Diptyque TAM DAO Eau de parfum ($220, discovery set $130) \u2014 I recently walked into Diptyque on Prince Street after spending the day reading in Washington Square Park. Possessed by the \u201CI deserve a little treat\u201D demon, I left the store with this scent in a bag. Worth it. Their entire range is beautiful and you can even customize discovery sets (puts a little extra thoughtfulness as a gift) but, being unflinchingly about the woody-spicy, Tam Dao was it.
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva ($28) \u2014 I\u2019ve been revisiting a lot of writing on abjection, grotesque, and feminine sublime. At the same time, I have also been recommending them a lot more to others because of this bubbling cultural interest in feral girls and scary movies. This Julia Kristeva is pretty seminal for the monstrous\u2014or monstrous-curious\u2014person in your life. If you want to build out a starter kit, add Barbara Creed, Mary Russo, and Elizabeth Grosz. I think we all need to aspire to be more Cronenberg-style demented.