine is the person James turns to when the time comes to tell his parents that he is gay.

There were moments throughout, when I found myself thinking about my own time in college and the people I met. I swear some of them make appearances in this book, the characters are that realistic.

At times this isn’t an easy read (storyline wise as opposed to writing style wise), it feels claustrophobic yet necessary. McKeon’s writing feels raw, honest and is littered with nuanced and powerful storytelling.

I loved Tender so much I’m planning on buying a psychical copy, just so I can feel the pages between my fingers the next time I read it.

Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver

Advance Review Copy (ARC) via Netgalley included.

Intimacy Idiot* is the debut collection of essays from playwright, author and performer Isaac Oliver. I’m not familiar with Oliver’s other work, but I have been on an essay reading kick lately so thought I would give this book a go.

From conversations he overheard on the subway, to poetry about random people, to tales from being a theatre box office attendant, and kiss-and-tell stories about his experiences with the men he had sex with, most of whom he picked up online; it seems that nothing is off limits for Oliver as he takes us into his world and entertains us (often in graphic detail).

The personal essays deal with sexuality, online dating, hook up culture (an American term, I know, but I can’t think of an equivalent phrase that’s used this side of the Atlantic), having safe sex within that hook up culture, accepting who you are and being comfortable in your own skin.

I particularly enjoyed the subway diaries and encounters from the box office as they provide a snippet of everyday life and served to remind me that we never really know what is going on in people’s lives. Yet we all continue to share space and time with each other.

This collection of essays is an accessible mix of humour and candour. I finished the book in one sitting and laughed frequently along the way.

Boo by Neil Smith

Advance Reader Copy (ARC) via Netgalley included.

When 13 year-old Boo wakes up in heaven he assumes his defect heart is responsible and sets about figuring out how to settle in to his new life, his reborn life.

Boo, whose real name is Oliver Dalrymple, didn’t fit in at his school back in America. He was a science geek who memorised the entire periodic table and didn’t really mix well with people.

When he discovers that heaven is divided by age and nationality, meaning he will remain a 13 year-old surrounded by other 13 year-olds, he isn’t pleased. But heaven is the perfect opportunity to carry out some new science experiments, so at least he has that to occupy his time and his mind.

Boo soon learns that it wasn’t the hole in his heart that killed him, he is a ‘gommer’, someone who was murdered. His murderer may also be in heaven, something that hasn’t happened before. Killers aren’t allowed into heaven.

Boo and Johnny, a classmate who was killed at the same school, set out to find Gunboy, the boy who killed them with no real idea of what they will do once they find him. They just know they need to find him.

Told through Boo’s eyes as he writes it all down for his parents, this novel deals with the idea of god, friendship, forgiveness and asks whether people can really change.

I enjoyed spending time with Boo and the friends he made in heaven. At times I thought I had it all figured out, but even with the ending I predicted I had no idea how the author, Neil Smith, was going to get us there and as I kept turning the pages I was less and less sure that my predictions would be right.

Boo* is a reminder of what good YA should be; it’s entertaining, it’s thought provoking and although it involves suspending your disbelief it doesn’t treat its readers like idiots.

If She Did It by Jessica Treadway

Advance Reader Copy via Netgalley included.

What if you began to suspect your child of an unspeakable crime?

Three years ago Hanna Schutt was almost bludgeoned to death in her bed. Her husband, Joe, didn’t survive the attack. Hanna was left with a disfigured face and no memory of the night in question.

The man convicted of the crime was her daughter’s boyfriend, Rud. Dawn was never charged for the murder of her father and the attempted murder of her mother but that doesn’t stop people believing that she played a significant role in the crime, especially since she stood by Rud throughout his trial.

Rud has now been granted an appeal. Following this news, Dawn decides to move home to support her mother.

If She Did It* (which is published as Lacy Eye in some territories) follows Hanna as she tries remember what happened that night in order to testify at Rud’s retrial.

What do the brief flashes and shadows that Hanna has started seeing mean? Is she actually remembering what happened or are they false memories of what she thinks happened? Can her memory be trusted?

While we are taken immediately into Hanna’s world the story starts slowly, but the pace quickens as Hanna starts to ask questions that she hasn’t faced up to before. While I sympathised with Hanna throughout the book, there were times when I wanted to shake some sense into her.

