84, Charing Cross Road

84, Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 4.5 / 5	Published 1970 First Sentences "Gentlemen: Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian booksellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive."
Publisher's Description: It all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper Frank Doel of 84, Charing Cross Road, a relationship blossoms into a warm and charming long-distance friendship lasting many years.
Dear Reader,  How did this one little book break my heart so thoroughly?! It is only 97 pages long. And even those aren’t whole pages! I read this in little bits and pieces as I arrived at work every morning and drank my coffee while waiting for my computer to turn on. And it was an adorable copy, adorned with postmarks:  (like my cute coffee mug?) At first I found Helene Hanff rather off-putting in her rough edges and overly dramatic style, but I began to love her relationship with the Marks & Co. bookstore in London, particularly with Frank. Their rapport was almost immediate and so charming. And I cried through the last few letters. CRIED. When I felt as if I barely had any time to even get to know the characters! It’s incredible how much can really be said in a fairly short letter, taking into account of course all that is not written down. It’s one of the reasons I love writing letters.  And that brings me to the reason I picked this book up. I’d had it on my TBR, but I was compelled into reading it by the announcement of an LWA Book Club! I am eager for April 12 to arrive now, so that I can discuss all of the aspects of this endearing book. I will be in Minneapolis on the first day of a conference trip, but I am still going to make this happen. I must emote with others over this book! I don’t want to quote my favorite passage here like usual because there is so little content to discover already, but let me just say it involves pearl-handled fruit knives. There is still plenty of time to read the book before the deadline, so if you are a letter-writer and if you don’t piecemeal it like me, you could probably have it read inside of an hour. I strongly encourage everyone to engage with this little gem. Yours, Arianna -- Um, HOLY HELL. Is the audiobook of this made of SOLID GOLD? The prices for used copies run from $184.38 to $984.37! Unreal.

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Dept. of Speculation

Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 3/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Antelopes have 10x vision, you said."
Publisher's Description: Dept. of Speculation is a portrait of a marriage. It is also a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all. Jenny Offill’s heroine, referred to in these pages as simply “the wife,” once exchanged love letters with her husband, postmarked Dept. of Speculation, their code name for all the uncertainty that inheres in life and in the strangely fluid confines of a long relationship. As they confront an array of common catastrophes—a colicky baby, bedbugs, a faltering marriage, stalled ambitions—the wife analyzes her predicament, invoking everything from Keats and Kafka to the thought experiments of the Stoics to the lessons of doomed Russian cosmonauts. She muses on the consuming, capacious experience of maternal love, and the near total destruction of the self that ensues from it, as she confronts the friction between domestic life and the seductions and demands of art. With cool precision, in language that shimmers with rage and wit and fierce longing, Jenny Offill has crafted an exquisitely suspenseful love story that has the velocity of a train hurtling through the night at top speed. Exceptionally lean and compact, Dept. of Speculation can be read in a single sitting, but there are enough bracing emotional insights in these pages to fill a much longer novel.
Dear Reader, Well this didn't "wow" me like it did for others. It was a short, quick read and wasn't unpleasant or anything. The story was vaguely told through short paragraphs (thoughts) written like a confession in letter form. It took a little bit of time to understand what was exactly going on and after awhile I started to admire the Author for being able to tell a complete story in this way. However, as impressive as this is, it wasn't that effective for me. I would consider this book to be a nice afternoon read to ponder on but nothing that brought out any emotion. The Author definitely is talented and she is able to describe certain situations pretty perfectly in very few words. This review will probably be about as short as the book though. I know this book won't be sticking around in my memory for very long and I don't think I would be dropping it into anybodys hands to read... not really sure where this book fits in my life? Oh well, I have this signed by the Author from my RJ Julia signed first edition club, so that's nice I guess. It was also picked for the Tournament of Books, so that will be interesting to see. I won't say read this or don't... this choice will be left up to you. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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