One of my goals in 2022 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
A contender for my favorite nonfiction, and possibly book of 2021, 84 Charing Cross Road is not at all what I expected. More of a memoir told in letters, and Helene Hanff’s love letter to book lovers.
*this book did end up being my favorite of the year!! See that video here.
Finding the used books surrounding her upper west side apartment lacking, Helene Hanff turns to writing to a renowned book seller she has heard about at 84 Charing Cross Road, London, England. A play write, screen writer, and scholar, her book taste are extensive and specific. She finds a match to her love of books and a friend with the attendants on the other end of her letters.
This collection of letters, spanning more than 30 years, become more than just requests for specific used books, and Helene becomes a friend and patron of the workers at 84 Charing Cross Road. Her unorthodox manner and style, practically unheard of at the time, endears not only the main book seller, but many of the other employees, some writing to her in secret. Through many letters, the reader learns her personality, as they must have on the recieveing end of her requests. As we learn more about her life, and generosity, so too do we learn about the individuals and family, friends and neighbors of the Charing Cross road book shop. Helene goes out of her way to care for her new friends, sending care packages and letters to spouses. Although the letters can be sporacdic, partly bc Helene was not terribly organized, and partly be she originally didn’t intend to keep them, one comes to love both sides of this unusual exchange and becomes invested in the lives and well being of all these seemingly disparate people. I particularly love the ideas and implications of community, family and shared love for people who may never meet. The times when letters go unanswered or months or year pass with no letter at all seem intolerable and deeply sad. But then a letter or a book will arrive and we are once again among friends. Some of the original authors of letters disappear, and we have no way of contacting them or finding out their further stories and it is heartbreaking. The relationships built in the slim volume will stick with me for a long time, and I have thought about this book so often since first reading it. I would highly recommend this book to all readers, partly bc it is a love letter to readers and books, partly bc it’s a delightful and easy read for fiction and nonfiction lovers, and partly bc it is a heartwarming and heartbreaking story of caring for our fellow human. I would entreat all to read this book.
I also read the sequel and continuation of this nonfiction story (much later in 2021) . It’s rare we get a sequel to a true life story, but with Helene we are that lucky!
This book can be seen in my July Wrap Up.