At the novel’s conclusion, there were one or two niggly details about Hanna’s flashbacks and memories that I was unsure about but over all I enjoyed If She Did It*.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Kody Keplinger’s debut novel, The DUFF, was originally published in 2010 and is currently being re-promoted to coincide with the release of the film.

Bianca Piper is a particularly cynical seventeen year-old. Her mother is rarely home, her father has his own issues to deal with and a “relationship” that ended badly a few years ago has left her no longer believing in true love. This “relationship” isn’t explored nearly as much as it should be, it’s alluded to and we find out how it ended but we don’t learn a whole lot else and the parts that left me feeling uncomfortable aren’t elaborated on at all.

Bianca has her friends; Casey and Jessica and a crush on classmate Toby Tucker. Whatever is happening at home, she will be alright.

When Wesley, the school man-whore (as he’s described in the book), talks to her one night when she is out with Casey and Jessica things change. Bianca can’t stand Wesley, she thinks he’s selfish, arrogant and will use anyone to get what he wants. When he tells her that she is the DUFF – Designated Ugly Fat Friend – of her group she throws her glass of coke in his face.

Things don’t end there. She ends up kissing Wesley, because why not? She likes it. Hmmm, maybe she can stand him after all.

I read this in one sitting. It was engaging, entertaining and style wise easy to read. The characters were believable; contradictions and all, which stems from the fact that Kody Keplinger was a teenager when she wrote it. But it left me feeling conflicted.

Slut-shaming is rife and despite Keplinger trying to turn things around, especially with Bianca’s attitudes to some people changing, the lasting message for me was still that if you actually enjoy having sex then you must be escaping from something. There are no other explanations.

People are either in committed relationships or running away from their emotions. The possibility of simply being a fan of sex doesn’t get a look in. How Bianca and Wesley’s relationship played out just reinforced this message for me. And frankly, I think that’s nonsense.

I don’t know if this was the intended message. I hope it wasn’t because it’s not a particularly nuanced message for young people to hear.

How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis

How To Be A Heroine has been on my radar for a while, but now seemed like the perfect time to read it since it deals with something I’m currently working on a blog post about; the idea that the time, place and state of mind you are in plays a significant part in how you react to novels, plays, films, and music.

Samantha Ellis finds herself arguing with her best friend about whether Cathy Earnshaw is a better heroine than Jane Eyre. Ellis is firmly in the Cathy camp, while her friend thinks that Jane is the one who really makes her own way in the world.

Has she spent her life trying to be Cathy Earnshaw when she should have been trying to be Jane Eyre? A return to the literary heroines that shaped her life was in order. How did she feel about them now?

Some characters stood up to the scrutiny better than others, some opinions changed for the better and some changed for the worst.

Part memoir and part literary analysis, with a side of women’s studies, Ellis’ words are refreshing, yet somehow comforting. It will leave you wanting to read the books you haven’t and re-read the ones you love. A book lover’s dream.

How To Be A Heroine is a book I wish I had written. You need it in your life. I will be thrusting it into people’s hands, demanding they read it and then talk about it for hours with me.

The Opposite of Loneliness – Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan

Like most people, I first heard about Marina Keegan following her death in 2012. She was killed in a car crash a few days after graduating from Yale. She was 22.

The essay, entitled The Opposite of Loneliness, she wrote to mark graduation quickly went viral. Dealing with uncertainty, Keegan’s words urged people to be fearless, embrace change and stop being constrained by expectations; both their own and the expectations of others. It’s easy to see why it struck a chord with so many.

This collection of essays and short stories, published posthumously, is very much about realising that things are OK. It’s OK to be feeling the way you are feeling. It’s OK to not know where your life is going. It’s equally OK to be excited about where your life is going.

For me the short stories are slightly more accomplished than the essays, but Keegan’s observations on and understanding of the human condition run through them all.

Green Girl by Kate Zambreno

Have you ever come across a book that is a few years old, but suddenly you hear lots of talk about it? That’s what happened to me with Kate Zambreno’s Green Girl. Some friends recommended I read it and then I came across it in Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist.

