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111th out of 580 books
—
266 voters
Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
by
Helene Hanff
A zesty memoir of the celebrated writer's travels to England where she meets the cherished friends from 84, Charing Cross Road.
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
January 1st 1995
by Moyer Bell
(first published 1973)
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I loved 84, Charing Cross Road so much, I was eager to read this follow-up--Helene finally gets to London! And I was not disappointed. The same verve, making friends wherever she goes, but also still her edge--she ends up instructing a bartender how to make martinis HER way, and pitches a fit at Oxford when her "tour guide" friends won't take her where SHE wants to go and insist on taking her shopping, but this is combined with trenchant comments comparing American and British culture and a sens...more
Reread, 'cause having read 84 Charing Cross Road again, I had to read the sequel. This is even better than I remembered—I think I recalled it being a bit of a disappointment after 84. It's not; it's just different. And it especially resonated now that I've actually been to London and recognize some of the places Hanff describes and the feeling of finally being in the city you've read about so many times even more. (Although Hanff wasn't exactly going, "Just like it's described in Neverwhere!" Sh...more
p 24
p 65
Nora and I were interviewed at Broadcasting House, it’s the only big modern building I’ve seen here and I hope I don’t see another one; it’s a monstrosity—a huge semicircular block of granite, it looks obese. They don’t understand skyscrapers here. In New York they don’t understand anything else.
p 65
”Tell me,” said Leo. “You’ve written a beautiful book. Why haven’t we heard of you before? What was wrong with your earlier work? Too good or not good enough?”...more
“Not good enough,” I said. And he no
This is such a great companion/follow-up to 84 Charing Cross. I bought this on a whim at a used bookstore, having read Charing Cross, and this was just so fun and...yaaaaaay.
Specifically:
"All my life I've wanted to see London. I used to go to English movies just to look at streets with houses like those. Staring at the screen in a dark theatre, I wanted to walk down those streets so badly it gnawed at me like hunger. Sometimes, at home in the evening, reading a casual description of London by Ha...more
Specifically:
"All my life I've wanted to see London. I used to go to English movies just to look at streets with houses like those. Staring at the screen in a dark theatre, I wanted to walk down those streets so badly it gnawed at me like hunger. Sometimes, at home in the evening, reading a casual description of London by Ha...more
My copy had the sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road as well – double bonanza!
After years of yearning to visit England, Helene finally makes the trip to London in 1971 after the success of 84, Charing Cross Road. Ironically, it is after the massive success of 84, Charing Cross Road, that she manages to travel to London, which she had been dying to visit. Too late to meet Frank Doel, she does meet his wife and daughter as well as a host of people whose life had been touched by her.
She also goes to Oxf...more
After years of yearning to visit England, Helene finally makes the trip to London in 1971 after the success of 84, Charing Cross Road. Ironically, it is after the massive success of 84, Charing Cross Road, that she manages to travel to London, which she had been dying to visit. Too late to meet Frank Doel, she does meet his wife and daughter as well as a host of people whose life had been touched by her.
She also goes to Oxf...more
"They don't understand skyscrapers here. In New York they don't understand anything else."
In a direct sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff finally gets on a plane across the Atlantic and sees the London of her dreams. While there is a certain bittersweet feeling as Important Things have happened to 84 CC Rd and to a crucial character there, and so things are not as they would have been had she visited in the mid-1950s, but nevertheless she is courted around London by publicists and fan...more
In a direct sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff finally gets on a plane across the Atlantic and sees the London of her dreams. While there is a certain bittersweet feeling as Important Things have happened to 84 CC Rd and to a crucial character there, and so things are not as they would have been had she visited in the mid-1950s, but nevertheless she is courted around London by publicists and fan...more
84, Charing Cross is likely one of my favorite books about books, as it reprints the several decades-long real-life correspondence of author Hanff and London bookseller Frank Doel. On the surface, it recounts the love of books that the two shared; as Hanff bought many books through Doel, and had them shipped back to her in New York. But underneath, it is equal parts the growth of a long-distance friendship as well as a snapshot of the post-war world of London and, on the other side of the Atlant...more
137 pages
Page 83
Somewhere along the way I came upon a mews with a small sign on the entrance gate addressed to the passing world. The sign orders flatly:
COMMIT NO NUISANCE
The more you stare at that, the more territory it covers. From dirtying the steets to housebreaking to invading Viet Nam, that covers all the territory there is.
