Helene Hanff wrote this memoir 10 years after her first memoir about the successful publication of 84 Charing Cross Road. This one covers her early education, her self-taught college education, her early career, and the continuation of events after the publication of 84. This includes the adaptation of the book to a TV play and later its conversion to a stage play in London and on Broadway, plus 2 additional trips to London. Some of the same type of quirky anecdotes about her life as well as a chronicling of events related to the book. Ends before any discussion of the Hollywood movie made in 1987. ( )

I love Helene Hanff’s books. Despite being the most famous, [b:84, Charing Cross Road|368916|84, Charing Cross Road|Helene Hanff|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1287338794s/368916.jpg|938626] isn’t my favourite (although I enjoyed it). I adored [b:Underfoot in Show Business|125037|Underfoot in Show Business|Helene Hanff|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387747244s/125037.jpg|2484239] and this one, both of which are humorous memoirs based on anecdote rather than letters. Hanff is a wonderfully entertaining and sympathetic writer, as well as (unusually) someone I can really relate to. Like her, I aspire to live alone in a small but pretty flat with plenty of time to read in peace. If [b:Underfoot in Show Business|125037|Underfoot in Show Business|Helene Hanff|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387747244s/125037.jpg|2484239] dwells in hilarious fashion on Hanff’s twenties, ‘Q’s Legacy’ is about subsequent decades during and after she found sudden success with [b:84, Charing Cross Road|368916|84, Charing Cross Road|Helene Hanff|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1287338794s/368916.jpg|938626]. Thus this later book isn’t quite as light, as it deals with such adventures as cataract surgery. That leaves her physically unable to read for an entire month, which sounds absolutely terrifying. She recounts such things in an amusing yet moving fashion, a balance she has an especial knack for. When reading her books, it’s easy to see why she has so many enthusiastic fans. Her writing makes you wish to be her friend, and indeed speaks to you as if you already are. It has an undeniable and quite distinctive warmth. ( )

Everything she writes feels like a personal note to the reader. ( )

I've read this right on the heels of 84, Charing Cross Road and am absolutely delighted with the both of them! What a sweet, endearing memoir full of hilarious anecdotes and witty life observances. I'd never heard of this author or her books before receiving these two this fall but I know I'll be recommending her now. I think the thing I love about Hanff the most is her desire to educate herself. She didn't need college professors to spoon feed her. She read to learn and to learn what to read. I, too, am a self-educated writer. Hanff couldn't afford to go to college. I, though I can afford it, choose not to. I find it very satisfying to explore the world on my own schedule and in my own way.

I loved reading about her time spent exploring England 45-55 years ago---imagining the places I've been without some of the things that are now there---and with things that are no longer there. For instance, she described Jane Austen's gravesite in great detail but was struck by the fact that it didn't mention her as a renowned authoress. There is now a gorgeous plaque on the wall near her gravestone that discusses her writing success and the lasting impact she's made on the world.

She also described Chawton Cottage with several details that are no longer there on display, as far as I know, such as the letter from Jane to Edward announcing their father's death, as well as a selection of period-correct dresses in Jane's room. The first time I visited Chawton Cottage, there was only the blue Anne Hathaway dress on display and last year there were none. They no longer, as far as I know, show off the "creaking door"---it's always propped open when I've come; and Jane's nephew, Jeremy Knight, greets visitors, rather than a caretaker. (Knight would have been up the road residing at Chawton Manor with his young family when Hanff visited. Now the Knights no longer inhabit the home and it, too, is open to the public.)

Another line regarding rock candy at Brighton struck me funny when she said, "it's as unique to Brighton as salt-water taffy is to Atlantic City." At the time, that statement was fact. Now it is a false analogy as rock candy sticks can be found in every candy store from York to Bath---just like salt-water taffy is so common I can grab a bag for $3 at any Walmart.

I loved these lines at the end---they remind me of the importance of recording my life in journals: "If I live to be very old, all my memories of the glory days will grow vague and confused, till I won't be certain any of it really happened. But the books will be there, on my shelves and in my head---the one enduring reality I can be certain of till the day I die."

This book, like 84 Charing Cross Road, is dear to me. Why can't these types be on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die List?

I may hold on to this awhile---I may pass it on. Not sure yet. I sure do appreciate having the opportunity to read it! ( )

This is a great compaion piece to 84, Charing Cross Road. The pick's up with Hannff's life after the book and chronicles her trip to London. I love her writing style, funny fast paced.

This is a bit from the section after her eye surgery.

There was, for instance, the beautiful brown-and-white collie who came toward me one day in the park and who, as I stooped to pet him, turned into a brown suitcase in a man's white-cuffed hand. And there was the lovely Saturday afternoon when I was sailing insouciantly down Fifth Avenue and saw ahead of me a large pink banner streaming down the familiar steps of St. Thomas's church. St. Thomas's has wonderful choral concerts and I hoped the banner was advertising one of them, as the crowd at the side of the steps seemed to indicate. The crowd blocked my way and I detoured around it and down to the curb — just as a limousine door opened and a misty white bride walked into me. That's when I saw that the large pink banner had turned into six pink bridesmaids lined up in formation on the church steps.

If you liked 84, Charing Cross Road you really should give this one a try. ( )