Willa Cather

Alyssa Harad

A successful lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with an immigrant Bohemian girl. Includes background information, a chronology of the author's life, explanatory notes, critical analyses, and other reference material.

My Antonia

Oscar Wilde

Each volume in a collection of affordable, readable editions of some of the world's greatest works of literature features a chronology of the author's life and career, a concise introduction containing valuable background information, a timeline of significant events, an outline of key plot points and themes, detailed explanatory notes, critical analyses, discussion questions, and a list of recommended books and films.

The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“It’s been a long while since I’ve read a book so luscious. This memoir about falling in love with perfume made me want to smell everything.” -Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You “A woman, I think we can all agree, should smell like herself. But which self?” Late one night near the middle of her life when all her careful plans have gone awry, Alyssa Harad stumbles across a blog devoted to reviewing perfume. She is not the kind of woman who wears perfume. But she is a reader, and the ability to describe a fragrance unfolding in the air with words seems like a magic trick. In the reviews perfume becomes a place, a person, a moment in history. Perfume becomes a story at a moment when she needs a new one. Harad follows the magical trail of scent from a private museum of rare essences in Austin, Texas, to the glamorous fragrance showrooms of Manhattan, and finally to a homecoming in Boise, Idaho—undoing and expanding her understanding of gender, femininity, pleasure and identity along the way. Candid, elegant, insightful, full of lush description and gentle humor, Coming to My Senses reveals the intimate connections between our senses and our selves.

A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride

Coming to My Senses

Henrick Ibsen

A Doll's House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder

Four Great Plays of Henrik Ibsen

A sudden love affair with fragrance leads to sensual awakening, self-transformation, and an unexpected homecoming At thirty-six—earnest, bookish, terminally shopping averse—Alyssa Harad thinks she knows herself. Then one day she stumbles on a perfume review blog and, surprised by her seduction by such a girly extravagance, she reads in secret. But one trip to the mall and several dozen perfume samples later, she is happily obsessed with the seductive underworld of scent and the brilliant, quirky people she meets there. If only she could put off planning her wedding a little longer. . . . Thus begins a life-changing journey that takes Harad from a private perfume laboratory in Austin, Texas, to the glamorous fragrance showrooms of New York City and a homecoming in Boise, Idaho, with the women who watched her grow up. With warmth and humor, Harad traces the way her unexpected passion helps her open new frontiers and reclaim traditions she had rejected. Full of lush description, this intimate memoir celebrates the many ways there are to come to our senses.

Alyssa Harad

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