Page 104
Nothing infuriates me like those friendly, folksy bank ads in magazines
and on TV. Every bank I ever walked into was about as folksy as a cobra.
Page 106
I piped u...more
Page 83
Somewhere along the way I came upon a mews with a small sign on the entrance gate addressed to the passing world. The sign orders flatly:
COMMIT NO NUISANCE
The more you stare at that, the more territory it covers. From dirtying the steets to housebreaking to invading Viet Nam, that covers all the territory there is.
Page 104
Nothing infuriates me like those friendly, folksy bank ads in magazines
and on TV. Every bank I ever walked into was about as folksy as a cobra.
Page 106
I piped u...more
This sequel to "84 Charing Cross Road" tells of the author’s subsequent and long-awaited visit to London, made possible by the publication of the collection of letters exchanged between herself, a single, childless, Jewish New Yorker and a restrained British bookseller and family man for 20 years following WWII. Hanff was an amazing autodidact and complete Anglophile, an avid student of both British literature and history – a woman after my own heart! Her keen observations and appreciation of al...more
I am really liking all the books that I have been reading by Helene Hanff. This was not quite as moving as 84, Charing Cross Road but is actually a good follow up as Helene finally gets to go to London, her lifelong dream. Unfortunately Marks & Co. has closed and Frank Doel is dead, but Helene gets to meet Frank's family and see where Marks & Co. was located. When reading this book I was struck by how different the time was when Helene was writing this book about her trip to London. She...more
..."All my life I've wanted to see London. I used to go to English movies just to look at streets with houses like those. Staring at the screen in a dark theater, I wanted to walk down those streets so badly it gnawed at me like hunger. Sometimes, at home in the evening, reading a casual description of London by Hazlitt or Leigh Hunt, I'd put the book down suddenly, engulfed by a wave of longing that was like homesickness. I wanted to see London the way old people want to see home before they d...more
Oct 30, 2010
Luann
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who enjoyed "84, Charing Cross Road"
Recommended to Luann by:
Mark R.
Some random thoughts after finishing this book:
I'm VERY glad that my library also had this so that I could read it immediately after 84, Charing Cross Road. I was a little disappointed in the change of format - from letters to diary entries. Diary entries just don't give the same interactions between characters that you get from letters. But I was very glad to read more of Helene Hanff's story. And if this is telling a real story, there may not have been enough letters for a second book.
Since I...more
I'm VERY glad that my library also had this so that I could read it immediately after 84, Charing Cross Road. I was a little disappointed in the change of format - from letters to diary entries. Diary entries just don't give the same interactions between characters that you get from letters. But I was very glad to read more of Helene Hanff's story. And if this is telling a real story, there may not have been enough letters for a second book.
Since I...more
This is the diary of Ms Hanff as she is on tour promoting her book 84 Charing Cross Road in London. I loved how her book and love of books brought people together. I loved her attitude towards travel in another country. How amazing that she relied on total strangers to show her around the city she had always dreamed of visiting. Her opinion of the couple who had come to NYC and spent the entire time in the hotel was wonderful.
She says something to the likes of 'my friends read 50 books once, ne...more
She says something to the likes of 'my friends read 50 books once, ne...more
Feb 29, 2012
Candice
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Hester, potential visitors to London
I read 84, Charing Cross Road several years ago at the suggestion of one of my professors in library school. I recently got the chance to see the movie with Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, and it was wonderful! I read this sequel right on the heels of seeing the movie. What a great story. Written in diary form, it tells of the author's visit to London in 1971. What I chuckled at was her reasoning that since her brother gave her $100.00 for the trip, that amount would enable her to stay in Lond...more
Helene Hanff, a Manhattan author and TV writer, sent a letter to Marks & Co., booksellers in London. She was requesting several out-of-print books which she searched for, unsuccessfully, in local bookstores. They filled her order satisfactorily,so, over a 20 year span, Helene relied on Marks & Co. and their very kind store manager to keep her supplied with rare books and a blooming friendship, with a firm promise to someday meet, in London, all the good people she had come to know at the...more
This is a companion book to the more widely know 84, Charing Cross Road. The edition I read had both books. What a delightful surprise.
