This book is nearly everything I like, wrapped up nicely in one little package. It's actually two very small books: 84 CCR, and The Duchess of Bloomsbury, in which Hanff visits London and the bookshop-that-was.

Hanff has an easy, humourous style that contrasts well with the more reserved formality of her primary letter writer/recipient, Frank Doel. The friendship that she builds with him and his family/workmates really is charming, though it's terribly sad that she misses him in person. I've been reading a library copy - like Hanff, once I've read a really good library book, I need my own copy.

I need my own copy.