Can you recommend a good book for a London trip?
 

Whenever I travel and have a great book that complements my desination, it always seems to make the trip complete. For example, last year I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" during a trip to San Francisco, which was just perfect.<BR><BR>Can you recommend a book that would be great to read on my first trip to London this September? I like fiction, historical biographies, and travel essays. I was a Lit major, so needless to say no John Grisham or Nora Roberts. ;-) Thanks so much!!

I'm reading it now: "London Holiday" by Richard Peck. <BR><BR>Other suggestions:<BR><BR>"84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff<BR><BR>Any of the England travel books by Susan Toth.<BR><BR>Also, "Notes From a Small Island" by Bill Bryson.<BR><BR>Enjoy your first trip. You'll never be the same.<BR><BR>An Anglophile,<BR><BR><BR><BR>Denise<BR>http://www.angelfire.com/sc/tealover

I read Memoirs for a Geisha a few years back (& also enjoyed it!) & am struggling to find the connecttion with San Francisco. Or do you mean any fiction that makes good holiday reading?

Try London by Edward Rutherfurd.

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Duchess of Bloomsbury by Helene Hanff<BR><BR>The Mapp & Lucia series by E.F. Benson<BR><BR>And if you really want something challenging:<BR><BR>The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Anything by Martin Amis captures the atmosphere well, especially London Fields.<BR><BR>Peter Ackroyds "London, the biography" is a good read as well as informative.<BR><BR>If you like 84 Charing Cross Rd, try Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, the son of the protagonist of 84...<BR><BR>

"The duchess of Bloomsbury":a fallow-up of "84 Charring Cross"by Helene Hanff,described her first London visit after the success of her book,warm and witty with some unusual comments upon some tourist sights.<BR><BR>A traveller's history of London by Christopher Daniell.<BR><BR>London by John Hillby.

"London", by Edward Rutherfurd. It should be a must for any traveler to London. Don't let the size of it put you off, it's a fantastic book, full of history, great characeters, etc.

All great suggestions; thanks so much!! <BR><BR>The connection to "Memoirs of a Geisha" is just that it's a great book, and SF is a great city with a very Asian feel in certain areas. It's hard to explain, but the book just fit with my mood in that city so perfectly. I'd love to replicate that experience!!

Hi, Michele. A couple of months ago, I started a thread called 'Literature set in London' for my own London trip. That might help you out.

Must read is "London" by Rutherford, as suggested by others. Also great is "Sarum" about building of Salisbury cathedral, by same author I believe.<BR><BR>

I agree about London! I purchased that book several London trips ago, and I save it for each of those trips. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book now, and can't wait to get back to London to finish "London"!

A really great book that I just read is <BR>Georgiana: The Duchess of Devonshire.<BR>If you like Historical biographies, this is a real winner! It's by Amanda Forman, and I believe just came out in paperback. Couldn't put it down.

Joyce Cary's "the Horse's Mouth" about an artist in London.

Another vote for "London" by Rutherford. I read it before my trip and it really helped me understand the history. Then visit the Museum of London, where the author did much of his research.......you will find it especially interesting if you read the book first.

1. Plan a day trip to Sissinghurst (you can go with a company called Gentle Journeys, or get yourself there on a train plus taxi)<BR><BR> 2. Read Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicholson, about Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson, their marriage.

Hi Michele; if you talking about a book that is set in London then i suggest "Neverwhere". i just recently got back from london about 2 wks ago and fell in love with that place. Upon coming back a co worker told me to read Neverwhere; a fictional book about life of people of the underground in london. I'm not into fiction but I love it; this man has a great imagination and when he mentions certain distanations in the book that i was able to see in real life and brought back good memories.

Try anything by Anne Perry.

Next time you come to San Francisco (or Chile) read Daughter of Fortune.

Can't believe no one's suggested Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities"!

Bits from Dickens might be better than complete novels ...Just don't make the old Soviet mistake and assume that, say, the first few pages of Bleak House or the Jacob's Island (now a very trendy address) parts of Oliver Twist are a current guide book!<BR><BR>Why not visit a bookshop while you're here? You'd get a wider selection.

I agree that Rutherford's "London" is a must-read. However, it would be better to read it before you go. I read it twice!An absolutely fantastic book set in London is "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy. However, it's quite long, so I'm not sure about taking something like that on a trip - read it beforehand. Anything by Dickens or Anthony Trollope, too. I read all those kinds of books like crazy before trips, but usually take something light and undemanding (like Grisham!) while traveling, as I'm too tired by nightime to concentrate on heavy reading. If you were a lit major, you've probably already read most of Dickens. Anyway, if you haven't discovered Trollope, and are historically inclined, try him. He was writing about mid-Victorian, upperclass England - his own times.His books are better if read mostly chronologically, though. Have fun!

Another strong vote for London by Edward Rutherfurd. It is a BIG book but a fast read - one of those you wish didn't end. You finish it and you miss the people in it. Unfortunately - reading it automatically leads you to Sarum (a WONDERFUL book) and Forest (An even better novel about Hampshire and the New Forest) All together about 3,000 pages of wonderful historical saga.<BR><BR>Also highy recommend any of the books by Susan Allen Toth -- My Love Affair With England, England as You Like It, and England For All Seasons. All three are terrific - probably Love Affair is best for the first read.<BR><BR>For light mysteries - any of the Dorothy L Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey books are great fun -- better than Agatha Christie.<BR><BR>

I read "A Tale of Two Cities" when in Paris, "A Confederacy of Dunces" while in New Orleans, "Kitchen God's Wife" in San Fran, etc! <BR><BR>How about one of Rumer Godden's books for London? "An Episode of Sparrows" or "A Candle for St. Jude" or many others.<BR><BR>Also, Susan Allen Toth has a lot of non-fiction, but poetic, books about England "A Love Affair with England" is one of them.

I guess I must be unique in my dislike for Rutherfurd’s book. I managed to get through about one-third of it before giving up. I found slogging through tens of pages of flat, lifeless prose about uninteresting fictional characters to glean one or two interesting historical facts very unrewarding. Give me Porter’s or Ackroyd’s real histories any day. <BR><BR>Anybody who wants a copy, slightly chewed by a cat (even he couldn’t finish it), are welcome to it for the price of postage.<BR>