84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
January 25, 2009 in General, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Gentlemen: Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books…
Featuring a series of letters between a struggling New York writer, and a reserved bookseller, working at Marks & Co of London. What starts as a mere request for certain hard to obtain books, develops into a friendship between Marks & Co’s staff and specifically Frank Doel, that spans almost two decades.
It’s a short book at just over 90 pages, easily readable over a leisurely hour or two, but also manages to be utterly charming and amusing. Hanff’s very forward, friendly and wittily sarcastic style, quickly brings the professional and slightly conservative Frank Doel out of his shell and each and every letter is a delight to read.
A lovely book and you wont be disappointed if you invest the few hours of your time it asks of you.
Rating: 
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.
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I have no idea why I haven’t read this yet. Now that I know it’s such a quick read I’m extra motivated
You really should! It’s a very amusing and fun read.
Glad to hear you enjoyed this. I think it’s awesome, it was almost a relief when Frank stopped being so uptight and proper.
Joanne´s last blog post: The Sunday Salon – A Little Bit Of Everything (or random chaos)
I totally adored this book and I feel the need to own my own copy so that I can scribble in it!!
I’m so glad you liked this. It is a new favorite of mine. I love the pictures you included with your post. Thanks for linking me!
Tricia´s last blog post: And Only to Deceive
Check out the history of Marks & Co at:
http://www.84charingcrossroad.co.uk
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