Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Time Warner Paperbacks (1992), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 192 pages
Description
This book is the very simple story of the love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London'. DAILY TELEGRAPH Told in a series of letters in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD and then in diary form in the second part THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET, this true story has touched the hearts of thousands.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ChocolateMuse
When it arrived in the post, I peeked at the first page, as one does, to get a sense of it. Next thing I knew I was halfway through the book. I finished it almost in one sitting; which may well be the best way to read this exquisite gem - as something unexpected, sudden, and all at once. This has
Helene Hanff says a few times in her letters to her bookseller that she's not interested in most fiction, or in secondhand accounts. She wants the I-was-there stuff. This little book is exactly that, and it's perfect.
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American exuberance meeting British reserve and developing, purely by letters, into a most perfect friendship. Helene Hanff says a few times in her letters to her bookseller that she's not interested in most fiction, or in secondhand accounts. She wants the I-was-there stuff. This little book is exactly that, and it's perfect.
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LibraryThing member BookJumper
This is the first book I've finished this year since Jasper Fforde's "Lost in a Good Book" in February. My concentration and free time have been non-existent, which didn't help with my university-ingrained need to close read every. single. full. stop. in. a. book. I think it is very telling that
The subject matter (the twenty-year correspondence between Helene Hanff, struggling NY scriptwriter and Frank Doel, poised London bookseller) is as brittle as it is beautiful, so I won't spoil the sparse human events that pepper this tale of literary friendship. Make sure void all blurbs and introductions - which, assuming we are all more informed than we actually are, don't think twice about telling us how the story ends. Just read the thing.
I defy you not to have a lump firmly lodged in your throat when you reach the end. I know I did, even though I'd been preparing myself for it from page 1. This isn't a book which will have you in fits of laughter, or bawling your way through wads of Kleenex; it is the kind of book that has you constantly see-sawing between subtle grinning and eye-brimming.
I am not one to bandy the word "delightful" around the place (so few things nowadays are), but I think that's possibly the only word capable of encapsulating this book. I am happy that, on a whim, I purchased this in the beautiful textile hardcover Virago edition - I know I'll treasure this slim volume forever. I have found kindred spirits in Helene and Frank, ones that I'm loath to let go. The book, while giving me so much, also took a sizeable chunk out of me - having finished it mere moments ago and rushed to type up my thoughts and impressions, I'm simultaneously euphoric and depressed. I suppose I'll just have to read it again to find that chunk once more.
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with all the good books I've picked up and drifted away from since February, this is the one I put my foot down about finishing. For, this isn't just a good book - it's a great book.The subject matter (the twenty-year correspondence between Helene Hanff, struggling NY scriptwriter and Frank Doel, poised London bookseller) is as brittle as it is beautiful, so I won't spoil the sparse human events that pepper this tale of literary friendship. Make sure void all blurbs and introductions - which, assuming we are all more informed than we actually are, don't think twice about telling us how the story ends. Just read the thing.
I defy you not to have a lump firmly lodged in your throat when you reach the end. I know I did, even though I'd been preparing myself for it from page 1. This isn't a book which will have you in fits of laughter, or bawling your way through wads of Kleenex; it is the kind of book that has you constantly see-sawing between subtle grinning and eye-brimming.
I am not one to bandy the word "delightful" around the place (so few things nowadays are), but I think that's possibly the only word capable of encapsulating this book. I am happy that, on a whim, I purchased this in the beautiful textile hardcover Virago edition - I know I'll treasure this slim volume forever. I have found kindred spirits in Helene and Frank, ones that I'm loath to let go. The book, while giving me so much, also took a sizeable chunk out of me - having finished it mere moments ago and rushed to type up my thoughts and impressions, I'm simultaneously euphoric and depressed. I suppose I'll just have to read it again to find that chunk once more.
