:56:01
"I could rot over here
before you'd send me anything to read.
:56:04
"I should run to Brentano's, which I would,
if anything I wanted was in print.
:56:10
"You may add Walton's Lives
to the list of books you aren't sending me.
:56:15
"It's against my principles
to buy a book I haven't read.
:56:18
"It's like buying a dress
you haven't tried on.
:56:21
"You can't even get Walton's Lives
in a library over here.
:56:25
"You can look at it.
They have it at the 42nd Street branch...
:56:30
"...but not to take home.
:56:32
"The lady said to me, shocked, 'Eat it here.
:56:36
"'Just sit down in room 315
and read the whole book...
:56:40
"'... without a cup of coffee,
a cigarette or air.'
:56:45
"It doesn't matter.
:56:47
"Q quoted enough of it so I know I'll like it.
:56:50
"Anything he liked, I'll like,
except if it's fiction.
:56:54
"I never can get interested in things...
:56:56
"...that didn't happen
to people who never lived.
:57:05
"What do you do all day?
Sit in the back of the store and read?
:57:09
"Why not try selling a book to somebody?
:57:13
"Miss Hanff to you."
:57:16
Then in brackets she's got:
"I'm Helene only to my friends."
:57:22
Dear Miss Hanff.
:57:24
There's a P.S.
:57:26
"Tell the girls and Nora, if all goes well,
they're getting nylons for Lent."
:57:40
You must be feeling tired.
:57:43
Yeah.
:57:47
Not feeling too bad?
:57:52
Mustn't grumble.