84 Charing Cross Road- Helene Hanff 5/5 This is an incredibly charming book and was even a literary sensation that I didn’t really ever know about. More about that in the follow up. The set up is that Helene Hanff, a television screenwriter with a love of nonfiction, especially British diaries, writes letters to a British book shop asking for various books. As she gets her books, as she writes her thanks, and as the book shop returns her correspondence, a relationship develops especially […]
A lovely little treat for any book lover.
This afternoon it was hot as blazes out and the kids wanted to go to the park. So first, we stopped at the library, and I picked up this slim, little volume. I read the entire thing while they ran around, and am now thinking about heading back to the library so I can get my hands on Hanff’s “sequel,” The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. Helene Hanff tells a simple story through letters that she exchanged with a Frank Doel, a book dealer in London. […]
A love letter to books and readers
My brother’s English major cohort read 84, Charing Cross Road for their book club last fall, and I was intrigued. I’m always interested in what other book clubs are doing, and I often will read what other people read, because I’m one of those highly social people who is all about talking about books with other people who like books. Cannonball Read is my kind of hangout (although the Extrovert in me would *love* an in-person meet). But back to 84, Charing Cross Road. Helene […]
Books, Books, and More Books
I kept seeing this book pop up on bookish friend’s lists and recommendations. It’s very, very short so I decided to give it a go. It was a lovely little book, but I’m not sure it deserves the level of fawning and adulation I’ve heard some people give it. Still, at 97 pages, you don’t have much to lose by trying it. The book documents the decades long love affair between an American woman (Helene Hanff) and a British bookshop (Marks & Co.). The story […]