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A review by michellewatson
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
5.0
Okay, if you need a quick win on audio, THIS is it. Clocking in at less than 2 hours of listening time, this little book was a dee-light to my ears.
Back in 1948, Helene Hanff wrote a letter to a bookstore located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London requesting to purchase certain antiquarian books. She got a reply from a man named Frank Doel, an employee at the store. So begins two decades' worth of correspondence between this zesty New Yorker and the buttoned-up Brit. (No romance here, just friendship.)
As the years pass, Helene exchanges letters with other employees at Marks & Co. She writes to Frank's wife, his neighbor, her U.S. friends living in England. There's talk of food rations, elections, coronations, and Dodgers baseball.
And, oh, there's talk of books! The bookchat in these letters is like catnip for me. Seriously.
The best thing about this tiny book is how kind and precious relationships can become over time. These people never set eyes on each other, yet they performed acts of generosity and love across the miles. It was heartwarming.
And it was short. Blissfully short. The audio is superb! If you can listen on audio, you won't regret it!
Some favorite quotes:
I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.
I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I'd go looking for the England of English Literature, and he nodded and said: "It's there.”
My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don’t remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. The way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put it on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON’T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not? I personally can’t think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.
I must say, I rather like the Beatles. If the fans just wouldn’t scream so.
Back in 1948, Helene Hanff wrote a letter to a bookstore located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London requesting to purchase certain antiquarian books. She got a reply from a man named Frank Doel, an employee at the store. So begins two decades' worth of correspondence between this zesty New Yorker and the buttoned-up Brit. (No romance here, just friendship.)
As the years pass, Helene exchanges letters with other employees at Marks & Co. She writes to Frank's wife, his neighbor, her U.S. friends living in England. There's talk of food rations, elections, coronations, and Dodgers baseball.
And, oh, there's talk of books! The bookchat in these letters is like catnip for me. Seriously.
The best thing about this tiny book is how kind and precious relationships can become over time. These people never set eyes on each other, yet they performed acts of generosity and love across the miles. It was heartwarming.
And it was short. Blissfully short. The audio is superb! If you can listen on audio, you won't regret it!
Some favorite quotes:
I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.
I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I'd go looking for the England of English Literature, and he nodded and said: "It's there.”
My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don’t remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. The way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put it on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON’T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not? I personally can’t think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.
I must say, I rather like the Beatles. If the fans just wouldn’t scream so.