Seven London Books
There's a discussion going on over at Flickr's Guess Where London? group about London books, which prompted me to look through my collection and pick out some of my favourites.
So, here's the six (well, eight really, but I'll pair some of them) I'd recommend most. Iain Sinclair's Lights Out for the Territory is difficult to slog through, but worth dipping into, and unlike London Orbital, is actually set largely in the centre (albeit with an East End bias). His collaboration with Marc Atkins, Liquid City, has more pictures to break up the flow. For members of london-alt and Humming Giants.
Chris Robert's Cross River Traffic is an eccentrically-organised look at London's river crossings; the obvious group is London Bridges. Similarly, London Tube members should seek out Ken Garland's book, Mr Beck's Underground Map, covering the history of the diagram from 1933 to 1964 and beyond (although those deeply interested in the modern map are recommended to seek out the sequel, Underground Maps After Beck.)
For a snapshot in time, Stephen Inwood's City of Cities documents one of London's periods of most rapid change, 1880-1914; as the subtitle says, it is "The Birth Of Modern London". Recommended for aspiring Edwardians- and I'll have to think about the Flickr group. For the architecture specific choice, and showing my own predelicitions, Kenneth Powell's 30 St Mary Axe documents the building of that now-iconic tower. London - The Square Mile, perhaps?
Finally, the cover-all book is Ed Glinert's The London Compendium, which covers the centre of the city in bite-sized chunks. For Guess Where London, perhaps?
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Comments
It's probably really predictable, but my favourite London books are by Peter Ackroyd. I'm sure you've read Hawksmoor, but I also recommend The House of Doctor Dee and Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem. And, of course, London - The Biography is great for dipping into.
Another author whose London books I really enjoy is Michael Moorcock. London Bone is a great collection of short stories. And for something meatier try Mother London.
Oh, and my favourite London novel of all time in Martin Amis' London Fields.
I also never finished London - The Biography, but it is a good read, and I'm sure I'll manage to at some point. I'd consider recommending it instead of the Compendium if others on the Flickr thread hadn't already done so. However, and this may be heretical, I failed to get into Hawksmoor and decided to sell my copy on a while back. Both of your last two books - Mother London and London Fields - seem to be waiting for candace to get a chance to read them, and are fiction anyway; all my recommendations are (generally) more truth than imagination. I certianly think the Amis is worth reading, though.
Speaking of tough going... just started Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 and it's already slow reading... hoping it's just the initial establishment of the book's approach and it will become more readable! But some interesting stuff already.