Books for London (Not Travel Books)
 

Hi,
Any suggestions for books to read to enhance a trip to London. For example, before a trip to Barcelona I read 'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes. I'm looking for suggestions in all genres.
Thanks.

I love Edward Rutherfurd's books, and <i>London</i> was the first one of his I read. His books are long but he does so much research and involves it in great stories.

Oh, you must read "84, Charing Cross Road" and Susan Allen Toth's books.

To me London is all about it's history - and that's what I would head for - history or biography. there's a Tudor craze at the moment but I find the Plantaganets much more fascinating. (Watch the Lion in Winter for a real treat - and a different look at LionHeart).

To get a feel for what London was like 150 or so years ago, read Dickens.

My favorites:

Great Expectations, David Copperfield, and Bleak House.

In the serious history genre:
London: the Biography, by Peter Ackroyd
London: a Social History, by Roy Porter
London: a History, by Francis Sheppard

Of the three, the last is probably the most serious. All three have bibliographies and indexes; Sheppard’s also has end notes.

For the quirky history genre, The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys.

I recommed the Maisie Dobbs mystery series by Jaqueline Winspear.

Any of Mark Billingham's police procedurals/thrillers. Ruth Rendell's The Keys to the Street is set in the environs of Regent's Park and Grasshopper is in and around Little Venice.

For the London that was, Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Whimsey mysteries and P. G. Wodehouse.

Some fiction set in London I enjoy
Penelope Lively's City of the Mind
Ian McEwan's Saturday
John Mortimer's Rumpole stories
Zadie Smith's White Teeth

For an entertaining story about Richard III and the princes in the tower, Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time

down and out in london and paris

I enjoy Deborah Crombie's mysteries. Her hardcovers include maps on the inside covers of the areas where the story takes place.

Her most recent, Where Memories Lie, takes place in Notting Hill, Kensington and south to the Thames.

Another is on the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich.

Not all of her books are set in London but you can find which at her website:

http://www.deborahcrombie.com//novels/novels.htm

Anthony Powell, "A Dance to the Music of Time" if you're not travelling in the next month or two.

lavendrye--I thought of Dance to the Music of Time, too, because much of it is set in London. It definitely is a big commitment of time. I read the books years ago then re-read them last year

I second two of the suggestions, 84 Charing Cross Road and London by Edward Rutherford. Charing Cross is a book that can be read in one evening and is a very charming book. London is one of my favorite books of all time but it is quite lengthy. I was put off in the beginning chapter of the book, but pushed through, and was very happy I did.

Nice to get some other suggestions!

Diary of Samuel Pepys.
Down and Out in Paris and London is much more about Paris than London.

For novels set in more contemporary London (within the past 20 years or so), with attendant social and political observations as a background for his characters, try any book by Hanif Querishi ("While London Burns", "The Buddah of Surburbia", etc.) Interesting and entertaining.

M

I just read "Ordinary Thunderstorms" by William Boyd, entirely set in modern London. I thought it was very good.

Read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and you won't look at London the same way ever again.