Ruth is a young American woman living in London. She sells perfume in Horrids (her name for it). Her days are spent spritzing people with Desire. Her nights are spent trying to find her way in the world; navigating her way through anxiety, friendships, relationships, nights out that involve drinking too much and the male gaze. More importantly, Ruth is desperately trying to make sense of the space between where she is now and what she deems to be proper adulthood.

I think I came to Green Girl too late. If I read it in my teens or early 20s I imagine it would have affected me in the same way that Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Jean Rhys’ Good Morning, Midnight and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway did. That visceral and sometimes gut wrenching way that leads me to re-read those books regularly even though I know them inside out, yet, I am always drawn in as if discovering them for the first time.

Don’t get me wrong, Zambreno is a talented writer and Green Girl is worth adding to your to-read list. It’s just that it unexpectedly hit on something I have been thinking a lot about lately; how the time, place and state of mind you are in plays a part in the reaction you have to novels, films and music. I may save that thought for another blog post.

Only Every Yours by Louise O'Neill

Set in a future where girls are taught how to serve and please men, Only Ever Yours is a sharply written portrayal of teenage girls and the role of women in society.

freida and isabel (their names aren’t capitalised in the book) are best friends. They are also eves. They have been created for men and face a life spent living as a companion, a concubine or a chastity.

In their 16th and final year at boarding school things begin to change. The choosing ceremony is approaching and every girl is vying for a place as a companion.

isabel begins to put on weight, something which doesn’t fit the ‘ideal’ that the eves must live up too. Her chance of being chosen as a companion may be at stake. freida can’t understand what is happening to her friend, but she is also secretly pleased that she outranks isabel for once. The other students turn on isabel and delight in using her weight gain against her.

Reminiscent, in parts, of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Mean Girls; O’Neill brilliantly captures the voices of insecure teenagers who regardless of what is going on around them are trying to find their way in the world. But this is a world that doesn’t allow people to deviate from the plan.

Upon finishing this book I needed to sit quietly, for a while, and process it. There are no happy endings here, but the ending was a necessary one.

Only Ever Yours is worth a read no matter what your age, but if you know any teenagers you should give them a copy immediately.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

I’ve linked to some of Roxane Gay’s essays before. Since discovering her work in 2013, she has become one of my favourite essayists. Bad Feminist has been on my to-read list since it was released and the Kindle sale over Christmas provided the perfect opportunity to pick it up.

In parts memoir, reviews, critiques of pop culture, and comments on the state of contemporary feminism Bad Feminist switches between them all in a confident manner that highlights how everything is intertwined.

On a rational level we may know certain songs, films and/or TV shows are problematic yet we can still find ourselves drawn to them. I’m sure we’ve all got things we refer to as ‘guilty pleasures’ for this very reason.

Gay’s writing is smart, funny and well able to pack a punch when needed. I may not always agree with her conclusions, but her words often make me stop and think about things in ways that I hadn’t before. Which is what you want from a writer, right?

This is one book that I recommend you all add to your to-read lists.

Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent

“I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.”

From the opening sentence, the scene is set. Oliver Ryan has hit his wife, Alice, before. On this occasion Alice has been left in coma.

What sort of a man would psychically abuse his wife? This question is at the heart of Unravelling Oliver. As we delve deeper into the life of Oliver Ryan we realise this isn’t an easy question to answer. But then it isn’t in real life either. How many times have we heard variations on “man of good character” when it comes to violence against women?

Told from multiple points of view the story makes us question everything that Oliver has shared and the manner in which he has shared it. Even while he is sharing it. There’s Oliver, himself, described as a handsome and charismatic success story. We also hear from Barney, Michael, Eugene Stanley, Moya, Philip and Veronique. Their lives have all been affected by Oliver at some point.

For me, there are two voices missing from this book; that of Alice and Oliver’s ex-girlfriend Laura. We hear so much about them, often contradictory things, but we never hear from them which left me a little uneasy. They are the character’s that stayed with me the longest after finishing the novel and I think that’s because there is still so much about them that I don’t know.

Overall, I would recommend Unravelling Oliver. It’s full of twists and turns, Nugent’s writing is gripping and I am looking forward to whatever she has in store for us next.

The Boy That Never Was by Karen Perry

I picked up The Boy That Never Was from the library on a whim and read it in one sitting. It’s definitely a page turner.