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LibraryThing member elliepotten
My copy of this book included both '84, Charing Cross Road' and 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.' In terms of the former, I am definitely drawn to books that are witty, charming, and full of, well, books - so this, er, book, a compilation of letters between two witty, charming people brought
Now to 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street'. Unfortunately, this one didn't blow me away. Sadly Frank Doel died, putting an end to the pair's refreshing correspondence. After years of promising herself she'd get there, 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street' sees Hanff finally making her pilgrimage to London. Suddenly in demand after the publication of '84, Charing Cross Road', Hanff's opportunity arises when a British publisher decides to take up the book and asks her to visit London to do some publicity work for the launch. This sequel is her diary of her weeks in England, seeing the sights, visiting the closed-down store she had written to for so long, and, perhaps most importantly, meeting Frank's widow Nora and daughter Sheila at last.
Perhaps because her letters are so pithy and giggle-inducingly funny, her lengthier prose disappointed me a little - though her astute observations and ready humour were still in evidence. It was interesting seeing the London of the Seventies through the eyes of an American visitor, particularly since Hanff had romanticised the city for so long, but it definitely fell a bit flat for me. Perhaps because I'm too young to remember the times, perhaps because I'm not an American looking in at English life, perhaps because I've only been to London a couple of times and barely know it at all, perhaps because the bookish world of '84, Charing Cross Road' was something I understood so inherently... whatever the reason, it wasn't a patch on its predecessor. I'll be keeping it because both books are contained within the one volume, but I'm glad I didn't buy it separately expecting more of the same sparkle.
I gave the first section 5 stars, the second 3, hence my overall verdict of 4 stars. Now I'm looking forward to watching the movie, which I hear is wonderful and which I am fervently hoping will become a firm favourite!
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together by, yes, books, fits the bill perfectly! Helene Hanff wrote to the Marks & Co. bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road for twenty years, acquiring all kinds of books from them without ever leaving her typewriter. In doing so she broke down the reserve of Frank Doel, her chief correspondent and buyer at the bookshop, and formed friendships with everyone from his wife to his colleagues to his elderly neighbour. Her generosity and wit charmed her English friends just as they charm readers still. Although the book is short, it is just delicious to read, putting a happy smile on the reader's face on every page. It evokes nostalgia for the 'good old days' of bookselling, and I could almost smell the dusty pages as Helene opened each new package, freshly arrived from England. I just wish there were more letters remaining from those years to make for a longer book! Now to 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street'. Unfortunately, this one didn't blow me away. Sadly Frank Doel died, putting an end to the pair's refreshing correspondence. After years of promising herself she'd get there, 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street' sees Hanff finally making her pilgrimage to London. Suddenly in demand after the publication of '84, Charing Cross Road', Hanff's opportunity arises when a British publisher decides to take up the book and asks her to visit London to do some publicity work for the launch. This sequel is her diary of her weeks in England, seeing the sights, visiting the closed-down store she had written to for so long, and, perhaps most importantly, meeting Frank's widow Nora and daughter Sheila at last.
Perhaps because her letters are so pithy and giggle-inducingly funny, her lengthier prose disappointed me a little - though her astute observations and ready humour were still in evidence. It was interesting seeing the London of the Seventies through the eyes of an American visitor, particularly since Hanff had romanticised the city for so long, but it definitely fell a bit flat for me. Perhaps because I'm too young to remember the times, perhaps because I'm not an American looking in at English life, perhaps because I've only been to London a couple of times and barely know it at all, perhaps because the bookish world of '84, Charing Cross Road' was something I understood so inherently... whatever the reason, it wasn't a patch on its predecessor. I'll be keeping it because both books are contained within the one volume, but I'm glad I didn't buy it separately expecting more of the same sparkle.
I gave the first section 5 stars, the second 3, hence my overall verdict of 4 stars. Now I'm looking forward to watching the movie, which I hear is wonderful and which I am fervently hoping will become a firm favourite!
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LibraryThing member Luli81
This edition contains Hanff's letters to Mark and Co sellers and its sequel "The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street". Both books are unusual and delicate treasures for book lovers.
The first book contains the letters Miss Hanff wrote to Mark and Co second hand bookshop, and specially, to Frank, one of
Helene letters were fresh, witty and they lacked the correct demeanour that her British correspondents required, a fact that gets more and more obvious as the years pass by. She finally breaks though the inflexible English composure and a real friendship emerges from her initial business letters.
