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Jul 19, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

"If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much."

This was my second reading of the book, and I'm adding a star to my original rating. I laughed a lot harder this time, and even got a little choked up near the end. I don't recall this much chortling, cackling, guffawing and snorting on my first time through. The contrast between Helene Hanff's brash American informality and Frank Doel's staid British professionalism is delightful. There More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

Kirk rated it:

Good friends of mine, Dan and Sandy Kendall (whose brother used to be married to my aunt) recommended this short, epistolary romance to me. I read it in one sitting---it's that quick (clocking in at 95 pages) and, yes, that lovely. It's a nostalgic book, reminding one of a time when the thought of love and friendship blossoming over talk of the Collected Works of Walter Savage Landor didn't seem precious. The basic premise is that a New York bibliophile strikes up a relationship with the staff a More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Aldrin rated it:

The present is an undeniably significant time in the realm of books. It’s a time when the nature and limits of books are being redefined so aggressively that to enclose the very term in scare quotes does not necessarily amount to a vagary in punctuation. The mostly static evolution of books is now approaching a flash point, that is, if it hasn’t yet been reached. The signs are as clear as Truman Capote’s favorite Russian vodka. Accompanied by the consistent rise in the sales of books in their va More...

11 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2007

Anne rated it:

I was introduced to this book many years ago as a child. I remember just loving it. It is a collection of letters from the late 50s through the 70s between the author, Helene - a writer in New York, and Frank Dole - an antiquarian bookseller. Helene begins in search of rare titles, which Dole doggedly tracks down for her. As their correspondence continues, an interesting friendship develops. Helene sends packages to the bookstore, to be shared by the other workers there. And eventually, she begi More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jay rated it:

The best documentaries are the ones that filmmakers never intentionally set out to make. 84, Charing Cross Road is sort of the literary equivalent to me. Neither of the penpals could have had the foresight to know how deep of a relationship they would forge. Thanks to the prevalence of carbon paper at the time, their timeless correspondence was preserved. I've read this classic four times and it never gets old. It reaffirms my faith that people (strangers) can do great and noble things.

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2011

Melanie rated it:

I know it's kind of pathetic that I continue to re-read books, but I was at a low point several weeks ago and needed something to help cheer me up.

84, Charing Cross Road is a charming book, and as I was reading, my fellow bus and metro passengers may have been wondering why I was smiling so much.

Actually, my volume has two parts: The first is 84, Charing Cross Road and the second is The Duchess of Bloombury Street. The former is the correspondence between Helene Hanff ( More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

One of my alltime favorite books. Through the actual letters between a used book store in London and an avid reader in the US, it is possible to get a glimpse of the world in 1949 and after. I always find myself fascinated by the correspondence and daunted by Hanff's reading list. Here's a partial list of the books mentioned in the book. Maybe I should use it as my "I need to read these books" list?

Partial list of the books Helen Hanff ordered from Marks & Co. and menti More...

7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2010

Hazel rated it:

Devoured this last night. I'd seen the movie, with Anne Bancroft as Helene, but until a friend recommended it, hadn't thought about the book. Thank you, Jamie, it was fabulous. Initially I thought it was amazingly crafted fiction. It took me a while to realise the letters were real. How revealing these brief interactions can be. I'm not convinced though, by the cover blurb which describes the relationship as a 'love affair'.

As usual when I read books about books, I found myself notin More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2008

Capitu rated it:

This is one of my all times favorite books. I have re-read it too many times to keep track, and I have given many copies to friends.

I find it uplifting when I need something upbeat to read. It is also perfect when I have just a couple of hours to devote to a book. But its size - so short - is no indication of the richness in it. This collection of letters between strangers reveals so much about them and the lives that they led: dreams of travel, love of books, financial troubles, so More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 12, 2008

Chris rated it:

If you love books, you MUST read this one! The letters that Helen and Frank (and the others) write back and forth tell the story so much better than any attempt at narrative form would have. You can't help but fall in love with everyone, and knowing that it's a work of NON-fiction just makes it all the more perfect.

