84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Surely 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff must be one of the most charming and delightful books I've ever come across.  I've read it before but it's been at least fifteen years now since I've picked the book up or seen the movie adaptation.  As I've done an abysmal job this year of reading any nonfiction at all, I was thinking of which books might catch my attention enough that I won't read a chapter and then let the book languish like all my other recent attempts.  Helene Hanff's books came to mind--I think I've got all of them but have only read a couple.  They're short and several deal exclusively with books, so what better choice to restart my nonfiction reading.

I suspect you might have already read the book or perhaps seen the movie and thus know what the story is about.  It doesn't seem as though so much time has passed really, but how the world has changed.  It's a little sad to think how nostalgic it makes me feel.  The book chronicles the twenty-year long correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel.  Hanff was living in New York but unable to find the books she wanted to read, so contacted the British bookshop Marks & Co in London to locate them.  Imagine buying your books through the mail and doing so via a written correspondence.  Helene is outspoken and a little irreverent (The NYT called her "wittily acerbic") and Frank seems the very model British gentleman.  America after the war was a land of plenty compared to Austerity Britain where meat and eggs and even nylons were still being rationed in the early 1950s.  What began as a simple transaction became a friendship between not just Helene and Frank but the entire bookshop staff on Charing Cross Road.  Helene often sent food parcels and the staff would reciprocate with books and other little gifts.  A bookshop with a cataloger!  I truly mourn the loss of bookshops like Marks & Co must have been, but progress is good, right?  

There are many wonderful passages in the book, and I thought I'd share a few of them, beginning with a description of the shop.  Hanff was never able to travel to Marks & Co while it was open, but a dear friend was in a theatrical production in London and sent home letters telling her about it.

"There are stalls outside and I stopped and leafed through a few things just to establish myself as a browser before wandering in.  It's dim inside, you smell the shop before you see it, it's a lovely smell, I can't articulate it easily, but it combines must and dust and age, and walls of wood and floors of wood.  Toward the back of the shop at the left there's a desk with a work-lamp on it, a man was sitting there, he was about fifty with a Hogarth nose, he looked up and said 'Good afternoon?' in a North Country accent and I said I just wanted to browse and he said please do."

Hanff didn't rely solely on finding used books via Marks & Co.  She was also a library user.

"you leave me sitting here writing long margin notes in library books that don't belong to me, some day they'll find out i did it and take my library card away."

In reply to a book that the bookshop staff sent to Hanff as a thank you for one of her food parcels she bemoaned the fact they hadn't written their inscription in the book.  By the way it came on her birthday.

"I wish you hadn't been so over-courteous about putting the inscription on a card instead of on the flyleaf.  It's the bookseller coming out in you all, you were afraid you'd decrease its value.  You would have increased it for the present owner.  (And possibly for the future owner.  I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in the margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention to.)"

I should probably emulate Hanff in the way she approaches and collects books, but I think I wouldn't have as much fun as I do if I were to change my style.  Still I admire how she went about her own personal literary education.

"You may add Walton's Lives to the list of books you aren't sending me.  It's against my principles to buy a bookI haven't read, it's like buying a dress you haven't tried on, but you can't even get Walton's Lives in a library over here."

So, I'm not really very good at trying in clothes in the store before buying them either.  Are you surprised.

Okay, just one more excerpt.  I'm not very good at getting rid of my books, but it's not because they might be hardcovers.  If I love it enough to keep it, it's one I would likely read again--or I would hope to anyway.

"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 love this book and am so glad I read it again.  It can easily be read in an hour or so, but I dipped into it over the course of a few days to make it last.  It's a little heart wrenching, but such a lovely story.  If you've not had the opportunity to read it yet, do yourself a favor and find a copy.  And if you have read it, it's well worth revisiting.  The correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel took place from 1949-1968.  84, Charing Cross Road was published in 1970. 

Next, I'm reading the sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street about Helene Hanff's much awaited trip to England, which she was finally able to make in 1970.

Comments

[catharina]

Lovely review Danielle of an equally lovely book. I've reread it only a couple of months ago yet I easily could do so again now. I've been on the lookout for Apple Of My Eye by Hanff but it seems to be out of print. And the film is also one of my all time favourites.

