Playing Librarian

Title: 84, Charing Cross Road Author: Helene Hanff Page: 230 pages Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Subject: Authors - American - Correspondence, Booksellers and Bookselling First Published: 1970


In 1949 Helene Hanff, ‘a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books’, wrote to Marks & Co. Booksellers of 84 Charing Cross Rd, in search of the rare editions she was unable to find in New York. Her books were dispatched with polite but brisk efficiency. But, seeking further treasures, Helene soon found herself in regular correspondence with bookseller Frank Doel, laying siege to his English reserve with her warmth and wit. And, as letters, books and quips crossed the ocean, a friendship flourished that would endure for twenty years.
- Synopsis from book cover
Oh, how much I adore this delightful and charming little book! And not to mention witty and heart-warming too! Reading the exchange of letters was pure enjoyment and even though I have not even heard most of the works mentioned in the …

Title:The Elegance of the Hedgehog, originally in French: L’élégance du hérisson
Author: Muriel Barbery, translated by: Allison Anderson Page: 320 pages Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Subject: Apartment - Concierges, Paris (France) First Published: 2008 (in English)


Renée is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building on the Left Bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated—an ideal concierge. But Renée has a secret. Beneath this conventional façade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her self-important employers.
Down in her lodge, Renée is resigned to living a lie; meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Palome Josse is determined to avoid a predictably bourgeois future, and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.
But the death of one of their privileged neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7, Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever.
- Synopsis from book c…