Kalliope's Reviews > 84, Charing Cross Road

Dear Mila,

When you gave me the large and heavy cubic box as my Christmas gift, with the red ribbon on top, I could not believe my eyes. What on earth had crossed your mind to offer me such a striking gift? And my wonder expanded as I opened it and realized the reason for the size. It was fool of a variety of goodies.

There was on top another parcel, a light one this time, of a round shape. When I unwrapped it, I had in my hands a Klein blue hat, in the shape of a 1920s bell. The colour of my coat!! Then there were three sachets of an assortment of nuts. There was also a smaller box with a set of envelopes and hand-made paper – for writing letters. I also discovered two trays of selected cheeses. One of which is a Pecorino with truffle.

I don’t think I have ever, since I was a child received what I would call of Treasure of surprises. A great part of the fun is precisely the discovery of the goodies – the surprise.

But the astonishment continued. There were also a couple of jam jars. One of a well-known Deli brand and the other clearly homemade. A decorated cardboard box contained a nice bunch of grapes – timely, given that in Spain the tradition is to eat twelve grapes when the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve. At the bottom of the box there was a lovely plate from the ceramic maker Vistalegre, with a design from the archives of the botanist José de Celestino for the Royal Botanical gardens. It shows a green plant with green and red leaves – similar to the Christmas poinsettia.

And tucked in the corner of the box there was this book. One I have been wanting to read for ages. The edition is a lovely one. Hardback with thick paper and large print.

So, I began to read it immediately and have finished it in two sittings.

I hope I will not finish the Pecorino and the rest of the cheeses in two sittings too.

84, Charing Cross Road is a beautiful book about books, and friendship, and gifts, and surprises and goodies, and letter writing – and it came to me embedded in precisely all those things.

This has been an unforgettable and much appreciated gift – there has been so much thought.

And as I finish the book and began considering writing this, I received an email with another gift from someone else who clearly knows my love for books.

I am to receive during 2021 twelve books, again as a surprise, from a bookshop in London that reminds of the Marks & Co, based on a questionnaire that will reveal to them my reading preferences. My curiosity will be stirred for a whole year....

This has been a tough 2020, but this Christmas is offering me sweet feelings of friendship – as they can be expressed through books and surprises - and this is a welcome closing and hopefully will begin a better period.