My Feelings Exactly

I tried to explain to someone why I love the little cluttered used book store in our town. I told her that "I just love the way books smell." It's hard to describe, and she laughed at me "The way books smell?" I DO love the ways books smell, but not new books, Barnes & Noble doesn't smell like books to me. The scent I love, and sometimes crave is how I'd imagine the "library" in one of those old Victorian mansions would smell like. It's a combination of leather, parchment and glue. I don't even know how to explain it to you. Today I was reading a book and found the perfect way to describe it, someone really does understand how I feel about the way books smell. "A warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She's always loved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled." That is from a teen book called Fallen by Lauren Kate. I don't know why I felt like sharing that little thought, but it so encompassed how I feel about the smell of books I just had to share it.