Running the Rift is the most recent winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, as awarded by Barbara Kingsolver. It's also an...
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mrkoffee, January 2, 2012 (view all comments by mrkoffee)
I read this correspondence between the author and the staff at Marks and Co. in one sitting. I learned a lot (I never knew meat and eggs were so hard to come by in England even well into the 1950s), but mostly I just deepened my already profound love of books. (I'll never read an ebook again without feeling a little twinge of guilt!)
KristinaMN, December 11, 2011 (view all comments by KristinaMN)
This very readable collection of letters between a broke playwright and screenwriter and a small bookshop in London, bridging two decades (1949-1969), will appeal to bibliophiles everywhere. Historical references to rationing in England after WWII and other details ground the letters in the time period, but they actually resemble an email correspondence of today in many ways. Hanff's humor and warmth, and the friendships she develops with the booksellers she has never met, remind us that books have the power not only to inform, entertain, and persuade us, but to connect us to each other, as well.
Shannon Bodenstein, September 21, 2011 (view all comments by Shannon Bodenstein)
When I first picked up this thin little book 15 years ago, I couldn't imagine getting much out of it. Boy, was I wrong! In relatively brief letters back and forth between New York and London, you get the feel for English bookshops, mid-century Manhattan, the life of a freelance writer living hand to mouth. Her words are funny, touching, and so descriptive in so few words. A complete joy to read.
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