telerit's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
anna_laaa's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
gbeach's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Angelically written. Witty, warm and elegant. Wanted the letters to continue forever and the diaries were perfectly balanced between personal and external reflections. Makes London feel so close - a superb union of love of literature and London (and such humour). Makes you want to have a notebook and write down everything. Wished it didn't end.
missroxyangel's review against another edition
The first part which is the title, was ok. I finished it and liked it as it reminds me of how I used to have penpal too during my school days. But since this book has a tie-in with the "sequel", the second part, 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street', made me DNF the book as a whole. It was boring as its just a journal entry of her sightseeing travelogue of where she goes and what she did instead of a reflective continuation from '84 Charing Cross Road'. Hardly any emotional moments when she supposedly met her "penpals" or actually have a reflective moment visiting the bookstore she loved after more than 2 decades.