While 84, Charing Cross Road is a collection of letters that span 20 years between the author and Frank Doel (and others), the Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a collection of diary entries made by the author on her first trip to London. Her keen observations of people, time and place, makes for an interesting read. As does her dry humor. While I liked this fun, f...more
While 84, Charing Cross Road is a collection of letters that span 20 years between the author and Frank Doel (and others), the Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a collection of diary entries made by the author on her first trip to London. Her keen observations of people, time and place, makes for an interesting read. As does her dry humor. While I liked this fun, f...more
In case you don't know 84 Charing Cross Road, it was a 1970 sleeper hit epistolary charmer written by a curmudgeonly late-middle-aged, sassy, and obscure New York writer named Helene Hanff. The book, in the form of selected letters culled from a 20-year series of correspondence, chronicled her penpal relationship with a gentlemanly London bookseller, his coworkers and acquaintances. Among Hanff's various eccentricities was her preference for ordering obscure old English books from London, rather...more
I think I may have found a new favorite author. I love her easily quirky and witty writing style. Duchess is Hanff's diary of her trip to London, after the publication of 84, Charing Cross Road. If one knows the backstory, the book starts off bittersweet - Hanff is finally going to London but too late to meet her friend Frank Doel, and too late to see Marks & Co. before it closed.
I couldn't help smiling at Hanff's wit and humor. She took on her new-found celebrity with tongue-in-cheek aplomb...more
I couldn't help smiling at Hanff's wit and humor. She took on her new-found celebrity with tongue-in-cheek aplomb...more
Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff was an interesting, short read. In this memoir, which is in diary form, Helene Hanff describes a month or so that she spent in London in 1971. She came over to England to promote the sale of her book 84, Charing Cross Road and during her month, she met some of the people she had corresponded with and whose letters were included in her book. She was treated so well throughout her stay, that she felt like a duchess; hence the title of this book.
As a per...more
As a per...more
This sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road is almost as charming as the first. In this one, Helene, finally makes is to London, but only after Frank Doel has died, the bookstore has closed and her own book was published. She travels all over London and England satisfying her lust for all things English. Helene writes with her usual wit, sarcasm and empahty and what happens is magical. It is a travelogue extraordinaire. This reveiw may be slightly colored though by my recent obsession with all things H...more
This is the chronicle of Helene Hanff's long delayed visit to London in the summer of 1971, following on from the publication of her well-known book 84, Charing Cross Road.
While it lacks the unselfconscious charm of 84 Charing Cross Road, this memoir is still full of exuberance and wit. For anyone who has at last travelled to a long dreamed-of country or city, the book brings to mind all of the anticipation, wonder and excitement of such an adventure.
As a traveller on her first visit to London...more
While it lacks the unselfconscious charm of 84 Charing Cross Road, this memoir is still full of exuberance and wit. For anyone who has at last travelled to a long dreamed-of country or city, the book brings to mind all of the anticipation, wonder and excitement of such an adventure.
As a traveller on her first visit to London...more
6 likes · like · see review
This book affirms my desire to be Helene Hanff when I grow up. This is a brilliantly written travel memoir of her trip to England. Unlike most travel memoirs where the author tells you why his or her point of view of the destination is far superior to most tourists, she unabashedly tells her story of her time in England and the people she came to love without a care in the world to what anyone else might think. Many people take their trip to England, but this trip was hers and written in the hum...more
Feb 14, 2013
Margie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
bluestockings, Anglophiles
Shelves:
words
You must go out and read 84, Charing Cross Road, and then read this. Both are excellent, and this is a wonderful follow-up to the first. Do not read them out of order.
