Book #5/2018 84, Charing Cross Road

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read 84, Charing Cross Road back in the 70s. It is timeless. I came across this paperback and couldn't resist reading again. It is a beautiful, classic memoir of friendship and bibliophilia, twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, an American writer in New York, and Marks & Co. antiquarian booksellers in Charing Cross Road, London where Frank Doel became her main correspondent.

Letters, books and quips crossed the ocean from 1949 until 1969 and a friendship flourished as Marks & Co. supplied the rare editions Helene was unable to find in New York.

84, Charing Cross Road is combined here with its delightful sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, a diary kept by Helene when she finally made the trip to London.

This is a book for all book lovers - an unmitigated delight.

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Book #20 My Name Is Lucy Barton

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and bestowed with numerous critical appraisals, My Name Is Lucy Barton deserves to be read in one sitting. Owing to other commitments it has taken me four days and that has detracted from its appeal. It handles the nuances of human relationships with great skill; Lucy's relationship with her mother who visits her for the first time in six years whilst Lucy recovers from an operation in a New York hospital. The conversations between mother and daughter result inevitably in Lucy recalling a troubled rural childhood, a frail marriage, her children - a re-evaluation of times lost. The memories reveal a longing for better things to come, a forensic examination of her family relationships.

It is a tender story told with Strout's sympathetic approach to life. It is worthy, as I have said, to be read in one sitting.

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Here You Come Again

Heard this again today on BBC Radio 2. Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton. Every time I hear this it takes me right back to a night in 1978...

I was on a business trip to St. Louis, MO and Ros came with me. We had flown into New York on the Laker 'Skytrain', spent a couple of nights and then continued our journey to St. Louis on either Ozark or Eastern (memory a little grey here!).

On the night in question we had enjoyed dinner with some American friends and finished up, late, in 'The Roaring Forties' bar in West County. We were drinking Budweiser I recall and I was playing a pinball machine when I heard raised voices at the bar. A guy built like a bear and wearing a stetson was telling Ros that the Marlboro cigarettes on the bar were his and Ros was insisting that they were mine (go Ros!). The dude remained polite but insisted they were his. I turned away from the pinball machine, pulled my cigs from my pocket and waived them at Ros! Profound apologies followed. The guy just shrugged and said: "It's OK, you're English" !!

 
And whilst this was going on, Dolly was in full voice over the music system in the bar with 'Here You Come Again' !!

I love America, I have some great American friends, I love Dolly and I remember with great affection 'The Roaring Forties' bar in St. Louis, MO and the dude in the stetson... And 'Here You Come Again' is one of my all-time favourites...

Here You Come Again

The official music video for "Here You Come Again" from the recent release, "Dolly: Live From London."

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM

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Cornell Lab of Ornithology

I have just joined the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary. Membership includes a digital subscription to the award-winning quarterly journal Living Bird.

The journal features stunning bird photography and fascinating articles on bird biology, behaviour, conservation, art, humour, travel and reviews of birding books and equipment.

Whilst I live in the United Kingdom I do not limit my interest in birding to these shores. The USA enjoys a wealth of magnificent birds that we do not see amongst our residents or visitors and Living Bird is a marvellous means of expanding my knowledge of ornithology overseas. 

More information here