[Danielle]

Catharina--I love this book. I'd been thinking of reading it again for a while now and finally dug it out along with her other books. As they are all fairly short I hope to read/reread them all. I thought I had read a few of them, but I think I had only read 84, Charing Cross Road and Q's Legacy. The Duchess of Bloomsbury has her same wit. I'll keep an eye out for a used copy of Apple of My Eye for you--I often see her books at library sales or my favorite used bookstore!

[Margaret Powling]

This is, surely, one of my very favourite books, it's pure joy from beginning to end. And the film is excellent and not a disapointment as so many films-of-books are. Thank you for such an excellent review, Danielle.

[Nadia]

I love this book! You wrote such a great review of it! Makes me want to re-read it :) Definitely a must read that I recommend to all my friends.

[Annie]

Like everyone else, I love this book. It is the one to which I return whenever I'm ill and just need a good friend to keep me company. Do read 'Q's Legacy' if you haven't already. It tells how she first became involved in the self-education project that lead to her writing to Marks and Co. I especially love the passage you quoted about the books that aren't arriving -you may add Walton's Lives to the list of books you aren't sending me - I use it in the library whenever I seem to have been waiting an inordinate amount of time for a reservation to arrive. Surprisingly the librarians still speak to me!

[Lyn]

One of my favourite books. Lovely review & you chose some of my favourite bits to quote. All her books are interesting. The Duchess is fun but also poignant because she didn't get to England until after Frank's death & the bookshop was closed.

[Kathy]

I love, love, love 84 Charing Cross Road and was just talking about it with someone yesterday. Loved The Duchess of Bloomsbury St. as well, and find HH an utterly charming writer, and an inspiration for self-teaching myself about literature. I'm going to read/reread her other books now.

[Darlene]

Definitely a book I hugged to my chest when I finished. And those scenes when the parcels of food arrived! Absolutely wonderful.

[Inkslinger]

One of my all-time favourites! I love this book, too (and the wonderful film). It is such a comfort read. What a great review of it too!!

Since I'm in the middle of enduring a nasty chest cold, I think I'll take out my copy and re-read it (Helene and Frank are bound to make me feel better).

[Val]

I love her books...and I was really pleased to find "Q's" books available on Project Guntenberg.. I'm reading his "Art of Reading" as an e book at the moment sandwiched between Jilly Cooper's "Riders" which is a rather unusual but enjoyable combination ..lol

[Penny]

. . . so, here I sit, yet another commenter, nodding her head and pointing said head to just the spot on the bookshelf where Helene Hanff's books sit, waiting for me whenever I need them. Great review.

I enjoy the movie as well and will watch it whenever it is on. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is delightful and should I ever get to London, this will be my travel guide. Do pick up Q's Legacy, a prequel to 84, and equally delightful. I purchased it used on Amazon and, besides some yellowed pages, it was as good as new (and made me feel just a little bit like Helene, tee hee).

[sassymonkey]

I don't think I realized there was a second book! Requesting now!

[Stefanie]

This is such a wonderful book. I haven't read it in ages and now you've made me want to find it on my bookshelf and give it a re-read. Maybe I will save it for a rainy day when I need some cheering up.

[jenclair]

A lovely book--an all-time favorite!

[Mrs Joan Hunter Dunn]

One of the things I love about book blogging is reading a review of a favourite book. One doesn't know when a familiar novel will be posted and so it's a lovely comforting surprise to read it. Your post has done just that - thank you.

[Caroline]

I read it last year and liked it a lot. I got the movie too but haven't watched it yet. I still need to read The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.