I had wanted to get my hands on this book for a v. long time, and I'm so glad that I finally did. (And I couldn't have picked it up at a more perfect place--a library b More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Lily rated it:

This book was suggested to me by Mel, my German friend. We have a sort of transatlantic book club going on and she was really surprised that I had never even heard of this book, or the movie that was made from it! This book is a collection of letters between an American Woman and the employees of a rare book shop in London. The letters span from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and as someone who loves writing and receiving letters, I found it incredibly interesting to read the correspondenc More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2008

Trevor rated it:

I love this book and love the film they made of it too. It is sloppy and sweet and warm and, you know, just right. It is the sort of book one could read in an hour or two over a pot of tea on a cold winter's afternoon and just enjoy. Pure delight.

If you needed to be reminded that love of literature is as good a foundation of love of the world as any other 'religion', that the people we write to can be closer and dearer to us than those we see day after day - then this really is a More...

14 comments like (16 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

Helene was disgusted with American books lacking quality and availability, especially for the older books she so craved. When she wrote Marks and Co. in England, hopeful of finding a used book she desperately wanted, she found much more. She found a whole group of people who became her friends and who beckoned her to England.

Here is selected correspondence from a nearly twenty year friendship between American writer Helene and British bookstore employee Frank that began in 1949. More...

18 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Mandy rated it:

Nonfiction. An easy read for an evening with tea and biscuits. Helen Hanff writes letters to a bookseller at 84 Charing Cross Rd. requesting he send her various copies of books (classics). While they converse over the course of decades via mail, both letters show the cultural differences of the U.S. and the U.K., as well as reflect the wartime atmosphere in London. Great read.

What's even better is I purchased a book while in london on Charing Cross road. It's my new favorite.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2008

Rissie rated it:

This book reminds me of the process I go though when buying used books online.

• The book I really want is out of print.
• I order online from a seemingly reputable seller.
• The book does not come as soon as expected and I email to find out what’s going on.
• The seller emails to say that the book has been sent and should arrive any day.
• The book finally arrives in perfect condition and I feel guilty for only having spent $2 on it. Five stars!
• I order More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2012

Bonnie rated it:

Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!

4.5 stars

84, Charing Cross Road is a truly delightful true story of friendship retold through a series of letters that were written between 1949 and 1968. The friendship between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel developed after Helene had sent a request for a specific list of books to Marks & Co. in London. From there, the correspondence continued over the years between the two but also between the other employees of M More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Troy rated it:

**SPOILERS**

If you’ve anything approaching a love of books and reading it would be hard not to enjoy this short volume of carefully selected (and I imagine, carefully edited) correspondence between Helene Hanff, a New York script reader/writer, Anglophile and bibliophile, and Frank Doel, assiduous employee of “Marks & Co., Booksellers” in London who supplies Helene’s request for good, clean second hand (and often antiquarian) books. Their letters commence towards the end More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 12, 2009

Patricia rated it:

Hanff's bookseller, Frank Doel must have had some patience as well as an appreciation for her wit. I can understand his decorous silence after some of his hard searched acquisitions met with laments. However, even Hanff's howls of disappointment generally come across as refreshingly passionate, witty, and sympathetic to anyone who has been pining for a certain volume. I savored Hanff's vividly conveyed pleasure as the books arrive and she lingers over details of binding, cover, and paper. The l More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2010

Najibah rated it:

Buku ini antara yang paling cepat saya habisi tahun ini. Beberapa hari tak berpisah dengannya, malah sempat mencatat nota panjang, hati berasa sangat lapang. Paling seronok, buku ini turut memuatkan diari Helene Hanff ketika melawat London, iaitu bukunya sebuah lagi: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.

