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fictionadventurer · 20 days

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I never showed you guys my favorite book dedication. It's from Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff. I never finished the book (some minor content issue, I think), but this dedication is one of my favorite things.

#books #helene hanff #another rescue from my drafts

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ofliterarynature · 7 months

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AUGUST 2023 WRAP UP

[ loved liked okay no thanks DNF (reread) bookclub*]

I’m late I’m late I’m late! Oops

It’s only a month late, right? ‘Only’ lol, work has been exhausting! Anyways:

At this point I wonder if Ann Leckie can ever do wrong, Translation State was good! I was completely enthralled, which is all I ask, even if I don’t get as passionate about it as the main trilogy.

I continued the KJ Charles reading, with these supposed stand alones that are also kind of related? Honestly it’s no less of a stretch than Society of Gentlemen to Lilywhite Boys, so I don’t know why she can’t officially list them together. Anyways, mostly fine, and Band Sinister is still a delight!

Camp Damascus…I’m thrilled for Chuck, really, and I think he’s a delight to follow, but this one wasn’t for me. Religious trauma is turning out to be a hard no.

Ocean’s Echo was good! In some ways I definitely thought it was better than Winter’s Orbit - miscommunication is the worst I’m sorry, this story was more consistently engaging! I just like the characters from WO a bit more.

Chrestomanci! I’ve been going by the suggested reading order on Goodreads, and while I wasn’t particularly enthused by Charmed Life, once I had a grasp on the world the other books have been fun! Im very sad this might be my last DWJ, as I seem to have exhausted my library’s collection of her audiobooks :(

Grimoire of Grave Fates had a really interesting premise that lured me in, despite my reservations - an anthology where all the stories work together to solve the mystery of a murder at a magic boarding school? I thought it worked fairly well (and could definitely spin itself out into a series of novels), but just ok for me. Maybe one day I’ll finally concede I can’t read YA or boarding school books anymore.

Q’s Legacy was the last (I think) of the 84 Charing Cross Road books, and honestly the worst. It had its interesting moments, but it lacked the cohesion of the other two, speed,-running the before and during of those stories, to then spend the second half on the adaptations. It was not at all what the descriptions led me to expect. Maybe worth a single read but not a revisit.

I will also be honest, I didn’t really like the first Veronica Speedwell! The plot felt a bit contrived, and Veronica was so blunt as to almost read as rude or mean. Also very unexpectedly…clinically horny? Does that make sense? I’m not quite sure what prompted me to continue, but I’m now several books in and enjoying it! To be blunt myself, the historic setting is just set dressing, the plots can feel contrived, the mysteries are mediocre, but the real draw is the Veronica and Stoker show once they get themselves settled in and comfortable with each other. It’s a hoot.

I’d heard good things about The Art of Prophecy, but I still didn’t know quite what to expect going in. It was wonderful. Maybe a little long, but if you’re looking for a fantastic fantasy with lots of fight sequences, no romance, and some fascinating characters, this is a great read. The sequel comes out soon and I can only hope it doesn’t take as long for my library to get the audiobook as it did for this one.

I don’t know where I first found An Enchanted April, but it’s been on my TBR for a little bit, and I thought it would be the perfect fit for my classics challenge I gave myself this year! It wasn’t what I expected at all - it’s entirely character driven and very focused on their flaws, and the entire first half I thought I was going to hate it. But the second half, there’s a twist, almost, born of some very naïve optimism that nonetheless works out. Very improbably, but I was happy for them, you funky little weirdos.

What can I say about The Angel of the Crows except that it is still very good! It’s maybe lost a little of the shine it held when I got obsessed with it for a few months last year, but it is definitely now one of my comfort books. I really ought to read more canon Holmes though lol.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was, to be fair, one of my suggestions for book club. It was OK, but there were definitely parts that really did not work for me, the frame narrative in particular. The other members of the club really liked it but I don’t have any plans to read more of the authors work.

