Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

You’ve heard of Queen for a Day? This is Duchess for a Month.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

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CBR 17 BINGO: School, because Helene has Trinity and Oriel Colleges in Oxford on her must-see list and has a hissy fit when she almost doesn’t get to see them BINGO: School, Diaspora, G, Border, Work One of the surprising benefits of stumbling upon a beautiful, used copy of 84, Charing Cross Road is that it prompted me to read Helene Hanff’s follow-up memoir, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. I hadn’t known this book existed until very recently. Apparently, after 84, Charing Cross Road was […]

Books about books are the best kinds of books

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

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CBR 17 BINGO: Favorite (revisiting this old favorite for Bingo) BINGO: Favorite, Red, Family, Border, Green Visiting local bookshops is standard practice whenever my husband and I go on vacation. Recently in Vancouver, we wandered into a store called MacLeod’s Books, which is one of those places where you can easily get lost among the piles. Books are roughly organized into genres, but each section is overwhelmed with stacks and stacks of volumes spilling over from the shelves. This is the type of place where […]

“All my life I’ve wanted to see London. I wanted to see London the way old people want to see home before they die.”

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

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Next up, a lovely companion to 84, Charing Cross Road. It’s the early 1970s and Helene Hanff has finally made it across the pond to accomplish her dream trip to London, thanks to the success of the previous book. In this travelogue of her stay we’re treated to Hanff’s particular voice as she soaks in a place that has been calling to her for longer than the decades of her correspondence with Frank Doel.  In some ways I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, […]

“If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.”

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

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When I started writing this review, I could not have told you what made me put 84, Charing Cross Road onto my to-read list back in August 2015. So, then I did what I usually do in that scenario and checked the Cannonball Read archives to see if there was a review that launched it onto my list and sure enough, there were two in 2015 – one by scootsa1000 and another by yesknopemaybe that sealed the deal for me. While it took me 9 years […]

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street – Helene Hanff (1973)

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

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Not quite as lovely as 84 Charing Cross, but charming in its own right. The first book is just a perfect little book that lives in its gaps. What we learn and what we know feel like gifts and the spaces between the years allow for life to continue on. That book was a series of letters between consummate New Yorker Helene Hanff who can’t get her hands on obscure and wonderful English books that she wants to read. So she begins a correspondence with […]

Threepeat

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Some books, you read more than once. In this case, I’m going to tell you about three of those. You’ve probably read Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road. (If you haven’t, do.) But you might not have read her other books. I have, and they’re all worth multiple reads. I’m highlighting two here (and a third book by another author). Q’s Legacy is Hanff’s account of how she became and stayed a writer. While 84 and its sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, are delightful […]



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