literary yarn bomb

I spent a couple of hours yesterday trekking around Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, helping with the installation of a yarn bomb.  The yarn bombing was organized by the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Historic Fund, which runs the cemetery's tour program, as part of their second-Sundays program.¹ Today's programs includes a "fashion show" tour of the yarn bombing and, later in the afternoon, a wildlife/nature tour.

I also made Russell come along.  Here he is at Washington Irving's grave.  Tombstone cozy (in colors of the American flag since WI was America's first professional writer) not knit by me.

I mostly contributed mittens to the project.  I knit mittens for a Jesus statue, whose fingers are long lost (project on Ravelry).

and a set of three pairs for a group of children who died falling through some ice in winter.  Each section of their tombstone features a different flower (lily, rose, violet), which dictated the color choice for the mittens (projects on Ravelry: lily, rose, violet).

I also donated an unloved scarf to the cause (project on Ravelry).

Just to bring this back to the literary -
In addition to being buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  Irving played an important role in the establishment of the now-famous cemetery.  He named it, or more accurately he petitioned for its name to be changed from "Tarrytown Cemetery" to "Sleepy Hollow Cemetery."

1. Obviously today is the 3rd Sunday of February, but we had a visit from Nemo last weekend which called for a rescheduling.

Sleepy Hollow (in The Book of Lost Fragrances)

I mentioned in this post that Sleepy Hollow appears in M.J. Rose's The Book of Lost Fragrances. It's focus is on the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery:

Forty-five minutes later the aroma of towering pines and newly blooming redbud trees informed Jac they'd reached the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, nestled in the lush Hudson River Valley. [...]
For the last 160 years, all of her mother's family had been buried in this Victorian cemetery that sat high on a ridge overlooking the Pocantico River. Having so many relatives in this overgrown memorial park made her feel strangely at home. [...] (28-29)

Oh, how this passage perplexes me particularly since, according to her bio, M.J. Rose lives in Connecticut and so could have easily visited the landmark.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is indeed "nestled in the lush Hudson River Valley," but while said valley has some pines, they do not dominate the landscape and scent the air (particularly when driving on route 9, the only way to get to the cemetery). In fact the trees in the area are primarily deciduous. As for redbud trees, I've never noticed them, but I will pay attention come spring. Apparently they are native to the area though.

The Pocantico River "meander[s] gently just a few steps away" from part of the cemetery, but the cemetery isn't high on a ridge overlooking anything (well, the large mausoleum overlooks route 9, I suppose).

The "overgrown memorial park" combined with mentions of winding roads that I didn't include in the quote above, makes the cemetery sound enormous. It's 85 acres, which isn't particularly big especially for a suburban cemetery. By way of comparison Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is 400 acres, Forest Lawn in Buffalo is 250 acres, and Arlington is 624 acres.

I'm sure that I sound unnecessarily critical and nickpicky here, but I'm just disappointed (and I did succeed in resisting the urge to pick at the use of "Victorian"). It wouldn't have been difficult to write a more accurate description of the cemetery and its environs and that would have made all the difference to me.

scent and a review of The Book of Lost Fragrances

I reviewed Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent almost exactly two years ago (see review). Since then I've nearly finished a bottle of Hermés' Un Jardin sur le Nil, one of the perfumes whose development Burr chronicles in the book, and developed a fascination with perfume. Reading about perfume can be quit difficult because it requires fragrance vocabulary (chypre? that means: with citrus top notes and woodsy base notes) and an extensive flavor knowledge (vetiver? that's a grass native to India; no idea what it smells like) in order to describe something that is highly experiential. I follow a number of fragrance blogs and make note of perfumes that sound like something I might like, but I'll admit that it really still is all Greek to me. I'm beginning to figure out how scents I enjoy are commonly described, but I'd never be able to a purchase a perfume scent unsniffed.

A week or two ago my friend Nancy (another fragrance enthusiast) pointed me to author M.J. Rose's new book, The Book of Lost Fragrances, and the fact that individuals who preorder it can get a free sample of a perfume inspired by the novel (this promotion ends March 1, details here). I really love the fact that there is a fragrance tie-in to this book and I think it might actually get me to preorder the book if I had a budget for personal book acquisition and made a practice of buying hardcovers when they first came out. I'd already requested a review copy from Atria Books, a Simon and Schuster imprint, via NetGalley so I decided that I'd read it sooner rather than later.

The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

After the death of their father, Robert and Jacinthe L'Etoile inherit the family's distinguished perfume house, which is on the brink of financial ruin. Tensions between the siblings are high. Jac wants to sell two of the house's signature fragrances to keep the business afloat, while Robbie believes that he can find another way to save the struggling firm.

Family lore holds that a L'Etoile ancestor traveled to Egypt where he found a book formulas from Cleopatra's fragrance factory, which included a soul-mate perfume. When Robbie disappears after discovering what seems to be an priceless antiquity in their father's studio, ever-sceptical Jac is forced to consider the fact that the ancient memory aid might be more than just a legend and that people are willing to kill for it.

The novel's prologue takes the form of a 2007 newspaper article about a new regulation issued by China's State Administration for Religious Affairs that bans the reincarnation of Tibet's living Buddhas without permission. The Book of Lost Fragrances' narrative follows a number of different characters including a few Chinese and Tibetan throughout, but the direct connection to House of L'Etoile is made when Robbie, a practicing Buddhist, announces his plan to give the artifact to the Dalai Llama.

The Book of Lost Fragrances is compelling reading, but I think that it could have been better. I don't mind the choppy narrative, that happens when perspective changes as often as it did, but there seemed to be a bit too much in the way of digression which is problematic in a thriller where tension is so important. Additionally some things about the plot felt forced or too convenient and some of the twists were obvious to me quite far off.

I did like extent to which scent was incorporated into the story and I loved that the siblings had a special scent language that they developed as children. I also appreciated the author's note, in which Rose separates fact from fiction.

There's a description of Sleepy Hollow that I'll highlight in a separate post.

The Book of Lost Fragrances will be released in mid March.

disclosure: I received a review copy of The Book of Lost Fragrances from Atria Books via NetGalley.

this little valley: an update

"If I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal away from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley" (Washington Irving, Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

Some you know already know this and others may have speculated based on this post, but the big news is that I have a new job. I'm moving back to the area in which I grew up, the same area referenced in the Irving quote above. That (and the stress of leaving one job and starting another and weeding and packing our possessions) is why I have been neglecting the blog. I won't be fully settled until next month, but I am going to make an effort to begin blogging more regularly.

As I told my friend Nancy, the fact that I haven't been posting is really no one's loss as I've been reading a lot less than usual lately and what I have been reading is for the most part nothing to write home about.