I’m almost tempted to put The Last Sun last just so I can yell more. I’d heard such good things about this series, but turns out my expectations were a bit skewed - it is not historical or secondary fantasy world, oops. So we got off to a bit of a rough start, not to mention all of the Capital Words. Not usually a good sign. And while I still wouldn’t say I love the worldbuilding necessarily, or that these are the next great work of fantasy, the action is really great, and the characters are flipping fantastic. You’ve got a pair of 30 year olds who are bad ass fighters, have a traumatic past, are immature assholes, can be so so kind, and accidentally adopt a posse of troubled teenagers? Sign me up, I love them, this reminds me so much of my days reading tons of Teen Wolf fanfic AUs.

My history with 2 AM At the Cat's Pajamas is that they cannot stop recommending this thing on the Book Riot podcasts. When I found a copy at Goodwill, I thought surely it’s meant to be! Well. It was not bad, but it was not great. I don’t know. It just wasn’t for me and I will not be keeping my copy. I probably should have DNF’d it, but I continued in hope.

Only one actual DNF this month though, The Mistress of Bhatia House - the newest Perveen Mistri book. I was actually fairly excited for it despite my reservations about the earlier books, but I hit a mental roadblock with this one. There was some contrived feeling tension with her sister-in-law, but really, I realized that one of my main problems with this series is that, despite being in a very precarious social position, Perveen is just incredibly reckless - usually in the name of doing good! - but it just hit all the wrong nerves at the moment. I’m hoping there will be a better time to read this, but not right now.

#bec posts #2023 #book log #wrap up 2023 #translation state #kj Charles #camp Damascus #oceans echo #chrestomanci #diana wynne jones #the grimoire of grave fates #helene hanff #Veronica speedwell #the art of prophecy #the enchanted April #the seven husbands of evelyn hugo #tarot sequence #the last sun #2 am at the cats pajamas

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tinynavajoreads · 3 months

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Currently Reading: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

This is my second read-through of this small collection of letters between Helene Hanff and the staff at Marks & CO., Booksellers and how their relationships grew through the letters and through the years. Just lovely, and I love how Helene Hanff writes, she's hilariously dry!

#84 charing cross road #helene hanff #booksellers #letters #book #currently reading #book talk #booklr #reading

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laddersofsweetmisery · 7 months

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Just finished up this delightful, little read this morning titled 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff ❤️ It was a lighthearted break from the darker, more serious stuff I usually read. It's the perfect book for a sunny spring morning. Now, I'm left saddened by the decline in letter writing and I want nothing more than to peruse Helene Hanff's book collection! I'm sure her collection was a marvel based on the books she bought from the charming Mr. Frank Doel of Marks & Co. I definitely recommend for anyone looking for a short, pleasant read. Helene's wit, humor, and generosity is enough to make anyone smile, even that of an old book dealer in London.

It's a shame that with the evolution of the internet, all of our correspondences are via email, text message, or over the phone. I'm a little saddened to know that future museums won't be filled with correspondences from this time, it also leaves you with a physical memento of those we cherish. Imagine pulling out a box from the back of your closet and relishing over old letters, postcards, and notes from everyone you've loved throughout your life--I'm regretful that I'll never experience that. Instead, all I have to relish are k's and lol's from my facebook messenger. Don't get me wrong, the internet has given us so much in regards to accessibility and connection, but there are things we've surely lost along the way.

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beljar · 2 years

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I am going to bed. I will have nightmares involving huge monsters in academic robes carrying long bloody butcher knives labeled Excerpt, Selection, Passage, and Abridged.

Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road, 1970

#helene hanff #84 charing cross road #dreams and nightmares #letters #dark acadamia aesthetic #classic literature #books and libraries #world literature #quotes #literary text #english novel

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unapologticallyqueer · 1 year

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"There’s a building going up across the street, the sign over it says: “One and Two Bedroom Apartments At Rents That Make Sense.” Rents do NOT make sense. And prices do not sit around being reasonable about anything, no matter what it says in the ad[...]"

- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

#quote #helene hanff #84 charing cross road #book #book quotes #book quote #epistolary #gremlin-post

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bluebangsthepirate · 1 year

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84, Charing Cross Road is just a book overflowing with love. the ending is heartbreaking, not in some extraordinary way, but in the way we all have regrets over lost time and opportunities. in the truest sense, it is a love story, perhaps not romantic but a love story nonetheless

#84 charing cross road #helene hanff #booklr #bookish #epistolary

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silence-book-and-tea · 2 years

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“Why is it that people who wouldn't dream of stealing anything else think it's perfectly all right to steal books?”

