As someone who reads voraciously (more than a 100 books per year) and finds comfort in bookstores, I'm always ashamed to admit that I despite how older books, particularly paperbacks, smell. They just smell...well, old, and grossly musty, and mildly uncomfortable.

But a lot of stuff geared toward readers mentions that "pleasant" aroma of, I dunno, mothballs and dust and lost time. Poetic terms that kinda encompass mold. Someone once gave me a freaking candle for old-book-smell. I just don't understand.

Any opinions on this matter? Am I a disgrace to the reading community?