I really don't understand the popularity of this little book. Here is the totally uninteresting correspondance between an American B-film script writer, who has nothing to say and proves herself to be a rude philistine, and the dry business correspondance of a clerk in a London book shop. There's a lot of names dropping, and plenty of drivel over post-war time charity. What horror to know there is a sequel (one could expect as much from a script writer). ( )

This small collection of correspondence between Ms. Hanff and a British bookseller has been recommended by so many on LT that I'll simply say that I found it wonderful and was sorry when it ended. It became an instant favorite. ( )

Absolutely love this book! As a booklover you recognize similarly inflicted people, and you want to know more of the books they want and love. As a bonus, you see how the relationship between Helene and Frank develops, from strictly business to real friendship. The time is for me an extra bonus, to hear about life in postwar England, I learned things I had no clue about. I cannot go to London without reading this book, and every time I read it, I get so caught up in it I cannot put it down. ( )

An epistolary style in a novel is a wonderful medium of experiencing the characters first-hand. When this actually mirrors life, with real exchanges between two people being the material, it seems somewhat beyond the ken of reader criticism, landing one in the position of reviewing real people. Suffice to say, these exchanges between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel reflect much credit to both the parties. Helene is witty, open and insatiable in the matter of literature. Frank is quietly competent with a genuine drive towards customer satisfaction, of the old, honest kind. Their friends and colleagues flit by making some indentations and adding to the environment of pleasant dialogue. The book moves one strongly by its very directness and simplicity. An immediate favourite, and let me add a plug for the movie with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft, which adds the very enjoyable visual element to the scenario.

Read aloud in bed, taking turns, like we did for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. We devoured it, and in addition to being a pleasure to read, it didn't leave crumbs. We will continue with Hanff's two other volumes, and may have to branch into Q's own books, as they seem to have been such an inspiration to her.

We'd seen the film before we read the book, not the usual sequence for me, but I honestly don't know if I'd be as emotionally affected if I'd come to the book first. The second half jumps at times two years or more between letters, which softens the immediacy of Hanff's relationship to Doel and the other booksellers a bit. And the film did quite well in adapting some of the best bits of Hanff's prose, I remembered several selections. I imagine the screenplay was itself adapted (at least in part) from the stage play, which may account for this. In any case, both film and book are beloved by both of us. ( )