What are your favourite books – non-fiction or fiction – that are about/set in London?
For non-fiction, I'd love some books on specific topics. I've come up with some below, but I'm open to any topic really – just some fun/interesting/niche-ish books about London, or people from London.
- The history of a particular part of London, e.g. Blackfriars or Hammersmith.
- Mudlarking.
- Botany in London.
- The Knowledge (the taxi test).
- The unexpected/long-term consequences of the Brink's-Mat robbery.
For fiction, I mainly read Crime/Thriller/Mystery books (but not horror) and contemporary fiction. But I'm interested to hear about any book you loved regardless of genre, and why you loved it!
by BlueDiatom
8 Comments
The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich. Police procedural, but with magic. They’re clever and full of great characters – not the least of which is London itself, which Aaronovich clearly knows and loves. The audiobooks are particularly good, as narrator Kobna Holbrook-Smith gives every character the regional and even neighborhood accent they should have.
Capital is a brilliant book set in Clapham
Lara Maiklem’s books about mudlarking are great, and Thames and Hudson did a beautiful coffee table book recently called Mudlark’d that’s lovely to browse through.
Harry Potter. It’s about a young boy that discovers hes a wizard and he has to defeat voldermort. They’re from Londonville or something.
It doesn’t all take place in London, but Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend is absolutely hilarious (I recommend reading the books that lead up to it first) and a large chunk of it takes place in London.
Mudlarking by Laura Maiklem. It seems exciting to find things on the shores of the Thames! She and others have found ancient things like Roman coins, jewelry, Victorian artifacts, old belt buckles, etc. I wish I could go mudlarking! I lived it through her book.
I enjoyed reading the call the midwife series. It’s different from the show. But I enjoyed it
Down and Out in Paris and London!