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Average customer rating 5 (4 comments)

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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!) Highly recommended for anyone who loves books.

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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 Historical references to rationing in England after WWII and other details ground the letters in the time period, but they actually resemble an email correspondence of today in many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.

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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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This is a collection of letters between New Yorker Hanff and the employees of the Marks and Co. bookstore in London, especially with one Frank Doel. For twenty years, Hanff orders old and rare books from London and becomes friends with Doel, his co-workers and his family. She sends them care-packages of meat and eggs when they are suffering through rations after WWII. She sends friends to visit the bookstore when they travel abroad. But unfortunately Hanff is never able to save enough money to take her own trip to England to meet these friends. This is a very short book, only 97 pages, but it is so incredibly sweet and funny that it is worth the time reading it. It gives insight into some everyday lives that we otherwise would never know about.