I love M.J.s time travel series. I don't know how else to title them; but I love reading between different time periods and finding myself in a different place and space through her subtle time transitions.

This story was particularly interesting to me as my reading coincided with switching my work place to Brooklyn. As I would get off the subway at the Atlantic Avenue train station and walk down Atlantic Avenue I would pass store after store of middle eastern fragrance stores.

M.J. does great research and by the end of her story - you've unraveled multiple tales as well as learned a lot about the history of location as well as subject.

The Book of Lost Fragrances was rated 4,4,3.5,3,2,3. (Sharon was not there.) That is all I wrote down! Now for what I remember: While most of us found the book interesting, it was also a bit confusing at times. The change in story locations and time periods seemed to be a bit of a problem. Most of us liked the historical aspects of the story -- Cleopatra, Egypt, sewers of Paris, skeletons, etc. We found it interesting that Jac believed in mythology but not reincarnation. That led to a discussion of reincarnation and how a Christian could accept the idea of it. Dorothy told us about Dr. Brian Weiss's book Many Lives, Many Masters that tells about his patients who had unresolved issues from a previous life. The Book of Lost Fragrances had many different conflicts going on at the same time. The Chinese involvement seemed a bit odd and almost as if it had been put in and connected to the story, but not well-thought out by the author. We had a lively discussion on what scents triggered memories for each of us. Many had special perfumes they loved to wear!