Download PDF 84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 9780140143508 Books
Download As PDF : 84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 9780140143508 Books
This charming classic love story, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, at the time, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a winsome, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books. Their relationship, captured so acutely in these letters, is one that has touched the hearts of thousands of readers around the world.
"84, Charing Cross Road will beguile and put you in tune with mankind... It will provide an emollient for the spirit and sheath for the exposed nerve." -- The New York Times
"A unique, throat-lumping, side-splitting treasure." -- San Francisco Examiner
Download PDF 84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 9780140143508 Books
"Since I started our book discussion group in September 2010, I've been responsible for choosing the books. The upcoming season, I'm trying something new; I am pairing 84 Charing Cross Road with The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society. Although 84 is non-fiction & Guernsey is fiction, they have in common that each tells its story through a series of letters. I found 84 Charing Cross Road to be charming and its author, Helene Hanff, to be witty, with a quirky sense of humor. I recommend 84 not only for the qualities I mentioned, but also because it focuses on a period (immediately after the Second World War), that often is overlooked."
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84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 9780140143508 Books Reviews :
84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 9780140143508 Books Reviews
- Since I started our book discussion group in September 2010, I've been responsible for choosing the books. The upcoming season, I'm trying something new; I am pairing 84 Charing Cross Road with The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society. Although 84 is non-fiction & Guernsey is fiction, they have in common that each tells its story through a series of letters. I found 84 Charing Cross Road to be charming and its author, Helene Hanff, to be witty, with a quirky sense of humor. I recommend 84 not only for the qualities I mentioned, but also because it focuses on a period (immediately after the Second World War), that often is overlooked.
- I can't recall when I first discovered 84, Charing Cross Road. I suspect I came across it reading a book about bookstores post. I'm a sucker for those. For many, bookstores are a magical place. It's a place where we can often find people who are as enthusiastic about the love of the written word as we are. It's as if we finally find our home away from home among the stacks.
In 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff finds kindred spirits in a bookshop across the ocean. October 5, 1949, Helene writes her first letter to Marks & Co., a second-hand bookshop in London that specializes in out-of-print books, to inquire after a list of books she can't seem to get a hold of. The bookshop manages to procure most of the list for her and assure her they'll be on the lookout for the rest. It was this exchange that started a twenty-year correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, an employee of Marks & Co.
Helene and Frank's letters start out very formal, but through time, the pretenses come down. Their letters become friendly, and before long, she's exchanging letters not only with the other staff, but also with their families. Although this book is slim, at less than a hundred pages, it's full of heart. 84, Charing Cross Road, is the book Helene Hanff is most remembered for and it's not hard to see why. - I bought this as a gift to give to my own pen pal when we recently met in person for the first time. We had corresponded frequently for about 3 years and this book came up in conversation more than once as a great representation of how real friendship can be attained based only on the written word. The copy I received was pristine and I must admit that I could not resist reading it again before wrapping it up. I think I appreciated it much more this time around being 30 years older and, hopefully, a little wiser since the first read. I came to America from the UK in 1960 at age 13. The letters that referred to rationing and wartime deprivations really resonated with me as I remember ration books and my first orange!
Helen Hanff was a passionate writer with such a deep love of literature that she made me want to return to school and do better in my studies! I highly recommend this book! - Never before has a book of letters made me laugh and cry. I read this straight through in one day, not because it's very short but because I couldn't put it down.
- What's not to love about this book? Easy to read, no complicated, or stage-crafted, Hollywood infused drama. This is a lovely story (and trust me - I'm a man that NEVER uses the word "lovely" to describe things) about a woman from the Bronx and her transatlantic dalliance with a staid London bookseller. The story is told over changing decades from the aftermath of WWII to the late 70's. Helene Hanff is both the author and subject of this book. The book's title refers to the bookstore's address in London. The story is about her life as a script reader, her love for rare and out of print books, and the bookseller (Frank Doel)who goes to great lengths to find those books for her. Her ability to write about daily events makes you see and feel the changes that are occurring in America while Europe struggles to rebuild. Before "You've Got Mail", "When Harry Met Sally", or even "The Notebook" - people would sometimes meet as penpals and could be charmed by one another's kindnesses. There are no flashes of nudity here, no sordid details of extramarital affairs (Frank is married, with children). Instead, you'll find two people who become friends through the mail and still respect one another in the morning. A great read!
- This is a beautiful story of friendship at a time when writing letters was the only form of communication amongst friends and businesses.
Helene is a script writer from New York with a passion for rare books.
Frank is a book dealer from London. He works in a small book shop that specializes in out-of-print books.
When Helene comes across a catalogue for the store, she immediately writes to them with an order.
Frank replies and in his very proper British manner begins with 'Dear Madam'.
Helene, on the other hand, is outspoken with a witty sense of humour. She replies with the remark 'I hope madam does not mean over there what it does here'.
And so begins a beautiful exchange of lives that starts with a shared love of books and develops into so much more.
This is definitely a wonderful read especially for anyone like myself who loved writing and receiving letters before computers killed off the romance of it. - This book is a gem. I enjoyed this collection of letters so much. In Helene's letters from New York to the bookseller in England, her sassiness is endearing and the cultural references (rationing in Europe, the conversion of the cost of books from the British pound to the American dollar, and eventually the Beatles) are so interesting. Most of the classic books she references in her letters are not ones that I will even attempt to read, but there was still plenty to find endearing and relatable.
I don't often give books as gifts to adults because each person's reading preferences are so difficult to pin down, but since this book is short and a fairly quick read and such a gem, I shall be giving it as a gift.