The second part is an account of Hanff's stay in London where she is finally able to travel to England and see with her own eyes everything she has read about the country and its great writers, always with smart and funny remarks and that dry sense of humour of her, also present in her letters.
What can I say? I finished the book in one sitting and I felt I wanted more of that letters...it's easy to get carried away and read between those lines. You have to feel something special to maintain such correspondence with a complete stranger, someone you've never met. The fact that these letters were real makes the story even more compelling and, for once, we have proof that something magic can come out of our everyday lives, we just have to be aware of the little miracles happening all around us.
Some quotations from the book:
""Anachronism" implies something long dead, and nothing is dead here. History, as they say, is alive and well and living in London."
"I am so tired of being told what a terrible place New York is to live in by people who don't live there."
"...Shaw once observed, we are two countries divided by a common language."
" In London you shoo them away by talking to them. In New York talking to them would just get you their life stories."
The first book contains the letters Miss Hanff wrote to Mark and Co second hand bookshop, and specially, to Frank, one of
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the sellers there, for more than 20 years. Through the letters we are offered a real glimpse of what would have been like a post war life in Britain and also the attitude of American and British people regarding the historical moments they were living.Helene letters were fresh, witty and they lacked the correct demeanour that her British correspondents required, a fact that gets more and more obvious as the years pass by. She finally breaks though the inflexible English composure and a real friendship emerges from her initial business letters.
The second part is an account of Hanff's stay in London where she is finally able to travel to England and see with her own eyes everything she has read about the country and its great writers, always with smart and funny remarks and that dry sense of humour of her, also present in her letters.
What can I say? I finished the book in one sitting and I felt I wanted more of that letters...it's easy to get carried away and read between those lines. You have to feel something special to maintain such correspondence with a complete stranger, someone you've never met. The fact that these letters were real makes the story even more compelling and, for once, we have proof that something magic can come out of our everyday lives, we just have to be aware of the little miracles happening all around us.
Some quotations from the book:
""Anachronism" implies something long dead, and nothing is dead here. History, as they say, is alive and well and living in London."
"I am so tired of being told what a terrible place New York is to live in by people who don't live there."
"...Shaw once observed, we are two countries divided by a common language."
" In London you shoo them away by talking to them. In New York talking to them would just get you their life stories."
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LibraryThing member VictoriaLouiseHill
A book for book lovers and book shop lovers. Helene Hanff, a poor New York-based writer with an antiquarian taste in books, writes to a specialist bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road, London, seeking to fill the gaps on her shelves.
Their business correspondence develops into a funny, sometimes
This edition also contains The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff's account of her much desired - and much delayed, trip to London, finally achieved thanks to the success of 84 Charing Cross Road.
A book to curl up with on the sofa when you are ill, tired or feeling discouraged with the world - or when you have received one too many bland and soulless communications in the post or, in this day and age, via e-mail.
Their business correspondence develops into a funny, sometimes
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acerbic and ultimately moving relationship, as letters, gifts and, of course, books, make their way across the Atlantic over a period of 20 years. This edition also contains The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff's account of her much desired - and much delayed, trip to London, finally achieved thanks to the success of 84 Charing Cross Road.
A book to curl up with on the sofa when you are ill, tired or feeling discouraged with the world - or when you have received one too many bland and soulless communications in the post or, in this day and age, via e-mail.
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LibraryThing member thorold
There are 90 reviews of 84 Charing Cross Roadon LT already, so not much point in saying that it is a little treasure. Everyone knows that by now!
I found this paperback in a bargain box and bought it, as I either never had a copy of my own or have mislaid it somewhere. When I got it home, I found
When you put this book side-by-side with the flimsiness of the recent Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society, you do begin to see the point of Hanff's dislike of "stories". What a shame she didn't take up that invitation from the Marks & Co. secretaries to go on holiday to the Channel Islands with them in 1950 and spare Mary-Anne Shaffer the trouble of writing her version!
