New smells

I like getting new stuff. It's fun. It's exciting.
There's something very nice about going to a store, browsing for the item you want and then taking it home. Once you get home there's all that excitement again.
"Oh boy! Now I get to check out my brand new multimeter! What should I test it on"?
"Hey look what I picked up today! A brand new ice cream scoop! Lets go buy some ice cream so we can check it out"!
Well, one of the things that I enjoy getting the most is books.
I love books. I like owning a lot of books. I like reading books. I like looking at my bookshelves and enjoying the sight of all of those books, my books sitting there. I've read them all, and they are all there if I want to read them again.
I'm not too picky about the kinds of books that I buy (not genre, kind. Genre is a different matter, perhaps for another post) new or used, I like buying books. A book is very intriguing. It's a closed object. You're not really sure what's inside, and you can't wait to sit down and start reading it. It's such a small and compact object, but it holds so much promise! Adventure, romance, fantasy, fiction, history, horror, suspense... whatever it is, the book will deliver. A book is a comfortably complete object.
But I especially like buying new books. There's a nice feeling inside when you walk out of the store with a brand new book. It still has that fresh feeling, the spine isn't creased and there are no smudges on the pages.
But what I especially like about new books is the smell.
That smell you get in bookstores is nice. There are two kinds, there's the new-bookstore smell which is slightly sterile, but promising. And then there's the second-hand-bookstore smell. That smells of must, old pages and memories. The smell of good times had and good times to be had.
Both of those are nice smells, but they can't compete with the smell of a brand new book.
I like to open it up a little and just smell the inside of the binding. The smell of glue and paper that hasn't been around. The smell of an adventure just waiting to happen from the comfort of your armchair. The smell of a new beginning and promises of a great ending.
They should make car fresheners that smell like new books. You know those trees or other shapes that hang from the rear view mirror? They should make one that smells like a new book.
None of this pine tree or strawberry crap. If I wanted to smell nature I wouldn't be driving in my car with the AC on, I'd be outside enjoying nature. Cars shouldn't smell of nature but of something pleasant but neutral. Something with a promise of fun.
Like the smell of a new book.
But I can't see them making one like that any time soon. Until then I'll have to make do. If you see somebody driving around with a book hanging from the rear view mirror, wave, it's probably me.