84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff

#books #quotes #helene hanff #literature #literary quotes

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kilterstreet · 2 years

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I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention to.

Helene Hanff (84, Charing Cross Road)

#Helene Hanff #84 Charing Cross Road #excerpts and quotes

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courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme · 5 months

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84 Charing Cross Road (1987, David Hugh Jones)

22/11/2023

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 film, directed by David Hugh Jones, based on the collection of letters of the same name by Helene Hanff, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.

An American writer, Helene Hanff, who lives in New York, is looking for old editions of some books that interest her and which are available in her city at prices that are too high for her. After reading the advertisement in a newspaper, the woman came into contact with an antiquarian bookshop in London, located at 84 Charing Cross Road, and specialized in out-of-print editions. She begins an exchange of letters with Frank Doel, director of the bookstore. The two will never meet, but they will become friends sharing the love of books, literature and reading.

The film was produced by Mel Brooks as a gift to his wife Anne Bancroft for the 21st anniversary of their wedding.

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fictionadventurer · 1 year

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Reading Helene Hanff's descriptions of 1970s decor to my brother like it's a horror story.

Department stores sell nylon shag bathroom carpeting

"Somehow it gets worse with each word."

I bought my tearose-pink bathroom carpeting

"Ooh. Ouch."

after my friend Richard cut it to fit the floor, he had enough left over to cover the toilet tank

"Augh! No! Make it stop!"

#lol #helene hanff #i reread 84 charing cross road and needed more by her #and my library has #letter from new york #which is a collection of her monthly talks about new york life for the bbc #they're charming #and it's fun to see american things described to a british audience that finds it exotic #but i'm shocked at how much of a period piece it is #things have changed a lot in the last fifty years #and this particular bit only adds to my thesis that the '70s offered almost nothing of value to the culture #there was some decent music and a couple of sitcoms and that'a about it #fashion and interior design makes one wonder how they managed to make things eye-searingly gaudy while sticking mostly to neutrals #books

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ofliterarynature · 10 months

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JUNE 2023 WRAP UP

loved liked okay no thanks (reread) bookclub*

Let’s just say I was feeling a bit unhinged this month…

I don't know what was up with my brain this month (it was stress, probably. ugh.), but it was comfort-reads-only central. Which spun out of control a little with the KJ Charles, but we'll get to that.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World started things off with a great non-fic pick. It spoke so deeply to me that it made me very angry at the world while also being very comforting. Would highly recommend.

Dust and Shadow is Sherlock Holmes solves Jack the Ripper, but hewing much closer to canon than say, that other one I fell in love with last year (The Angel of the Crows). I couldn't help comparing the two, and while it was interesting seeing each author's interpretations of the Ripper case, this one did not come out on top for me.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a sort-of sequel memoir to the author's collection of letters published as 84 Charing Cross Road that I read last month and loved. A little different but still a delight, and I've got another one of her related memoirs waiting for me on my desk right now.

The Goblin Emperor... what can I say, my brain needed comfort, I caught up on the AO3 tag, and thought why not. It was amazing to go back and see all the little bits of Maia I'd forgotten.

Sorcery & Cecelia I picked up partially as a consequence of my KJ Charles/historical romance rampage that fully put me off of the other audiobooks I already had checked out. I've been meaning to reread them for a while (it's probably been a decade) because I wanted to explore my mixed memories of the two sequels. And I don't blame younger me! The original book is a delight sort of in the vein of Diana Wynne Jones and The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, with adventures and almost a comedy of manners element to it. The much later sequels lose a lot of the whimsy and brightness, are much more serious and adult, and are much more explicitly mystery novels. Now I love a mystery novel, and I think if you distance them from the original book they're not too bad! The Grand Tour is the worst, I think, both because of the unexpected shift in style and because I don't think the epistolary format they chose works well (I really would have loved to see some letters they wrote to other people, imo, rather than diary entries). The Mislaid Magician brings things back around much closer to the original novel's format both literally and narratively, if not in style, and I liked it a great deal.

This next one goes out to Lauren, who will probably never read this but - I finally read The Age of Innocence! Not the copy you gave me, but I did it. It wasn't quite to my taste, but it absolutely fits with what I know of your other favorite things. Sorry this was like 8 years too late.

