Postscript
Well, it was inevitable that once I had opened 84, Charing Cross Road I would have to sit there and read clear through to the end, at the lamentable but unmourned expense of some work I ought to have done this afternoon but didn’t. And of course I had to make Scott read bits of it, and yes, we will be watching the movie very soon—thanks, those of you who suggested it in the comments.
I’m befuddled, though: the Shakespeare Garden passage isn’t in the book. I’m wondering what other book I’m mixing up with the Hanff. Katherine White, perhaps? I must have read Onward and Upward in the Garden three times that year, and certainly a Central Park garden would have been in Mrs. White’s wheelhouse.
I’ll look it up tomorrow.
UPDATED: Mystery solved: it’s Letter from New York. Thanks for the help!
Jessica @ My Ardent Life says:
Perhaps Hanff’s “Apple of My Eye” is the one you are thinking of! “Underfoot in Show Business” is perfectly delightful, too, but Central Park is a major character in “Apple.”
On June 22, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
Aha!! Thanks for this suggestion (Jessica and others who mentioned Apple in the comments of the original post. I’ve just looked it up, and now that I see the cover, I think her book Letters from New York is the one I’m remembering—a collection of short radio broadcasts she did for the BBC. The cover rings a bell, the Amazon entry mentions the Shakespeare Garden, and it was published in 1992 which means I would have been very likely to stumble across it when I moved to NYC in the spring of 1993.
We’ll know soon enough—of course you know I *had* to order a copy. š
On June 23, 2011 at 5:55 am
mamacrow says:
Yes another vote for Apple of my eye! And have you read the DUchess of BLoomsbury Street? When she finally comes to England?
On June 23, 2011 at 9:30 am
Amy @ Hope Is the Word says:
Funny–I have no idea what this post is actually about, but I just read The Story of Charlotte’s Web in which Onward anf Upward in the Garden was mentioned. Synchronicity!
On June 24, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Lisa says:
I’m with the others–having read all of Hanff including the New York book–maybe in one of the others. Her books are treasures though! I was a little (just a little) disappointed in the movie having loved “84..” for years, but it’s still high on my list of favorite movies-from-beloved-books list.
On June 27, 2011 at 2:02 pm