Mastering the Art of French Murder
Colleen Cambridge
Chanel Cleeton
Therese Anne Fowler
Lucy Gilmore
Karen Harper
Linda Kass
Susan Meissner
Kathleen Rooney
Karin Tanabe
Gail Tsukiyama
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Thursday, January 25, 2024
T B T : 84, Charing Cross Road
"I enclose a list of my most pressing problems. If you have clean secondhand copies of any books on the list, for no more than $5.00 each, will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me?
Very truly yours,
Helene Hanff"
So begins a magical tale of a friendship begat from books; indeed magical because who can procure a whole list of books for $5 these days? But it was so in 1949 when New York City writer Helene Hanff wrote to Marks & Co bookstore, 84, Charing Cross Road in London. The letter was answered by Frank Doel, chief buyer for Marks & Co. Doel was able to fill part of the order, and offered alternatives for others. Like any good bibliophile knows finding someone who can resolve your book needs, and gets it, like, really understands those needs, and the satisfaction of filling those needs, and the immediate need for more books, is rare. Hanff and Doel formed a symbiotic relationship based on the love of books. Though the pair never met in person, their epistolary friendship lasted 19 years, hundreds of books, and a ham.
Helene Hanff, born 1916 in Philadelphia, was exposed to the theater in her early life. She won a scholarship to Temple University, but the money ran out after a year. Hanff became an auto diadact, learning everything she could teach herself through books. Her goal was to become a playwright. She toured the "Straw Hat Circuit," continually writing plays. None of them made their way to the stage. Hanff wrote for television drama series including Hallmark Hall of Fame and The Adventures of Ellery Queen. Once television production moved to Los Angeles Hanff remained in New York and wrote for magazines, and completed a memoir chronicling her time in the theater.
Hanff wrote to various staff at Marks & Co but corresponded mainly with Frank Doel. Marks & Co was an antiquarian Bookshop founded in the 1920s. The store boasted Charlie Chaplin and George Bernard Shaw as customers. Frank Doel, born in 1908, began working at Marks & Co in the mid 1920s - in fact, that was his only job. Doel served in World War II. By all accounts he was a kind, well liked person. Doel married twice and had two daughters, Sheila and Mary. Doel ran Marks & Co after the death of one owner and the advanced age of the other made him retire. Doel suffered a ruptured appendix and died December 22, 1968.
At that time Hanff had yet to travel to London and meet her epistolary friends. Doel's wife Nora wrote to Hanff "...I was very jealous of you, as Frank so enjoyed your letters." Nora described Doel as "...always explaining and trying to teach me something of books." The store closed in 1970 ; the same year Hanff wrote 84, Charing Cross Road. Hanff traveled to London and visited the empty store in 1971, meeting friends and fans, writing of her time in London in The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. 84, Charing Cross Road was adapted into a stage play (Hanff's work had finally made it to the stage,) and became a film starring Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in 1987.
The story of 84, Charing Cross Road remains charming and appealing because it is a friendship based on letters. Of course we still communicate through written word, but Hanff's humor or Doel's genuine desire to please a customer would be lost when filtered through a computer screen via email. Or via text :
Hanff - old bks📕📕📕?
Doel - totes.
H - venmo / paypal ?
D - whtevs best 4 u
H - pdf u list
D - 😁
H - 😉
Hanff truly cared about her friends in London. Hanff's neighbor, a young British woman, told Hanff England was still rationing food (until 1954, 9 years after the end of World War II.) Hanff sent meat (including ham) and even eggs overseas to and Doel his staff. Their correspondence developed overtime, beginning with formal cordiality, and ending with Hanff and Doel's family writing about life, jobs, and money issues. Out of an inquiry came 19 years of friendship. Hanff said in a letter to a friend traveling to London - "the blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago... if you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much."
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
T T T
Thao Thai
Three generations of Vietnamese women tell their family story
A Beautiful Rival : A Novel of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden
Gill Paul
Rivals Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden kick off the beauty biz as we know it today
Nicola Harrison
Hazel Francis, out of a job after WWII dreams of learning to fly planes
Hazel Gaynor
Two women help evacuate children in WWII and as strangers face a dire situation together
Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen
Sarah James
Playwright Annie Laurence, new to Hollywood, is drawn into the murder of a film critic
The Other Princess : A Novel of Queen Victoria's Goddaughter
Denny S. Bryce
As a child Sarah Forbes Bonetta was an African Princess "gifted" to Queen Victoria. Sarah's charm and connection to QV gives her cache few people of color had in the Victorian era
Noelle Salazar
Zora Hough dreams of a career in fashion design. Will she give up her aspirations for jazz age excitement?