Buku ini membuat saya berfikir tentang banyak perkara mengenai tabiat membaca sendiri. Patutkah saya meneruskan membaca sebarang fiksyen, atau memburu bukan fiksyen yang jauh lebih pentin More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 05, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

This perfect book made me cry in the middle of an airport on New Year's Eve. I am not a crier.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

DubaiReader rated it:

Review for the unabridged audio version.

These letters are the genuine communications between American book collector and play-write, Helene Hanff, and Frank Doel, the very English salesman of Marks & Co, 84 Charing Cross Road, London. They originated from Miss Hanff's desperation at not being able to find affordable, good quality editions of the antique books she was seeking, in America. She decided to contact a book seller in England, though she always insisted in payment by dollar bi More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 15, 2011

Evan rated it:

All right, fuck it, and serve me quiche... And tawlk amongst yuhselves, I'm verklempt.

84, Charing Cross Road is a book about bibliophilia, anglophilia, epistemophilia and whatever the philias are that refer to sharing and caring. Yeah, it's all warm and fuzzy and after reading it my misanthropy is allowed to take a short holiday in Dorset along with my critical acumen.

Helen Hanff was the quintessential sassy assed New York writer dame who in 1949 began a 20-year ser More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2009

Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it:

A very sweet fast read about the 20 year correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, of Marks & Co. If only I had someone to find every book I'm looking for for such cheap prices. Bittersweet in that they never met and makes one realize some things should not be indefinitely postponed. I also felt it was too short, some letters jumped significantly in time, more please! I also gave a little squeak when they mentioned a book I actually own, The Essays of Elia, which though not the exact e More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Lucy rated it:

I was guided to this book by several people after I raved about my love for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Now that I've read it, I can see how the two books are similar, although I did prefer the satisfying fiction in Guernsey.

84 Charing Cross Road is a sweet, short book containing the correspondence between Helene Hanff, a gregarious and irreverent writer living in New York, and the much more formal workers of the antique bookstore, Marks & Co. in Great Britain. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 18, 2011

Naomi rated it:

Almost 90% of my book collection were bought in second hand's book stores. That's why I've felt a strong connection to Helene, as we both take a great pleasure in reading used books. Every used book bring spirits of the previous reader or owner.

I feel the same strong feeling reading the 84, Charing Cross Road. I could hear Helene screamed through the pages, urging Frank Doel to send her a nice edition of Tristram Shandy. And the sorry expression from Frank who was unable to find her More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Read this during a plane ride. One of the best little books I've come across. Skip the movie.

REREAD - 8/15/2008
84, Cross Cross Road, by Helene Hanff, is one of my favorite books of all time. Clocking in at less than 100 pages, it’s a short but delightful read. Seriously. Delightful.

Helene Hanff is a writer in New York. She writes to Marks & Co. in London in 1949, looking for rare and out-of-print books. Frank Doel responds on behalf of Marks & Co., and so begins a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Brittany rated it:

I found this book after reading (and thoroughly enjoying) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This is another epistolary story. The difference here is that these are actual letters written by actual real people. Real people are messier than the fictional kind.

The difference is also that it's not a romantic love story, and that the ends do not get tied off as neatly. Depending on what kind of a reader you are, this could be either good or bad. It's good in that it's beaut More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 22, 2008

Linda rated it:

A gentle read, a perfect read. I KNOW that I've read this book before, decades ago. I found this particular copy through interlibrary loan and as luck would have it I was given the 1970 edition which is absolutely the best. The book languished amidst a pile of 'things to do', I finally looked at the date and realized it was overdue and if I wanted my favorite librarians to continue catering to my increasing demands (goodreads.com has a way of opening up the world) I had better stay in their g More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2011

Abbey rated it:

My life is as small and quiet and bookish as I can make it, and it's still too noisy, so once again, I watch/read "84 Charing Cross Road." This time I used the book like a libretto while watching the movie with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. What a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and so very anachronistic, since the movie is a celebration of the lost art of letter writing and the slow development of deep, human connections.

We try to make too many instant connn More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)