[Danielle]

Margaret--I'm contemplating watching the movie again--it's sort of heart wrenching. I recall liking it as well. You're right that movies very often don't live up to the books they were made from! Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft are almost always good, though, I think.
Nadia--This was just what I needed. I forgot how good it was. It's well worth revisiting and I think I'll keep it close at hand now.
Annie--There are so many great passages in the book--many of them gave me a good chuckle, too. It is the sort of book that is nice to read when you're feeling out of sorts. I'm working on The Duchess of Bloomsbury now and will read Q's Legacy next. I'm glad I picked these up--I had been thinking about them for some time now.
Lyn--84, Charing Cross was a little sad at the end, but I am surprised at how often I feel tears as I'm reading Duchess... It's a bittersweet book. Lovely that she was finally able to see London, but no Frank or Marks & Co!
Kathy--If you've not read it, you should try Q's Legacy next. Sir Quiller Couch was a literary critic and she was reading books he wrote about. I somehow missed reading The Duchess of Bloomsbury, but I am very much enjoying it now. I did read Q's Legacy years ago, but I will read it next I think. She was an autodidact, which always makes me think there is hope for me, too! :)
Darlene--Yes, I felt the same way. I'm such a sucker for scenes like that and would tear up at those parts! Silly, sentimental foolishness, but it was such a nice thing to do.
Inkslinger--I think 84 is just the book for you. It's just enough to get your mind off other things yet not overlong or too intense. It's definitely one worth revisiting.
Val-Thanks for the heads up--I hadn't though to look for Q there! I am going to read Q's Legacy next, so I will have to check out his books on PG. Somehow Jilly and Q might not be a bad pair at all, really!
Penny--I'm not at all surprised that everyone seems to know all about Helene Hanff--this is such a great book for readers and booklovers--I think we can all appreciate the sentiments in it! I hadn't read The Duchess of Bloomsbury but am enjoying it now. And I have Q all lined up next.
Sassymonkey--The Duchess of Bloomsbury picks up just a few years later when Hanff finally is able to travel to London--I'm enjoying it very much!
Stefanie--I hadn't picked it up for years either, but I had been thinking of it for a while now. It seemed the perfect solution to read some nonfiction again and now I feel like working my way through the rest of her books!
Jenclair--It's a favorite of mine, too. It seems to have struck a chord with lots of us!
Mrs Joan Hunter Dunn--I'm very glad to hear that. 84 has been around a long time now, but it's nice to be reminded of it. So many passages were great--It was fun to share a few of them!
Caroline--The movie is very good, too. I should watch it again as well, though it is not one I own. The Duchess of Bloomsbury is also a quick read and entertaining, too. She writes with the same humor and wit.

[litlove]

I remember reading this years ago and absolutely loving it. Such a nice review, Danielle! You make me want to get it off the shelf right now. Have you ever read any of Ruth Reichl's memoirs? I found her writing incredibly engrossing and accessible (I read Tender At The Bone, and the one about not becoming her mother - can't recall exact title!).

[Amanda]

One of my all-time favorites! Her cousin, Jean Hanff Korelitz, is also a writer. I think you would very much enjoy Admission and The White Rose, her novels.

[iliana]

So glad your revisit with this book was just as wonderful as the first go around. This is definitely a "keeper". I've never seen the movie and I really should! Actually, what I need to do is read the sequel!

[Danielle]

Litlove--As I was pulling books off my shelf thinking of which NF book I wanted to read Ruth Reichl did cross my mind as I have her first memoir that you wrote about. I will have to pull it out as I am trying hard to get back into reading more nonfiction. The Hanff was a good place to start.
Amanda--Thanks so much for the suggestions--I will look for them in my library--I iddn't realize she had family who also wrote. 84...is a wonderful book, isn't it!
Iliana--The sequel is also a lovely book--a little heart wrenching, too. From what I recall, the movie was also excellent. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, too.

[Dorothy W.]

I loved this book when I read it a year or so ago. The excerpts you give here are great -- her attitude toward collecting is quite different from mine (and reading more generally too), but still, it's fun to read about, and I love the tone of her letters. I haven't read anything else by her, and I should one day.

[Danielle]

Dorothy--There was so much I could have shared from the book, but I agree--I have a very different reading and bookbuying style, too. Still, I always love hearing about other readers' habits, and loved her wit!

[Vipula]

This is one of my favorite books too and I think it's time I went back and read it. I remember though how the author looked down fiction books and how I did not even recognize some of the stuff that she talked...that did upset me a bit, but I do agree that it's a delightful and very charming time.

[Danielle]

Vipula--My reading choices don't overlap much with Hanff's either I have to admit! She had a very different approach to reading and book collecting and was quite irreverent about it all, but I love that she tried to track down those books for her own personal education. It was all very charming!