Eliza Knight
Adele Astaire danced with her brother Fred, but dreams of life after the stage
Ann Patchett
A mother tells her Covid-captive daughters the story of her youthful affair with a pre-fame actor
Marisa De Los Santos
Cornelia must put aside her own mental health concerns to assist her ailing mother
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
T T T
MY BOOKISH GOALS
These are my 2024 reading goals :
1 ~ Complete at least 12 prompts from my reading challenge
Seems easy enough, but some challenges can be completed with up to nine books
2 ~ Empty out my TBR basket
I have many books I've accrued over a few years. I want to empty my basket ... and fill it up again...
3 ~ Finish the bibliographies of :
Marie Benedict
The Other Einstein
Lady Clementine
Her Hidden Genius
Melanie Benjamin
The Children's Blizzard
Jamie Ford
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Love and Other Consolation Prizes
The Songs of Willow Frost
Adriana Trigiani
The Good Left Undone
Kiss Carlo
There are other writers whose bibliographies I want to make progress with including Jennifer Chiaverini, Erika Robuck, Lisa See, and Elizabeth Strout
4 ~ Keep up with my Net-galley reviews
I got woefully behind when I started my other blog and I feel rushed to finish. I don't want the same thing to happen this year
These goals aren't just for this year but an overall plan to enhance my reading life :
1 ~ Become a better blogger / reviewer
I'm new to reviewing and I want to eventually make this my career, so I need to work on making my blog attention worthy. I also want to incorporate essays about historical subjects from the books I read, and essays about classic authors. I'm also starting throwback Thursday - dedicated to the re-visiting books I read as a child and teen
2 ~ Create a reading balance
I am going to approach 2024 reading with a method : Read a new release / Read a Net-galley book / Read a long time TBR book / Read a book from one of my mystery series or a classic novel. I can also dedicate a month to a particular theme like books set in Hollywood or books set in WWI or dedicate a month to a particular prompt on my reading challenge
3 ~ Read as much as I can
I'm not setting a number goal this year as I always feel pressure to achieve the goal and get upset when I'm behind. I get in reading slumps as readers do. Reading is my happy place - why make a happy thing stressful?
4 ~ Read Historical Fiction from a wider array of eras
I tend to stick to the Gilded Age and want to learn more about other historical eras
5 ~ Read more out of my comfort zone
Not every book has to be about a woman from history ... but I like it when they are
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
T T T
TEN MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2024 ~ January - June
Kristin Hannah
Release Date : February 6
A student nurse gets an education when she is sent to the front lines of the Vietnam war
Sarah Tomlinson
Release Date : February 13
Ghostwriter Mari Hawthorn lands a job with Anke Berben, icon of the 1960s. Anke had romances with three members of the band The Midnight Ramblers. She married Mal, the band’s lead singer, who died in 1969. Mari uncovers explosive secrets that will finally solve the mystery of Mal's death
Denny S. Bryce / Eliza Knight
Release Date : March 5
Ella Fitzgerald and Marylin Monroe became friends, bonding over rough childhoods and early marriages
Stephanie Dray
Release Date : March 12
Frances Perkins is a feisty female lawyer when she meets politician Franklin Rroosevelt. Years later he names Frances Secretary of Labor - the first American female to hold a position in a Presidential Cabinet
Rowan Beaird
Release Date : March 19
In 1951 Lois Saunders waits out the end of her marriage at a Reno divorce ranch. When Greer Lang shows up Lois' world begins to change
Colleen Cambridge
Release Date : April 2
Tabitha Knight and Julia Child solve another murder and cook a lot (respectively)
The Titanic Survivors' Book Club
Timothy Schaffert
Release Date : April 2
A man who missed the boat - literally - finds new life after his name appears on a list of lives lost on the Titanic
Megan Campisi
Release Date : April 9
Kate Warne was the first woman in U.S. history to become a detective. She must set aside her abolitionist views to befriend a Confederate lady in her work as a spy for the Union
Chanel Cleeton
Release Date : April 9
A Miami mansion is the setting for a multi-generational gothic mystery
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
Helen Simonson
Release Date : May 7
Constance Haverhill is caretaker to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside resort. She meets a group of independent women who may lose their autonomy post W W II
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