84, Charing Cross Road

I've read this book before, many years ago, but this is the first time I have had an edition which includes the sequel book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. I also hadn't realised how much the film changes the story (as usual!). The first book consists purely of letters between Helene Hanff (yes, this really happened) and the staff at Marks & Co - in the main Frank Doel. Helene has that smart mouth New York way of writing and it is really so entertaining, I just loved it. The second book is when Helene finally gets to London in the 60s and I loved this book even more. Maybe because she stays in Bloomsbury an area I know well and even the hotel I regularly used to stay in - which makes it seem all the more special to me now. She sees London and trips further afield through the eyes of a New Yorker and it is just so entertaining. These are the days before mobile phones and it was a joy to read of her receiving notes inviting her to be somewhere, sometimes at short notice and her then trying to find her way around London. It's a fantastic trip back into the past. I've now ordered Helene Hanff's others books which include an autobiography - I want to go back to her world.

I love, love, love this charming book that reaches out and touches the bibliophile in me! Only one who has a life-long love affair with books will truly appreciate this story of the decades' long correspondence between Helene Hanff, a script reader/ writer living in New York, and Frank Doel, the manager of an antiquarian British bookshop, Marks & Co. The correspondence starts in the year 1949 and ends in 1968. These letters reveal two people who shared a similar sense of humor and a passion for old books. Ms. Hanff had a particular fondness for antiquarian books filled with wisdom - the works of John Donne, Samuel Pepys, Newman, Leigh Hunt, Walter Savage Landor, and many others. Despite making little money, Hanff develops such a fondness for the people running the bookshop that she sends them food parcels when she discovers England is being subjected to food rationing in the post-war period. My love for this story is not only because it is about a love of books, but also because it harkens back to a time when people actually took pains to correspond with each other (not that they had a choice), an art that is slowly dying out (I try my best to keep it alive by penning long letters to my parents who live on a different continent and who are blissfully oblivious to the wonders of e-mailing and social networking). 84, Charing Cross Road resonates with me on so many levels, and is the perfect read on days when I'd like to just slow down and savor the pleasure of curling up with a light read. The movie adaptation starring Anne Bancroft and Sir Anthony Hopkins is another delight that perfectly captures the essence of the book. Also recommended:

Real letters. I miss old fashioned letters, perhaps especially now that we live in the age of email. There are so few real letters left now, and this little collection here is a gem. I was reminded of some old 'real' letters saved, having by now collected dust, left from my parent's generation, and from a time long gone by. Occasionally I stumble over collections of published letters in antique bookstores. I found this by accident in my favorite corner book store. It is by Helene Hanff, and it's thin so it easily escapes your eye. Happy to learn that it has been reprinted by Penguin. I was in stitches the moment I opened and began reading the first letter, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. With book orders from Amazon now, the occasion for the letters will likely not be repeated. Helene was ordering used books from the book store in London. The collection covers letters exchanged between ordinary people living their separate and ordinary lives on two Continents; one, Helene, in America, a freelance writer, living alone in a small apartment in New York City, E 95th Street, and in England, the staff in an antique bookstore in London, on 84, Charing Cross Road, Marks & Co; mainly Frank signing the letters from Charing Cross Road. The period spans three decades, starting a few years after WW 2, in the period of austerity in England. By now, I have read it several times. I also learned that it has become a cult classic. And it has even been turned into a movie. I found the book especially captivating because of its humanity and good humor. It brings the times and the people to life. And the contrast of cultures can't help but to captivate; the no-nonsense prose of Helene, contrasted with the British polite formalities. From Marks & Co to Helene: "Dear Madam; In reply to your letter of October 5th... ." And a PS in Helene's reply letter: "I hope "madam" doesn't mean over there what it does here." The exchanges continue through the years, each one with book orders from Helene, and payments enclosed in the envelopes from Helene. And during rationing in London, there are food packages from Helene to friends at Marks & Co. Sometime in the sixties, Frank dies unexpectedly. Sadly the two never get to meet in person. In one of Helene's last letters: "The blessed man who sold me all these books died ... . If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much." -- Review by Palle Jorgensen, April 2011.

Never before has a book of letters made me laugh and cry. I read this straight through in one day, not because it's very short but because I couldn't put it down.

I bought this as a gift to give to my own pen pal when we recently met in person for the first time. We had corresponded frequently for about 3 years and this book came up in conversation more than once as a great representation of how real friendship can be attained based only on the written word. The copy I received was pristine and I must admit that I could not resist reading it again before wrapping it up. I think I appreciated it much more this time around being 30 years older and, hopefully, a little wiser since the first read. I came to America from the UK in 1960 at age 13. The letters that referred to rationing and wartime deprivations really resonated with me as I remember ration books and my first orange! Helen Hanff was a passionate writer with such a deep love of literature that she made me want to return to school and do better in my studies! I highly recommend this book!