I found this paperback in a bargain box and bought it, as I either never had a copy of my own or have mislaid it somewhere. When I got it home, I found
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that the publishers had sneaked in Hanff's follow-up, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (the diary of her visit to London to launch the UK edition of 84 Charing Cross Road), as a filler to bulk the book up to the required number of pages, without troubling to mention this on the cover. It's the first time I've had the chance to read them both together, and it does add to the enjoyment. We learn a bit more about Hanff's background and the reasons for her interest in 17th and 18th century essayists and poets, and we get to share her pleasure in discovering London and teasing a few more Londoners. Joyce Grenfell puts in a cameo appearance as an early 84 Charing Cross Road fan, which is somehow fitting. When you put this book side-by-side with the flimsiness of the recent Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society, you do begin to see the point of Hanff's dislike of "stories". What a shame she didn't take up that invitation from the Marks & Co. secretaries to go on holiday to the Channel Islands with them in 1950 and spare Mary-Anne Shaffer the trouble of writing her version!
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LibraryThing member tandah
Whilst I really enjoyed 84 Charing Cross Road, I enjoyed The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street even more. What a wonderful description of all that is wonderful about London and whilst some of the social mores have evolved, the history (and weather) are a constant. Prior to reading these books, thought
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they were fiction, didn't realise they were a memoir. Whilst I new the book, I'd never heard of Helene Hanff, and I think she and the people her book attracted to her, are just wonderful. Show Less
LibraryThing member Figgles
These two books make a perfect pair - firstly the correspondence between the author (in New York) and an antiquarian bookseller in London - as she seeks an education and finds unlikely friendships. The second tells of how she finally can travel to London (partly thanks to the financial success of
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the first book), and the friends she makes there. Read them after "Underfoot in Show Business"... Show Less
LibraryThing member mazda502001
What an absolutely delightful book this is. I don't know why I haven't read it before. I just flew through it and wished it could just go on and on telling us more about Helene's life.
Back Cover Blurb:
This book is the very simple story of the love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and
Back Cover Blurb:
This book is the very simple story of the love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and
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Messrs Marks and Co., sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London. Show Less
LibraryThing member Fluffyblue
Excellent book (this particular one contained two books - 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street). Highly intelligent, very witty (in a dry way if you like that kind of thing), but very warm. Helene Hanff comes across as a wonderfully amusing person.
LibraryThing member readingwithtea
"I have implicit faith in the U.S. Airmail and His Majesty's Postal Service"
Miss Helene Hanff, struggling writer, sends a missive to a second-hand bookshop in London asking for clean second-hand copies of a few books for under $5.00, and from this simple request, a Transatlantic friendship of
This is a slim volume - even in a double edition with its sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury St, it barely runs to 200 pages. Nevertheless, the characters are beautiful - innocent, good-hearted, and all the better for being real, including sweet Cecily, who timidly includes a note:
"Dear Miss Hanff, Please don't let Frank know I'm writing this but every time I send you a bill I've been dying to slip in a little note and he might not think it quite proper of me... We all love your letters and try to imagine what you must be like. I've decided you're young and very sophisticated and smart-looking..."
and teaches Helene how to make Yorkshire pudding, by correspondence.
Hanff's letters are full of sweet comedy (capitalisation or lack thereof is as printed - all the better for imagining her pecking away at her typewriter):
"Will you please translate your prices hereafter? I don't add too well in plain American, I haven't a prayer of ever mastering bilingual arithmetic."
"Frank Doel, what are you DOING over there, you are not doing ANYthing, you are just sitting AROUND... you leave me sitting here writing long margin notes in library books that don't belong to me, some day they'll find out i did it and take my library card away. I have made arrangements with the Easter bunny to bring you an Egg, he will get over there and find you have died of Inertia."
(I love the capitalisation as emphasis rendered by a typewriter.)
"WELL!!! All I have to say to YOU, Frank Doel, is we live in depraved, destructive and degenerate times when a bookshop - a BOOKSHOP - starts tearing up beautiful old books to use as wrapping paper. I said to John Henry when he stepped out of it... You tore that book up in the middle of a major battle and I don't even know which war it was."
"YOU'VE BEEN PUBLISHING THESE MAMMOTH CATALOGUES ALL THESE YEARS AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER BOTHERED TO SEND ME ONE? THOU VARLET? Don't remember which restoration playwright called everybody a Varlet, i always wanted to use it in a sentence."
