by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
ages: adult
First sentence: “Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder.”
Copy won in a contest sponsored by A High and Hidden Place
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Sometimes, when I read a book, one word keeps popping in my mind. For this book, the one word I constantly thought was charming. Utterly, unabashedly, and unreservedly charming.
The book reminded me in many ways of 84 Charing Cross Road, and it wasn’t just that it was an epistolary novel. Shaffer and Barrows got a feel for the time (post-war), the place (England), and the people. That, and it’s a book about readers and community and belonging, all of which I totally love. It’s got a bit of everything, too: romance, literary illusions, soaring descriptions, history. It’s a war book, an epistolary novel, a romance, a work of historical fiction.
It’s nearly perfect.
Perhaps the only thing holding it back was the hype. I’m always suspicious of NY Times best-sellers, and while I think this one proved my suspicions wrong, I do think that I wanted more out of it. I wanted it to be more soaring, to be more than it actually was. Perhaps that’s the nature of the book, though: to get so involved in it that you want more at the end. Whatever the reason, I did enjoy the journey: I just wanted something more out of it.
But what I did get was thoroughly captivating.
The Book Nut 
I'm definitely interested in any book that is compared to 84, Charing Cross Rd.. I usually try to put off reading books like these that have been very hyped; if I don't I am almost always slightly let down.
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Can't wait to read this one!
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This is one of those books that I know I'll get to one day, but it isn't terribly important for me to get to it, you know? I'm sort of expecting a middle of the road read for me.
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Charming and captivating are great – but you're right – soaring is better!
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I really enjoyed this book when I read it last year. 🙂
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OK, you got me with 84 Charing Cross Road. I adored that book, and charming is the perfect word for it. I've put this book off for ages because of all the hype, but it might be time to make amends and jump in.
Word verif: dword — which D word?
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Loved, loved, loved this one! The only thing is it made me wish the story was real. Like 84, Charing Cross Road. Sigh.
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I kept thinking the word “enchanting,” because I really was enchanted by the whole darn thing, which I consumed like a fiend. LOVED it.
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I'm having a problem. EVERYONE loves this book. My mom HATED it. HATED. I'm reading it for book group. Can I be objective? I don't know.
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thanks for the information
public speaking
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Yes, I loved it but also wanted more out of it. I'm curious what Cami decided. I'll have to move 84, Charing Cross Road up my TBR list a bit. 🙂
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