Bloom I've had on my shelf for years and it's totally my doing that we read it for book club - it was a nice read, I love the art style, but ultimately it was a bit forgettable. Maybe if it'd focused on resolving the non-romantic conflicts as well, idk.

It took me MUCH longer to get to Winter of the Witch than I had planned, but I did! It felt a little clunky trying to get all the ends tied up, but overall I liked it, I was very glad to get away from the politics of the second book. This was such a well written series, I definitely recommend it, but it also made me feel angry and anxious enough while reading it that I can't see myself ever revisting it. (I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of the author's work though).

AND NOW FOR THE KJ CHARLES!!!

I started off the month finishing up the Will Darling/English books, which, do not follow my example, you should absolutely read in chronological order (and pay attention to character names!). These were not books I fell immediately in love with, but exposure and persistence, not to mention some great side characters, won me over. I also cannot BELIEVE that KJ waited until the very very end to introduce the "proteges" concept, and it's the best thing I've ever heard I am emotionally devastated (and cackling, lmao).

I've mentioned elsewhere my accidental discovery (too late) that the next 3 series were related, but I did manage at least to start with the correct one. Society of Gentlemen was...okay. The first one might actually be the worst KJ Charles I've read so far, but the other two were definitely better, if not exactly to my taste. I like the mystery/action/adventure plots more, I suppose, rather than...politics? I think? and respectability is boring anyways.

I managed to accidentally skip over Sins of the Cities directly into the Lilywhite Boys, which is a pity, because they're much more closely related to each other than Society (which honestly you don't need to read beforehand). Even without the more detailed background from Sins, I LOVED the Lilywhite novels and novellas. Thieves and shady characters who are extremely competent, excellent lovers, a little violent, and with their own moral codes are catnip for me, I could not have resisted.

I then went back to Sins of the Cities, which were also good! The leads in the first book were sweet but a little bland, the love/hate thing going on the second book was fantastic, and I loved that the third book had a genderqueer/nb lead. I appreciated getting all the background to events hinted at in the Lilywhite books, but I also admit I spent less time focused on the murders and more on "ok but HOW does X become the Earl???????" I had so many theories lol, none of them right. I just wonder if these would have hit a little harder if I'd read them first.

As I write this in July, I'm still working my way through the rest of KJ's catalogue but I think the worst of my brain fever is over, and I'm hoping to soon have the mental capacity to read the new Victoria Goddard I've been ignoring for a couple of months. Wish me luck, and happy reading!

#book log #2023 #wrap up 2023 #bec posts #kj charles #david epstein #Helene Hanff #the age of innocence #bloom #sorcery & cecelia #winternight trilogy #dust and shadow #booklr #books

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fearfulsymmetryyrtemmyslufraef · 6 months

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84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

This charming classic, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London. 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 will grab your heart and not let go.

#free books #84 charing cross road #helene hanff

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meamegirl · 10 months

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Why is it that people who wouldn’t dream of stealing anything else think it’s perfectly all right to steal books?

#helene hanff #84 charing cross road

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beljar · 2 years

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I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets. I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I'd go looking for the England of English Literature.

Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road, 1970

#Helene hanff #84 charing cross road #english literature #england #literary text #books and libraries #dark acadamia aesthetic #world literature #quotes

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unapologticallyqueer · 1 year

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Title: 84, Charing Cross Road

Author: Helene Hanff

Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars)

Summary:

This charming classic, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London. 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 will grab your heart and not let go.

📚📚📚📚

Review:

This book is an amazing read.

I knew I would like this book, even before I started, because I love seeing other people's lives unfold through letters.

What I was absolutely NOT expecting, was the rollercoaster of emotions such a small book would take me on. It made smile, snort and giggle; I commiserated about how annoying is to read abridged versions of anything and I cried. I wasn't expecting to cry.

It's been some 10 minutes I finished reading and I can still feel the lump in my throat and the need to cry a bit more.

I'm glad I got to witness the beautiful friendship between Helene and Frank. My life is richer for it.

#helene hanff #84 charing cross road #book recommendations #book review #book #books #epistolary #memoir #gremlin-post

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