Not a long or taxing read, but a beautiful one. I can't wait to see the movie, which is supposed to be excellent.
Miss Helene Hanff, struggling writer, sends a missive to a second-hand bookshop in London asking for clean second-hand copies of a few books for under $5.00, and from this simple request, a Transatlantic friendship of
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almost 20 years is born. Letters fly back and forth, Hanff haranguing the staff for not finding her a particular copy of the New Testament, Mr Frank Doel responding in cordial British every time with some new offering. Hanff's desire to see "the England of English literature" and the bookshop staff's gratitude for her post-war gifts are palpable.This is a slim volume - even in a double edition with its sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury St, it barely runs to 200 pages. Nevertheless, the characters are beautiful - innocent, good-hearted, and all the better for being real, including sweet Cecily, who timidly includes a note:
"Dear Miss Hanff, Please don't let Frank know I'm writing this but every time I send you a bill I've been dying to slip in a little note and he might not think it quite proper of me... We all love your letters and try to imagine what you must be like. I've decided you're young and very sophisticated and smart-looking..."
and teaches Helene how to make Yorkshire pudding, by correspondence.
Hanff's letters are full of sweet comedy (capitalisation or lack thereof is as printed - all the better for imagining her pecking away at her typewriter):
"Will you please translate your prices hereafter? I don't add too well in plain American, I haven't a prayer of ever mastering bilingual arithmetic."
"Frank Doel, what are you DOING over there, you are not doing ANYthing, you are just sitting AROUND... you leave me sitting here writing long margin notes in library books that don't belong to me, some day they'll find out i did it and take my library card away. I have made arrangements with the Easter bunny to bring you an Egg, he will get over there and find you have died of Inertia."
(I love the capitalisation as emphasis rendered by a typewriter.)
"WELL!!! All I have to say to YOU, Frank Doel, is we live in depraved, destructive and degenerate times when a bookshop - a BOOKSHOP - starts tearing up beautiful old books to use as wrapping paper. I said to John Henry when he stepped out of it... You tore that book up in the middle of a major battle and I don't even know which war it was."
"YOU'VE BEEN PUBLISHING THESE MAMMOTH CATALOGUES ALL THESE YEARS AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER BOTHERED TO SEND ME ONE? THOU VARLET? Don't remember which restoration playwright called everybody a Varlet, i always wanted to use it in a sentence."
Not a long or taxing read, but a beautiful one. I can't wait to see the movie, which is supposed to be excellent.
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LibraryThing member horacewimsey
A cult classic, and for good reason. Helene Hanff sends off a letter to a London bookshop. Frank Doel responds. She sends another letter. He responds. And so begins a friendship that lasts a lifetime. A very good read. The book is actually the letters between Hanff and Doel.
LibraryThing member jonsweitzerlamme
An immensely sweet and charming little book.
LibraryThing member john257hopper
The main story is a moving exchange of letters over a period of twenty years between the American author and Frank Doel, a staff member in a London bookshop, requesting and being sent books, and exchanging news on their lives. The correspondence is terminated suddenly by Frank's death. Wonderful
This volume also contains the author's Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, her account of her eventual visit to London two years after Frank's death. This was less immediately interesting, though accounts of travellers' cultural assumptions about places they visit are always amusing. 4/5
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reading for any bibliophile. Ms Hanff did strike me as rather rude and arrogant in the early letters, but I think this may be an American v. British thing.This volume also contains the author's Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, her account of her eventual visit to London two years after Frank's death. This was less immediately interesting, though accounts of travellers' cultural assumptions about places they visit are always amusing. 4/5
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LibraryThing member tututhefirst
A quick short, special read. The correspondence of a single female writer living in New York in the 1950=60's with a British bookseller, where the country was still undergoing great hardship after WWII. She sent them baskets of food, they sent her books. The endearing letters show a developing
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friendship between people who had never met, but who shared a love of literature and good books. A must read for anyone who loves to read about books, and booksellers. Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
This charming book is a record of the correspondence between an American author, Helen Hanff, and antiquarian bookshop in London called Marks & Co. This correspondence begun after Hanff saw an advert for them, where they declared themselves as specialists in acquiring out of print books. Her first
The manager of the shop, Frank Doel, dealt with her order sending her some of the books on her list, and formally replying to her letter. This was the start of a relationship that was to last 20 years in the end. She was delighted with her purchases, and quickly replied with payment and a further list of books that she desired. Being American she was not used to the formality either, asking, I hope ‘madam’ doesn’t mean over there what it means over here...
