Bookreview: 84 Charing Cross Road & The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

Author: Helene Hanff
Genre: realistic, non-fiction
Published: 1971 & 1974
Personal rating: 5/5
Yearly count: 2
TBR Challenge: 1/12

Two books, but so closely tied together that I count it as one, they're together in the same book anyway.

84 Charing Cross Road is the collection of letters written by Helene Hanff, New York, and her 'pen-pals' at Messrs. Mark and Co, seller of rare and secondhand books, London. It's delightful, and fun to read.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a sort of epilogue to 84 Charing Cross Road. It's Helene's diary entries over a period of a little more than a month. It was a bit hard to get into it, especially right after the letters, but eventually I did enjoy it, although it didn't come anywhere near 84 Charing Cross Road.

Together, these books were fun, delightful, and made for a nice read.

Books reviewed 2009 by Author

~A~

Albert, Susan Wittig - Bloodroot review
Albert, Susan Wittig - Lavender Lies review
Albert, Susan Wittig - Mistletoe Man review
Albert, Susan Wittig - An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries review
Austen, Jane - Emma review


~B~

Blyton, Enid - The Castle of Adventure review
Blyton, Enid - Five Go Off to Camp review
Burton, Ann - Abigail's Story review



~C~

Chiaverini, Jennifer - The Cross-Country Quilters review
Christie, Agatha - Agatha Christie: An Autobiographie review
Christie, Agatha - Ordeal by Innocence review


~D~

Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers review


~E~

Enquist, Per Olav - The Royal Physician's Visit review


~G~

Gaines, Abby - The Diaper Diaries review
Gaines, Abby - Married by Mistake review
Golding, William - The Inheritors review


~H~

Hanff, Helene - 84 Charing Cross Road & The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street review
Harris, Joanne - Chocolat review


~J~

Jordan, Nicole - To Bed a Beauty review
Jordan, Nicole - To Pleasure a Lady review
Jordan, Nicole - To Seduce a Bride review


~Q~

Quinn, Julia - It's In His Kiss review
Quinn, Julia - An Offer from a Gentleman review
Quinn, Julia - On the Way to the Wedding review
Quinn, Julia - Romancing Mister Bridgerton review
Quinn, Julia - To Sir Philip, With Love review
Quinn, Julia - Splendid review
Quinn, Julia - When He Was Wicked review


~S~

Snyder, Maria V. - Poison Study review

~T~

Tiernan, Cate - Book of Shadows review>


~W~

Wit, Miranda de - Van steentijd tot stadsmuur review

Books reviewed 2009 by Title

This is a list of all the books I've reviewed in 2008, sorted by title. Titles beginning with 'A', 'An' or 'The' will be sorted like those words weren't in the title. So you can find 'The Royal Physician's Visit' under the R.

~Starting with a number~

84 Charing Cross Road & The Duchess of Bloomsbury by Helene Hanff review


~A~

Abigail's Story by Ann Burton review
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie review


~B~

To Bed a Beauty by Nicole Jordan review
Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert review
Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan review


~C~

The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton review
Chocolat by Joanne Harris review
The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini review

~D~

The Diaper Diaries by Abby Gaines review


~E~

Emma by Jane Austen review


~F~

Five Go Off to Camp by Enid Blyton review


~I~

The Inheritors by William Golding review
It's In His Kiss by Julia Quinn review



~L~

Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert review


~M~

Married by Mistake by Abby Gaines review
Mistletoe Man by Susan Wittig Albert review


~O~

An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn review
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn review
Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie review


~P~

To Pleasure a Lady by Nicole Jordan review
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder review


~R~

The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olav Enquist review
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn review


~S~

To Seduce a Bride by Nicole Jordan review
To Sir Philip, With Love by Julia Quinn review
Splendid by Julia Quinn review


~T~

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas review



~U~

An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert review


~V~

Van steentijd tot stadsmuur by Mirande de Wit et. al. review

~W~

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn review

Bookreview: Lavender Lies

Author: Susan Wittig Albert
Genre: detective
Published: 1999
Personal rating: 5/5
Yearly count: 1
Genre Challenge: 3/12

In this book, China has overcome her personal problems from the previous book, but now a murder is throwing all of her plans in the wind. If she doesn't find out who killed Edgar Coleman, a man nobody liked, in the next week, she can say goodbye to her happy ending of a very bad year.

I must say, I liked the time limit in this book. It made it all feel a bit more rushed, which added to the tension of the book. I like this one a lot, especially the ending, which was surprising (and no, I'm not talking about who did it, although that was surprising too.

A very good read, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

The Sunday Salon - January 4th

Let me start by saying Happy New Year to everyone!

In 2009, I've made several book-related resolutions, one of them was to once again start to participate in Becky's reading group. The plan was good, I went to the library yesterday to pick up this months book. According to the on-line catalogus it should've been there, but I couldn't find it. I searched the places it should be, the places it could be, and even the places where it shouldn't be. So, I had to resort to reserving it, and I expect a copy will be available somtime this week.

With that plan shot down, I grabbed Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert. That was on this months to read list too, and read it I did. I finished it in one evening. The review will be up around Tuesday, I think.

Today I have started 84 Charing Cross Road, which is a delight to read, although I doubt it will last longer than today. No worries though, I've got a very thick book lined up after 84 Charing Cross Road, namely The Plains of Passage, the fourth book in the Earth Children's saga by Jean Auel.

What are you reading this weekend?

Reviews for the Genre Challenge

Please post a direct link to your review in the comments, and I will add it here.

I'll be changing and up-dating this soon! Please be patient.