№ 14 reading list: non-fiction in spring

A fool's errand to the University Library is the reason for my sharing the № 14 reading list later than intended. I went there to borrow the books by Martin Amis and Joan Didion - I wanted to photograph the entire stack of books - but I forgot the paper one needs to collect the library card. I still haven't had time to go back but thought it best to share the list before I finish reading the other books on it, all non-fiction. Every now and then I leaf through the notebook containing the books I want to read (I'm constantly adding more titles) and try to prioritise; Amis's The War Against Cliché is one of those books and I wanted to reread Didion's The White Album. Some may ask why waste time rereading books when there are so many unread. Well, I believe some books demand rereading. I haven't read everything by Didion, but let's say it's on my list. The publishing house Diogenes provided the German book on the list and for that I would like to thank them. It's a delightful read, with stories related to bookshops (see further below).

№ 14 reading list:
1  The Prime of Life  by Simone de Beauvoir
2  Letters to Friends, Family & Editors  by Franz Kafka
3  The White Album  by Joan Didion
4  The War Against Cliché  by Martin Amis
5  Der schönste Ort der Welt: Von Menschen in Buchhandlungen  [German]
6  Þúsund kossar  by Jón Gnarr [Icelandic, 'Thousand Kisses']
7  Orðið á götunni  by Margrét Bjarnadóttir [Icelandic]

To embrace my inner bibliophile, and to improve my German, I was grateful to receive a book from the Diogenes Verlag to add to the list: Der schönste Ort der Welt: Von Menschen in Buchhandlungen. In English the title reads: 'The Most Beautiful Place in the World: From People in Bookshops'. It contains twenty bookshop stories collected by Martha Schoknecht, narrated by authors Mark Twain, Penelope Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Patricia Highsmith, and Ingrid Noll, to name a few. For those of you who have read, and hopefully loved, Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road (for more, see my blog entry), I was delighted to find in the book some of the letters she wrote to and received from the Marks & Co. booksellers in London. She is just as wonderful and funny in German.

As someone who admits to often judging a book by its cover, I have to comment on the book design. Whenever I enter a bookshop here in Germany I cannot help but swoon over the white paperbacks published by Diogenes. The cover of this book is especially beautiful: a vibrant and colourful painting, Union Square Bookstore, by artist Patti Mollica.

Bookshop stories, Der schönste Ort der Welt, published by Diogenes

A note on the Icelandic books: The first is Jóga's memoir, who is a well-known massager in Iceland and, among other things, ran a popular and unique clothing boutique in Reykjavik. As a young woman, she was seriously injured in a car accident in the US, followed by a legal battle that changed her life drastically. The book is written by her husband Jón Gnarr, a famous actor and comedian; from 2010-2014 he was the Mayor of Reykjavik. The second book is quite an interesting piece of work by Margrét Bjarnadóttir (who happens to be the sister of a dear friend, who gave me the two books). During the period May 2009 to December 2013, she collected phrases that she overheard on the street, at cafés, etc. Each page has one entry. Usually, it's just a short sentence or a question, and this makes it such a fun read and philosophical.

Letter from New York by Helene Hanff

No, I'm not writing from New York (wouldn't mind, though), I just finished reading this wonderful book, Letter from New York, by Helene Hanff, published in 1992. I already told you that I had ordered a used copy and mine turned out to be a first edition; an old library copy with a plastic cover that makes cracking sounds when one turns a page - love the feeling!

I recently blogged about Hanff's book 84 Charing Cross Road (see here) and told you that I had fallen for her witty style. She is just as witty in Letter from New York but that book contains stories she wrote for six years for the BBC Woman's Hour broadcast after her success with 84 Charing Cross Road. These stories are about her life in New York, about her neighbours (people and dogs - she lived at 305 East 72nd Street), friends, walks in Central Park, etc.

Hanff isn't a glamorous person but writes with passion about daily life in her community and on the streets of the city. She's a keen observer and easily cracks me up. If you haven't already travelled to New York I think you will be eager to visit after the reading, even though she is describing New York in the late 70s and early 80s. What I especially love about her is how comfortable she is with making fun of herself. I wish she were still among us because we need people like Hanff in this world.

I probably don't have to tell you that I have already ordered my third book by her and I'm expecting a used copy of Q's Legacy to arrive in the mail soon.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

When was the last time you fell in love with a book before reaching page 10? It happened to me last week when I picked up 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. I'm not fond of telling people that they have to read something, but for all book lovers this book is compulsory. It all started back in 1949 when Miss Hanff wrote a letter from New York to the Marks & Co. bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road in London to ask about second-hand books for a reasonable price. What followed was 20 years of correspondence with mainly one of its staff members, Frank Doel. In her third letter, Hanff had dropped the formality and was already expressing her wit and wonderful sense of humour, but it took a bit longer for Frank Doel, the Brit, to do so. This is an extract from her sixth letter in March 1950 (the spelling is hers):

Where is the Leigh Hunt? Where is the Oxford Verse? Where is the Vulgate and dear goofy John Henry, I thought they'd be such nice uplifting reading for Lent and NOTHING do you send me. you leave me sitting here writing long margin notes in library books that don't belong to me, some day they'll find out i did it and take my library card away.

Her complaining, yelling tone just cracks me up. I don't have Hanff's courage to write margin notes in library books, but I mark sentences and passages with an x or a vertical line in mine.

Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road is 95 pages long; a quick read. Most of the letters are simply delightful and then there are a few, at least one, that will break your heart. I won't say more. Not only did Hanff send letters, but she also sent food parcels (meat and eggs) to the staff members to express her gratitude for the books she was receiving. The correspondence started in post-war Britain and the rationing appalled her. In the beginning, the staff would hold on to the books she was interested in and ask her in a letter if she still wanted them. This was what she wrote to them in September 1950 from her apartment on 14 East 95th St.:

Never wonder if I've found something somewhere else, I don't look anywhere else any more. Why should I run all the way down to 17th St. to buy dirty, badly made books when I can buy clean, beautiful ones from you without leaving the typewriter? From where I sit, London's a lot closer than 17th Street.

The book reminds me of another delightful read, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, which I talked about in another blog post. When I finished reading these two I kept them close to my heart for just a few seconds. That's how much I loved them.

My edition of 84 Charing Cross Road includes the sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, which is about her trip to London (the illustration on the cover is by Sarah McMenemy). I wouldn't even consider reading the former without having the latter ready. After finishing the book I wanted more of Hanff, so I ordered Letter from New York. I got a used copy, which should arrive soon. I also found an audio version of 84 Charing Cross Road on YouTube, which I have already listened to twice while doing house chores. Then there is a film from 1987, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, which I haven't seen.

If it's raining this is the perfect book to read under a blanket with a cup of coffee or tea and simply get lost in the delightfulness. I recommend having stationery at hand because after the reading you probably want to catch up on your correspondence. By that, I don't mean emails.