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Original poster

Best books about London? Fiction or non-fiction

55 replies

BansheeofInisherin · 24/03/2023 22:45

Would love your suggestions.

OP posts:
Original poster
BansheeofInisherin · 27/03/2023 22:15

Thanks again, everyone. This is for my book club. However, the ones that aren't quite suitable for that purpose, I might read on my own. Like Peter Ackroyd.

OP posts:
Andante57 · 26/03/2023 21:50

Elizabeth Bowen The Death of the Heart and The Heat of the Day.
Second Graham Greene The End of the Affair.

pigalow27 · 26/03/2023 21:47

A Week in December -Sebastian Faulks; Capital - John Lanchester; London Belongs to Me- Norman Collins

CrossPurposes · 26/03/2023 20:42

Liza Picard's social histories of London are also excellent.

NetballHoop · 26/03/2023 20:32

I'm a bit of a history junkie so... Boswell's London Journal and Pepys' diary (the abridged version or you'll go insane).

Both give a first hand account of life as a man in London. It's harder to find written histories by women.

CatNamedEaster · 26/03/2023 20:27

Would also recommend The Five. By learning about the lives of the women, you find out huge anounts about the precariousness of the lives of poor people, especially women, at that time.

CatNamedEaster · 26/03/2023 20:23

I loved Flood by Richard Doyle. It's fiction but details how London is overwhelmed by water during a storm/high tide and I think the Thames Barrier fails.
I found the attention to detail around how the various landmarks would be affected, and the domino effect, really interesting.

doglover90 · 26/03/2023 20:11

Mrs Dalloway

MagpiePi · 25/03/2023 11:57

I like the Stone Heart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher. It’s aimed at teens rather than adults but I think have a good story line.

I’d quite like to do a tour round all the statues and landmarks.

BernieWinters · 25/03/2023 11:54

Dickens? Oliver Twist/Pickwick Papers
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

CrkdLttrCrkdLttr · 25/03/2023 11:53

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

(Not that London-based literature has to have London in the title!)

Why are you asking, @BansheeofInisherin?

SetebosMoon · 25/03/2023 11:46

Capital by John Lancaster
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (or About a Boy thinking about it)
Night watch (Sarah waters)
The end of the affair (Graham greene)

BernieWinters · 25/03/2023 11:42

Capital by John Lanchester (there was a BBC Mini series made a few years back which was excellent)

Original poster
BansheeofInisherin · 25/03/2023 11:25

Thanks all!

OP posts:
SecretCoconut · 25/03/2023 11:01

Forgot to mention another Catharine Arnold book! Bedlam: London and its Mad. Really interesting.

SecretCoconut · 25/03/2023 11:00

The Catharine Arnold books:
Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City, and
Necropolis: London and its Dead, are both excellent books.

The Worst Street in London by Fiona Rule, also excellent. I found it good to have Google street view open while reading it to get a sense of where everything was.

MissAmbrosia · 25/03/2023 10:28

I recently read Georgian London: Into the Streets by Lucy Inglis. Absolutely fascinating on how all the individual villages became the London of today and some great tales of the characters living there. She's very tongue in cheek so far from a dry, historical tome.

CC4712 · 25/03/2023 10:13

I read 'Bricklane' by Monica Ali years ago. I didn't think it was outstanding, but as I lived 5mins from there at the time, I recognised many themes and thought it worth a read.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 25/03/2023 10:12

Not sure you'd call this about London per se, but The Five, by Hallie Rubenhold. The lives of the five victims of Jack the Ripper, who they were and how they ended up in Whitechapel on the nights they died.

And JtR barely gets a mention, which makes a nice change

https://enoughofthistomfoolery.wordpress.com/2022/05/13/book-review-the-five-the-untold-lives-of-the-women-killed-by-jack-the-ripper-halle-rubenhold/

PeanutButter82 · 25/03/2023 09:59

The Bryant & May series (quirky detective novels) by Christopher Fowler are great.

Happycow · 24/03/2023 23:08

Any by Peter Ackroyd. Also The Worst Street in London is a good read.

CrossPurposes · 24/03/2023 23:03

The Victorian era, the twenties, and the blitz are covered by Sarah Waters' novels (except The Little Stranger).

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 24/03/2023 23:03

Neverwhere, rivers of London, Tom Thorne series

WashAsDelicates · 24/03/2023 23:00

London, by Edward Rutherford

Fulmar · 24/03/2023 22:59

Whatever you read, DON'T read (or try and read, as was the case with me) London Fields by Martin Amis.