Wednesday, September 9, 2009

84 Charing Cross Road

Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload photos today so I'll just carry on and hope things work themselves out. Let's just start by saying "Where have I been?". Near the top of my list of favourite things are books and London and this book is about both. I'm sure that just about everyone knows this is the story of a woman, Helene Hanff, sending letters regarding her book requests from New York to a bookshop in London. But it's so much more than that isn't it. The parcels of meat and eggs that Helene sends to the shop when rationing is still in place after WWII makes it feel like Christmas over and over again. Then there's the times when Helene encloses paper money in her letters to pay for books, how different from the way we order our books today. Helene is rather forward in her comments but as I found out later, Frank Doel, quite enjoyed her sense of humour. WHAT KIND OF A PEPYS' DIARY DO YOU CALL THIS? this is not a pepys' diary, this is some busybody editor's miserable collection of EXERPTS from pepys' diary may he rot. I could just spit. where is jan. 12, 1668, where his wife chased him out of bed and round the bedroom with a red-hot poker? As staff and their family members begin their own correspondence with Helene, the invites to visit are frequent. I kept thinking "what are you waiting for you silly woman!". But one day has a habit of leading into the next and a trip to London was always "perhaps next year". The letters end abruptly and I couldn't believe it, I could have happily read volumes of this stuff. So imagine my surprise when I turn the next page and the sequel to this story is included in my book! The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street begins in June 1971 when Helene finally crosses the pond to conduct interviews and book signings for 84 Charing Cross Road. The absolute cherry on the cake for me is that she stays in a hotel in Bloomsbury. The descriptions of walking around The British Museum, Bedford Square and Russell Square are sheer literary travel candy for me. Although, can you imagine Lamb's Conduit Street without Persephone? I do find myself cringing a bit when Ms Hanff refers to herself as a celebrity and writes about people staring at her but her descriptions of various locations makes up for all that. I'm not quite finished the book yet so I'm off to put on the kettle, I'll be reading in between loads of laundry and other domestic duties this morning. I've come to this book about twenty years later than I should have but better late than never.

20 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, you just reminded me how much I love this book. I have always loved the film but didn't read the book until I saw the anniversary VMC hardback edition in Foyle's last year and snapped it up. Isn't it beautiful and perfect in every way? I cried at the end, it was just so abrupt, and sad. It annoyed me too that she never made the effort to get to England, but her financial situation being as it was, it was probably always going to be a dream.

    While reading I longed to be living during the days when you could write to a bookseller and send a dollar/pound note and get sent a pile of lovely old books to devour. Wouldn't that be wonderful? My bank balance would be much healthier!

    Oh, the pages of this book contain such pleasure. I shall have to revisit them sometime. Thank you for a lovely review, Darlene.

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  2. 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury are such wonderfully charming reads. I have the same edition as Rachel (the wonderful fabric hardback) and was so relieved to have the sequel to read, where she attains her dream of visiting, albeit bittersweet.

    I read them both one afternoon last year, not that long after moving to London, as it seemed appropriate to learn about my new home city through literature.

    I don't want to imagine a Lamb's Conduit Street without Persephone!

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  3. I have loved 84 Charing Cross Road for decades. It was one of the first books I purchased with my first real paycheck, along with The Oxford Companion to English Literature. :) And I love, love, love the movie with Anne Bancroft. One of those movies, and books, I return to with great regularity. Hmmm, perhaps I'll make some scones and settle in for a viewing this afternoon. Thanks for bringing this book back on the radar. MizB

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  4. It wasn't until seeing the movie that I found out it was based on a book. I loved the movie so much, I didn't think it would be possible to love the book more...but of course I did:) You have put me in the mood for a reread which I should pair with The Duchess.

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  5. I love this book too but have never seen the film - must look out for it!

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  6. Rachel, I am so enjoying every minute of my reading! It has just occurred to me that there is a slightly parallel event going on here with some of us on this side and some of you on that side of the pond - discussing books. I love the idea of a pile of books for a dollar/pound too!

    Paperback Reader, Don't you just love books that have you saying "After this page I WILL get up...". The VMC hardbacks are lovely aren't they.

    Anonymous, I brought the movie home from the library a little while ago, put it on and then quickly changed my mind. Not having read the book at that point I wanted to have my own movie in my head first. So I'll try again...

