Great books about London

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What are the best? For me, it's New Grub Street, anything by Shena Mackay, and The Colour of Memory by Geoff Dyer. But what do you think? And are there any good books about love or romance in London? Or is there something about London which makes novelists and poets gravitate towards the seedy and hard.

― Mel Starr, Tuesday, 20 April 2004 03:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman - nearly the entire thing takes place in the London Underground. I re-read it after I actually visited London and it made a lot more sense.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

― Natalie (Penny Dreadful), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Mother London--Moorcock
King of the City--Moorcock
London--Ackroyd
Oliver Twist--Dickens
Great Expectations--Dickens
Rachel Papers--Amis

― otto, Tuesday, 20 April 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

The early Evelyn Waugh novels. A London I'd liked to have lived in. Not that the present one is bad.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

One definitely should visit London before reading "Neverwhere"--the concept of making the tube stations literally home to their namesakes is brilliant. Weird and wonderful book.

Some of my favorite (or should I say favourite?) London books are mysteries--P.D. James comes to mind, but there are several other writers whose detectives are based in the city (not to mention the legendary Holmes). Anne Perry's Inspector Pitt mysteries are set in Victorian London, very well researched about daily life and politics of the time.

― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

One definitely should visit London before reading "Neverwhere"--the concept of making the tube stations literally home to their namesakes is brilliant.

a lot of ILX posters scoff at that conceit big time. I've never seen/read Neverwhere so I wouldn't know.

My favourite London book is "From Hell", by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell. It's about the occult and has pictures in it.

Kellow Chesney's "The Victorian Underworld" has loads of great London stuff, but is non-fiction.

I remember liking the London stuff in Michael Moorcock's "The Condition of Muzak" (and the Jerry Cornelius books generally)

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew I'd forgotten a great one: "The Devil's Home On Leave" by Derek Raymond. It's a gritty, scummy, crime novel set in the nasty bit of London. You love it.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Fowler's End by Gerald Kersh. It offers up a glimpse of the kind of places you don't go in London if you know what's good for you. And it's hilarious.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

What makes a good novel about London? I'm such a selfish and narcissistic reader; I have to admit that the books I like best are those that are located in an area of the city I've lived in, or talk about social milieux with which I'm familiar. But this doesn't seem enough. What 'things' does a London novel need to make it work? Specific topographical references? A certain mood? A focus on the working class/ underground/ subcultures? - are there any good novels about middle-class London.

― Mel Starr, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Who mentioned Conan Doyle? The Holmes stories are great about London.

I like the Restoration period in London, when the King used to saunter around St James's park, when Buckingham Palace had yet to be built and the house on the site, Buckingham House belonged to Buckingham, and when the excuse for being late at court, "I turned aside to cunt once or twice" was accepted by His Majesty. Get all of that from the restoration playwrights.

Those were the days, eh?

― SRH (Skrik), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 06:52 (twenty-one years ago)

London Orbital by Iain Sinclair

― Jessa (Jessa), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate to be rude, but Patrick Hamilton for fuck's sake. Hangover Square and 20,000 Streets Under the Sky...

― Charles Dexter (Holey), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

PS. Any good books on the blitz?

― Charles Dexter (Holey), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The late Robert Westall wrote wonderful "young people's" books that shouldn't be limited to the teenage crowd. "The Machine Gunners" is about a group of kids in wartime London who discover a crashed German plane. His best-known book may be "Blitzcat," about a cat who runs away during a bomb attack. All of Westall's wartime novels are great, though not all are in London.

― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i dont know london nearly as well as i'd like to,but i really loved lights out for the territory by iain sinclair nonetheless

― robin (robin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with accentmonkey, 'Fowler's End'. Also 'Boy Cuddle' by Stevie White I like(d) very much.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i think lights out for the territory (the first chapter especially, but thats my area) is better than london orbital, although i am only a third of the way into london orbital at the moment. there is a convincing argument, however, that sinclaire does fiction better than these psychogeographic texts.

sandringham road appears time and time again though, and of course in the sandringham road remix of krome and time, it seems an iconic and powerful road, i can see why. my friend has just moved to the next street

― gareth (gareth), Saturday, 24 April 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

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