How would you react if you left your child alone and they disappeared? That’s the central theme of The Boy That Never Was. Harry has never forgiven himself, yet Robyn has never once blamed her husband. They’ve returned to Dublin from Tangier to make a fresh start, or try to at least, but their world is turned upside down for a second time when Harry sees an eight-year-old boy in a crowd. He is convinced the boy is their son Dillon, but he disappears before Harry can do anything about it.

There is a great mix of tension and family drama. Watching Harry struggle to keep a grip on his life is not easy and I spent most of the book switching between worrying about his mental health, really disliking him and willing him on. This is not just a story about Harry though, Robyn has her own secrets. Secrets that become increasingly more difficult to keep.

The writing is fast paced without being one dimensional. Some of the more emotional scenes are beautifully written.

My only issue with The Boy That Never Was is that it tied up too many loose ends, but maybe I’m alone in liking books that leave me with questions.

Karen Perry is the pen name of Karen Gillece and Paul Perry. I don’t know how they approach writing together, but it flows so well that I didn’t even realise it was written by two people until I was finished. I’ve had difficulty with multiple authors in the past as I found the tone of writing changed too much throughout the story, but that isn’t an issue here.

Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam

I ordered a copy of Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam almost as soon as I finished reading a review by Lorraine of John, It’s Only Makeup! Any book that compels a person to read it multiple times is guaranteed a place on my to-read list and in this case I wasn’t disappointed.

“Tommie is eleven. David Lamb is fifty-four. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

With these words, written on the book’s cover, the scene is set. An accidental meeting leads to an unconventional and at times incredibly disturbing friendship between David Lamb, a middle aged man whose life doesn’t seem to be going to plan, and Tommie, a young girl whose home and school life aren’t exactly picture perfect.

Lamb decides to ‘save’ Tommie from her humdrum life and convinces her to go on a road trip with him. What follows is an experience that asks just as many questions as it answers leaving the reader not only with a knot in the pit of their stomach, but with their heart in their mouth on more than one occasion.

Nadzam has a beautiful way of writing about outdoor scenery that rivals the prose of Annie Proulx. Every word serves a purpose, there are no excesses here. In Lamb the descriptions of mountains and sky are scattered amongst a tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You know it can’t possibly end well for Lamb and Tommie, but you can’t quite figure out the moment at which it will all come crumbling down around them.

I won’t give too much away, but I will say that Lamb is a novel that stayed with me long after I turned the final page. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez

A book about perfume written by a scientist and a perfume critic is going to be boring, right? Wrong. Turin and Sanchez have a way with words that not only make the world of fragrance accessible, but also entertaining.

Perfumes The A-Z Guide introduces us to perfume criticism, takes us through the different ways we perceive feminine and masculine fragrances, teaches us how to go about choosing a new scent, and gives us a brief history of perfume. This is all before we come to the frequently asked questions section which is the most comprehensive I’ve seen anywhere. Each chapter is written with not only knowledge, but more humour than you thought possible when discussing perfume. All that’s left are the perfume reviews.

Oh, the perfume reviews. There are almost 1,500 no holds barred, if we think a perfume is awful then we’ll say just that, reviews to dip in and out of. Preceding each review is a star rating out of five, a price indication (based on the standard US retail price) and a two word description of the perfume’s main character, e.g. Alien by Thierry Mugler is described as a woody jasmine.

I’m not going to lie, I went straight to my favourite perfumes to see what Turin and Sanchez thought of them. Isabella by Isabella Rosselini is not listed and the others didn’t fare as well as I would have liked, MyQueen by Alexander McQueen received two stars (not recommended) and Alien by Thierry Mugler received three stars (good). Although it was interesting to see where our opinions differed, there is no fear of me changing my mind and we do agree that Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb is far too rosy.  I’ve said before scent is a personal thing and you like the perfumes you like even if others don’t. That’s what we love about them and is one of the reasons why there are so many on the market.

Whether you are a newcomer to, or a long time lover of, the world of fragrance there is something here for everyone. Perfumes The A-Z Guide would make a welcome addition to any book shelf or coffee table. Luca Turin’s other book The Secret of Scent is firmly on my to-read list and my to-try perfume list has almost doubled in length.

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