THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET

Most often,it so happens,that I let a book choose me,instead of the other way round.After reading 84,Charing Cross Road,I did not immediately want to pick up the sequel.So I decided to pick up another random book to read.However ,after a couple of days,my attention wavered and I gave up on it.The same thing kept repeating itself with all the other books I picked thereafter and it reached to a point when I felt I was just not interested in reading anymore!That was when I panicked and resolved to find something to read  immediately .Incidentally my attention shifted to the copy of The duchess of Bloomsbury Street lying on the table and as fate would have it,I picked up the book and put it down only after having read it.

Needless to say,It is a charming little book.Something very different from what I have read so far.It is the sequel to 84,Charing Cross road and tells us about Helen's visit to London.I savored every little detail and felt I was right there with Helen!I loved her attitude towards travel in another country.I loved the way she made the most of her stay in London and how she trusted complete strangers to show her around a new country,one she had never visited before.Her free-spirited nature is truly admirable and she truly made the best of her stay in a foreign country.

This book fascinated me and held me captive.I loved to read about the different characters she meets,the places she visits and the food she eats.How she teaches a London bartender to make a martini 'HER' way!How she does not let anyone push her around and throws a tantrum,so that she can see the parts of oxford she wants to see.

In the end,Helen remarks on the plane "suddenly it was as if everything had vanished, Bloomsbury and Regent's park and Russel square and Rutland gate. None of it had happened, none of it was real. Even the people weren't real. It was all imagined, they were all phantoms.I could totally relate with her sentiment.I have felt the same way too.

I know I wont be doing justice to the book even after having written all this.It is just something you need to pick for yourself and discover.I am just happy to have this gem in my collection.