    Book Psmith, I really must get a copy of the movie now and some cozy blankets and the popcorn!

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  7. Well, Amazon has made it all more efficient but there's still some real old-fashioned booksellers out there. I was mooching in one of my two local secondhand shops this morning and his phone was ringing all the time with people tracking down titles they were after. And I was very pleased with my haul, an out of print Stella Gibbons that I'd never even heard of (The Matchmaker) for 50pence and an Elizabeth Jenkins (a new favourite since I came across The Tortoise and the Hare) for £1.95. Admittedly, neither in very good condition and Frank Doel would have turned up his nose at them - but this wasn't 84 Charing X Road.

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  8. Run over to your favorite bookstore RIGHT NOW and pick up Letter From New York, Q's Legacy, Underfoot in Show Business, and Apple of My Eye. You will not be disappointed!

    There was an excellent adaptation of 84 made for Play for Today on the BBC in the mid-70s with Anne Jackson and Frank Finley which is, sadly, unavailable. As luck would have it, I saw it before my first trip to London and read the sequel on the airplane ride over. It was the beginning of a life long love affair.

    Do you think the boss will let me off early so I can run home and re-read it right now?

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  9. verity, Check with your library first, they just might have a copy.

    m, Oh go ahead and make me all envious at the thought of you browsing around second-hand bookshops, surrounded by excellent titles! If I see one more mountain of Danielle Steele or Nora Roberts books I'm going to scream.

    Heather, Okay, off to check out those titles now. Best of luck with your boss...

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  10. 84 Caring Cross Road is one of my favorites, too! Thanks for reminding me about The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - of course it's on my list, but I never seem to get around to it. Enjoy your tea as you finish reading...

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  11. Do you know, it was ages before I went inside this particular shop - because there's mountains of Danielle Steel etc on the pavement. What I didn't realise was that the shop goes quite far back and there's far more interesting pickings at the very back. Just goes to show, never walk past an old bookshop without a very thorough rummage!

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  12. Isn't it a wonderful book?! And the film is lovely too. It was only after watching it again a week or so ago that I looked at my 30th anniversary VMC and discovered that The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street was in there too - happiness indeed!

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  13. If it is possible for a booklover to NOT love 84 Charing Cross Road, I don't want to know about it. I came to the book after seeing the film about 5 times and I find both book and film delightful.

    Fabulous old bookstore, typewritten requests and replies, brown paper packages tied up in string, what isn't to love?

    Of course my love of all the nostalgia does not include the economic impediments to transatalantic travel in the 1950s and 1960s that kept Hanff away from England for so long.

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  14. JoAnn, It's a great little buffer between two more intense reads.

    m, You have a point there, all it takes is that one gem of a book buried beneath the junk pile to make your day.

    fleurfisher, I felt delighted and stupid all at the same time as I've had this book on my shelf for six months or so and had no idea it contained both stories. A couple of months ago I found the sequel in a second-hand shop and bought it, not realizing that I already owned it!

    Thomas, I've placed a hold on the DVD at the library and can't wait to watch it! Typewritten messages and parcels with string...sounds so nostalgic doesn't it but not so very long ago. The world spins too fast now.

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  15. I read this little gem at the end of last year and enjoyed it so much I immediately ordered the movie and the Duchess of Bloomsbury. I must say that I think I enjoy the Duchess book just a tad more.

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  16. I love 84CCR, but it's sad when the letters dry up and stop. Still, it's a story which could never happen in the Amazon age. I went to find 84 Charing Cross Road a while ago... I think it's now a Pizza Hut.

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  17. I loved these books when I first read them--Helene Hanff has such a great and distinctive 'voice'. I know the world is much better connected now, but I do miss the slowness and civility (?--not exactly the right word) of the world even 20 years ago. This makes me want to go and pull my copies out and revisit the books once again! And if you come across a copy I wholly recommend Q's Legacy!

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  18. ...oh and pity about the Pizza Hut!

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  19. I loved these books too! So glad for this blogland that introduced me to them. I mean to watch the film based on these, but haven't gotten to it yet.

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  20. I just finished reading this book and have yet to write my own review ! I was so excited when I realized that someone else in the book blogging world is reading this too at the same time. I thought it was a lovely little book - apart from reading and london, I love writing letters myself and I thought that H.H had such a gift to write personal and funny letters.

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