After World War II when Britain was still in the grip of austerity and rationing, and having heard about this she generously sent the staff of Marks & Co a hamper, which included a large ham. She was then horrified to notice that on the invoices that one of the owners was M Cohen. A short note was hurriedly sent, apologising and offering to send an alternative. The following Easter she sent another package with real eggs in, up until now most people had had to put up with powdered eggs so this was a complete luxury. Slowly the formality was dropped, and Franke would address her as Helene; other members of staff would write to her, and even his wife, Nora.
Sadly she was not able to visit Marks & Co and see the sights of London whilst the letters were winging their way back and forwards over the Atlantic, and at the end of the Sixties she received news that Doel had passed away. She compiled these letters into a book, had them published and they became an overnight success, bring her out of the shadows of the publishing world to literary success. Publication of the book in the UK meant that she was invited over and finally got to spend time in London and other parts of the UK and met with Nora and her daughters.
I really enjoyed this book; Hanff is such a character and her boundless enthusiasm for all things literary comes across in her letters to Frank. Even though she is a hard up writer, she is generous to all the staff at the bookshop, building friendships across the Atlantic. Doel manages to lose his English reserve too as they write back and forth. One for anyone with a love of books and bookshops.
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letter was sent to them in 1949. In it she declared herself to be a badly off writer who had a taste for old books. With the letter was a list of books that she had been unable to source in New York, saying that she would be willing to pay up to $5 each for them.The manager of the shop, Frank Doel, dealt with her order sending her some of the books on her list, and formally replying to her letter. This was the start of a relationship that was to last 20 years in the end. She was delighted with her purchases, and quickly replied with payment and a further list of books that she desired. Being American she was not used to the formality either, asking, I hope ‘madam’ doesn’t mean over there what it means over here...
After World War II when Britain was still in the grip of austerity and rationing, and having heard about this she generously sent the staff of Marks & Co a hamper, which included a large ham. She was then horrified to notice that on the invoices that one of the owners was M Cohen. A short note was hurriedly sent, apologising and offering to send an alternative. The following Easter she sent another package with real eggs in, up until now most people had had to put up with powdered eggs so this was a complete luxury. Slowly the formality was dropped, and Franke would address her as Helene; other members of staff would write to her, and even his wife, Nora.
Sadly she was not able to visit Marks & Co and see the sights of London whilst the letters were winging their way back and forwards over the Atlantic, and at the end of the Sixties she received news that Doel had passed away. She compiled these letters into a book, had them published and they became an overnight success, bring her out of the shadows of the publishing world to literary success. Publication of the book in the UK meant that she was invited over and finally got to spend time in London and other parts of the UK and met with Nora and her daughters.
I really enjoyed this book; Hanff is such a character and her boundless enthusiasm for all things literary comes across in her letters to Frank. Even though she is a hard up writer, she is generous to all the staff at the bookshop, building friendships across the Atlantic. Doel manages to lose his English reserve too as they write back and forth. One for anyone with a love of books and bookshops.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
What a marvellous little book! The first half of the book is 84 Charing Cross Road, - an exchange of letters over twenty years (starting in 1949) between the author in New York and a rare-books shop in London. While the second half is Duchess of Bloomsbury, an account of the author's trip to London
I devoured both in a day, laughing out loud far too often, and occasionally moist eyed. Just wonderful. The author was that rarest of creatures - a New Yorker who wasn't brashly over-selfconfident, but someone who was alive with self-deprecation, humour and humanity. I loved it.
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after Charing Cross Road became famous, and she became the focus of unexpected, but thoroughly enjoyed, fame.I devoured both in a day, laughing out loud far too often, and occasionally moist eyed. Just wonderful. The author was that rarest of creatures - a New Yorker who wasn't brashly over-selfconfident, but someone who was alive with self-deprecation, humour and humanity. I loved it.
