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Summary: as brilliant today as it was 30 years ago
Review: well, that seems like a pretty stupid heading, since a book thats brilliant at one time will still be brilliant at another. but i guess thats what 84CCR proves in part.i remember reading this for the first time in readers digest [!] where it was unabridged [!!] it has always remained one of my favorite ways to spend a lonely afternoon, and serves to remind again how deep love can exist between people who never even manage to meet in person: something that ought to be remembered by the fools who condemn internet relationships. read this book if you want to be touched, amused, feel hugged. i will always treasure it.
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Summary: One of my very favorite books!!!
Review: I love to write letters. When a good friend lent me this book it reminded me why. I'm finally buying my first book from Amazon today, and this is the one! It will be the perfect gift for a friend who is having a hard time because her best friend moved out of state. I hope it reminds her of how special a friend can be, even if she is far away. Maybe it will make her want to write letters, too.
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Summary: Original and delightful!
Review: This novel is all letters- letters exchanged between someone who is interested in old classic books, and someone who sells them. What could be more dreary and dry I hear you asking yourself. Nothing could be further from the truth. What the story really chronicles is a story of a shared passion that becomes a friendship, and in reality an unspoken mutual admiration and eventually love over a 20 year period. It is simply delightful, and the use of the letters as a way of telling the story means that it is different and innovative way of telling the story. Enjoy!
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Summary: Better than reading someone's diary.
Review: Like many people I saw a movie first. Naturally due to media constraints, you expect certain amount of the book to be homogenized. So I wanted to read what was missing. To my amazement very little was missing or modified. I don't normally read this sort of book. So I was surprised at finding myself wanting more when it finished. Also until I read the book I did not realize that Charing Cross Road was a real place. The whole book is a collection of correspondence between Helene Hanff an avid book reader and Frank Doel an agent for British bookseller. My wife has taken this one step further and is collecting all the books that were mentioned in the correspondence. Some of these books appear to have been reprinted due to this publication. All I want to know is what became of all the other people described in the correspondents that not specifically die?
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Summary: My favourite bookshop
Review: I used to spend most of my time in London on Charing Cross Road, browsing through the wonderful bookshops. One summer, I returned to find that my favourite bookshop was no longer there: instead, there was a construction site and a placard stating that that was the site where Marcks and Co., the bookshop made famous by '84 Charin Cross Road' used to be. Only then did I realize that my favourite bookshop was also the bookshop with a leading role in one of my favourite books. I recommend this book to anybody who has ever fallen in love with books.
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Summary: Books & London
Review: The first time I found this book I was 16. Just like Helene Hanff I wanted to go to London, to walk down Charing Cross Road, to see these book stores, to hold these books. The letters are remarkable. Helene talked about books like they were old friends and Frank appeared to have the same friends. Soon Helene was sending food packages to celebrate special occasions with the people in the shop and they were sending her secret thank you notes so Frank would not find out. Helene made plans to come to London, but something would always happen to delay the trip. She had wanted to go to London to see the coronation, but found that the only crowning she would be attending involved teeth. London changed from the time just after the war to the Beatles. London was still there, but the people she had wanted to see and who would have made the visit special drifted away. Helene said in the book that someone told her London existed in exactly the way you wanted to find it. She said she wanted the literary London and he told her it was there. I found Helene's London. I did walk down Charing Cross Road and into the shops. I found the books and the people who are selling them. I still believe this is one of my favorate books.
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Summary: Reading Another Person's Mail Was Never So Delightful
Review: Helene Hanff was a New York writer and Frank Doel was a London bookseller. This book chronicles the letters they wrote over a period of many years to one another. Although they never met, they became true friends bonded by their love of literature. Having read this tiny little gem, I can tell you that I'm not even sure why I liked it so much. Maybe it was because I loved seeing a warm friendship develop between two total strangers. Maybe it was because I loved the dry wit of Helene and the staunch Britishness of Frank. Maybe it was because I liked hearing about the WWII years, how the people of Britain sacrificed, and how one caring American woman made a difference to this small group of Britishers. One note: this is the only book I have ever read that is truly enhanced by the video. Read the book, then rent the movie. Anne Bancroft is the perfect Helene and Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as Frank.
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Summary: An unspoken love
Review: I must admit I saw the movie first. Very literary unique and bitter-sweet true story which touch my soul. I found the book and it is even better with detailed description and sincerity. I particularly enjoyed reading the letter-format of it. It is so warm hearted and just like reading letters from friends. In fact I even felt a little guilty as if I am reading other people's private letters... This excellent book shines in drawing out the cultural and social differences between London and New York during the period of Frank and Helene letters correspondence. 84 Charing Cross Road changed their lives.They developed special friendship,an unspoken love and care for each other without even seeing each other.This is truly amazing! I think "84 Charing Cross Road" is one of the best book I had read. Easy to read, great story line,literary educational and most importantly touches my heart and soul.
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Summary: A Treasure
Review: 84 Charing Cross Road is a small book of correspondence between Helene Hanff, the author and Frank Doel, a London book seller. These letters chronicle their lives over a twenty year period from 1949 to 1969. Though never meeting, they share a very special friendship, almost a chaste love affair, that extends to his co-workers and family. This is a charming and delightful book about two people you come to care for through their letters and wish you knew in person. A must for your home library. A book you'll read over and over again and share with friends.
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Summary: 84 is my favorite book!
Review: I love this book. You have to read it again and again, it never gets old. It is a book that will touch you and make you think. There is also a great film version of this book staring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins that does great justice to this masterpiece! Well worth the read. You can finish it in one day.
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