Helene Hanff sounds exactly like one would want one's maiden aunt to be, unless one wanted someone a bit more madcap, like Auntie Mame. She's witty and interesting and is absolutely head over heels in love with London. I got such an appreciation of the London of literature from this book. She is deeply reverent of what she sees, an...more
Helene Hanff sounds exactly like one would want one's maiden aunt to be, unless one wanted someone a bit more madcap, like Auntie Mame. She's witty and interesting and is absolutely head over heels in love with London. I got such an appreciation of the London of literature from this book. She is deeply reverent of what she sees, an...more
2 likes · like · see review
Helene Hanff kept up a correspondence
with a book friend in London for twenty
years. Finally, after publishing a
book composed of letters between the
two, Hanff gets an opportunity to
travel to London.
Of course, she will never get to
meet her friend, who died before
her letters were published.
Nevertheless, she makes the trip and
meets many fans of her book.
with a book friend in London for twenty
years. Finally, after publishing a
book composed of letters between the
two, Hanff gets an opportunity to
travel to London.
Of course, she will never get to
meet her friend, who died before
her letters were published.
Nevertheless, she makes the trip and
meets many fans of her book.
This is the sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road. It is just as delightful as the first. This book is her diary of her long-awaited trip to London. Helene takes you through all the places she had longed to see all of her life, starting with Marks & Co. When she arrives at 84 Charing Cross Road it is empty and shut down. Her former friend, Frank, who died suddenly, is greatly missed as she wanders through the emplty building. His widow befriends Helene. From the moment she lands until the moment s...more
I haven't read this in at least a decade....I picked it up and teared up...I was immediately sucked right in.
1 like · like · see review
I finished this in just a day, I think--it was a fun follow-up to 84, Charing Cross Road, in which the author finally gets her chance to go to London. Having lived there for a couple of months, I relished every page. I miss London so much--it gets in your blood! As Helene Hanff says, “History, as they say, is alive and well and living in London.” It was fun to revisit the sites with herf and hear her take on them. I wish I had read this before my trip, but luckily my dad had given me some Digest...more
I really liked Helene Hanff when I read 84, Charing Cross Road but after reading The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, I love her and can not wait to read Q's Legacy. This book is Helene's diary of her finally achieved visit to London. In it she meets with some of those with whom she had corresponded in 84, Charing Cross Road but also meets with many people who have written her fan letters. I am inspired by her interests and I may pursue some of the books that led her to her original relationship wi...more
What a delightful litte book! I loved it--especially because I've been to London and so many places that Helene writes about are places I've been. Well, except for the fancy restaurants! This book is a sequel of sorts to the book "84, Charing Cross Road". After writing "84, Charing Cross Road", Helene was given the opportunity to visit London on a book tour for the release of the book in England. This book is her journal of her experiences in London and the surrounding area and all the delightfu...more
It really was only "ok". I ordered a copy of "84..." and thought I was paying only for the one text, but after reaching the halfway mark of the copy, I realised "84..." ended and this one began! Whattay surprise. Needless to say I read it without even a 5 second gap after ending "84...", and thus, needless to say, I was disappointed. It's alright really, but it broke my heart that Hanff could make it to London only after Frank Doel passed away. I hope someone sends me indulging replies like Hanf...more
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Helene Hanff (April 15, 1916–April 9, 1997) was an American writer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is best known as the author of the book 84 Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a play, teleplay, and film of the same name.
Her career, which saw her move from writing unproduced plays to helping create some of the earliest television dramas to becoming a kind of professional New Y...more
More about Helene Hanff...
Her career, which saw her move from writing unproduced plays to helping create some of the earliest television dramas to becoming a kind of professional New Y...more
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“I despair of ever getting it through anybody's head I am not interested in bookshops, I am interested in what's written in the books. I don't browse in bookshops, I browse in libraries, where you can take a book home and read it, and if you like it you go to a bookshop and buy it.”
—
18 people liked it
“I tell you, life is extraordinary. A few years ago I couldn’t write anything or sell anything, I’d passed the age where you know all the returns are in, I’d had my chance and done my best and failed. And how was I to know the miracle waiting to happen round the corner in late middle age? 84, Charing Cross Road was no best seller, you understand; it didn’t make me rich or famous. It just got me hundreds of letters and phone calls from people I never knew existed; it got me wonderful reviews; it restored a self-confidence and self-esteem I’d lost somewhere along the way, God knows how many years ago. It brought me to England. It changed my life.”
—
10 people liked it
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May 23, 2013 06:09am