The best books about London 📚

Written in 1927 it is one of the most entertaining accounts you will ever read of a typical day in London. Using the excuse of needing to buy a pencil, Woolf meanders through London taking in all the day-to-day activities of the populace. Admiring and also sometimes disapprovingly, she comments on the ordinary lives of every kind of Londoner from the sales girls at the haberdashery to the costermongers in the street.

A Darker Shade of Magic by the ever-popular V.E. Schwab is the first in the Shades of Magic trilogy. Schwab always writes well, and this book is no exception. The premise is that there are four versions of London, which are color-coded so we can keep them straight (Red London, Grey London, etc.). The world building is solid and the storytelling is fluid. There isn’t much romance, which probably pleases some people. I generally enjoy having a romance subplot, but don’t think people who share my opinion will be disappointed.

Set in London this humorous series of books follows the magical adventures of PC Peter Grant as he discovers magic is real. And he can do it. This isn’t necessarily laugh-out-loud humour but it’s the type of cleverness that will have you smirking and appreciating the twist on the norm to create the fantastical. If you know London at all, you will find yourself nodding along as you recall the places Grant takes you and it will definitely have you thinking differently about rivers.