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LibraryThing member lethalmauve
This is not your ordinary love story but it is the kind of romance every bibliophile dreams. An epistolary memoir that spans decades of transatlantic correspondence between writer Helene Hanff and Marks & Co antiquarian bookseller, Frank Dole. Not only does the book-loving feels very validating but
To have bought this in a second hand bookshop with the bookseller saying that I would definitely love this and I should watch the film after is rather telling. I will never forget the old man's kind eyes as he handed me my change. I think, sometimes, that home is a feeling: the similar feeling I have when I open the door to my room or I get inside a bookshop and the scent of books greet me, or when I slump down the floor surrounded by them during spring cleaning but I feel it most vividly when I hold them in my hands and they take me to some place else to comfort and distance me from the sometimes ugly reality. And to share these with someone who shares the same inclination is unforgettable.
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to read about someone who cares enough about second hand, leather bound, and first edition books where descriptions and disappointments, whilst surrounded with everyday life, are laced in humour and wit is magnificently sweeping and sweet. But this is not only for the love of books but also for the love of second hand bookshops and its people. Both 84 Charing Cross Road and its sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street pelt with bittersweet conclusions; and they're immensely touching for that.To have bought this in a second hand bookshop with the bookseller saying that I would definitely love this and I should watch the film after is rather telling. I will never forget the old man's kind eyes as he handed me my change. I think, sometimes, that home is a feeling: the similar feeling I have when I open the door to my room or I get inside a bookshop and the scent of books greet me, or when I slump down the floor surrounded by them during spring cleaning but I feel it most vividly when I hold them in my hands and they take me to some place else to comfort and distance me from the sometimes ugly reality. And to share these with someone who shares the same inclination is unforgettable.
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LibraryThing member murderbydeath
Well, I just loved this book. Loved in a way that made me want to hug it when I finished it.
My edition contains both 84 Charing Cross Road and The Dutchess of Bloomsbury Street - I don't know if this is standard or not, but the two feel like they ought to be part I and part II of the same book. 84
The second half made me feel like the most classless twit; all those incredible experiences I didn't take the time to have when I was in the UK that I absolutely should have. She makes me want to go back and do it properly. I was hoping the book would end with her moving to London but instead, the story ends exactly the way it should.
I just loved this book.
[PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A book that came out the year you were born.]
My edition contains both 84 Charing Cross Road and The Dutchess of Bloomsbury Street - I don't know if this is standard or not, but the two feel like they ought to be part I and part II of the same book. 84
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Charing Cross Road is by a mile, my favorite; Ms. Hanff is funny and irreverent and she gives poor Mr. Doel such a hard time and he's just such a gentleman.The second half made me feel like the most classless twit; all those incredible experiences I didn't take the time to have when I was in the UK that I absolutely should have. She makes me want to go back and do it properly. I was hoping the book would end with her moving to London but instead, the story ends exactly the way it should.
I just loved this book.
[PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A book that came out the year you were born.]
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LibraryThing member sscarllet
I loved the movie and I loved the book. But I cried cried cried at the end of it. Penpals are almost a mythical thing these days. I think time has really added to the story here. I just love the idea of two total strangers becoming close, almost intimate, friends though simply writing letters to
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one another. This is a book that I will read again and again. Show Less
LibraryThing member AlexTheHunn
Helene Hanff published are multi-year association with a London bookseller while Hanff remained in NYC. Over time, Hanff and the bookseller developed a personal friendship making the books themselves incidental to the correspondence. Although the work indulges in sentimentality, a warm, encouraging
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message underpins her book. Show Less
LibraryThing member secondhandrose
This was a re read for me. Being my late mother’s favourite book, having snaffled a beautiful newish edition at an op shop, being a snail mail enthusiast and book lover and being on holidays I raced through this. An absolutely charming book. I don’t believe I have read the sequel which I am
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about to start straight away. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1976
Physical description
192 p.; 6.8 inches
ISBN
0860074382 / 9780860074380