warehouse

I've always worked around books, and I love the smell of new books. It's not as evident in the bookstore or in the library, where the books quickly start to gather dust and that's an entirely different kind of smell. But for a time I worked in the warehouse of a publishing company and I received skids of books fresh from the printing house.

This week at the district resource centre where I work, the same thing is happening: books are being delivered, piled in boxes on skids wrapped in plastic. The smell of new paper and fresh glue oozes from the boxes, permeates the air and intoxicates. It transports me back to another time and another place.