<p>Not to quibble on P and P, but the London scenes are off-camera, so to speak.</p>
<p>Some of A. S. Byatt’s Possession is set in London. On the older side Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage is a classic (and no, it’s not Fifty Shades kind of bondage ;)). Pretty long though, and not exactly light reading.</p>
<p>My college aged daughter and I traveled to London together a few summers ago. One of our most enjoyable moments was touring the Tower of London & discussing the Tudor period. We both had read/listened to The Other Bolyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. It really brought the history alive and we skipped the long cue waiting for a tour guide because we already knew the history. Gives you material for a meaty discussion!</p>
<p>The Maisie Dobbs mysteries–they are set in London between WWI and WWII.</p>
<p>How it All Began, by Penelope Lively</p>
<p>Thanks! I am making a list</p>
<p>Oh, almost any novel by Nick Hornby–always very funny!</p>
<p>Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis. These two books, which are really two halves of the same book, are about time travel to the Blitz. Now that I’ve read them, I really want to visit London again and concentrate on sites related to WWII.</p>
<p>The book threads on CC are my favorites!</p>
<p>I can think of lots of great books set in London, but none of them are terribly light except Bridget Jones. Which is why I haven’t recommended anything.</p>
<p>Although it is not really contemporary now, Margaret Drabble’s first novel, A Summer Birdcage, might interest her, since the protagonist is about her age. </p>
<p>Of course, Georgette Heyer is always witty and amusing–in another realm than her many imitators–and many of her books are set in London. I’d suggest Arabella or Friday’s Child.</p>
<p>A smidge off topic, but when you’re in London, you might want to try London Walks. I’ve always found them interesting. The ghosts of the old city is one of my favorites, then the Hampstead Heath walk is fun - all about Keats, Byron etc.</p>
<p>hayden -I am planning on a walk! They all look fabulous </p>
<p>I am waiting for the June walks schedule to come out
Thanks</p>
<p>Capital by John Lanchester is pretty light reading, set in contemporary London, lots of interesting characters linked by houses on one street–quite entertaining. (You have no idea how much odd Googling I had to do to retrieve that title. I have a way of remembering all sorts of details about books an forgetting the titles.) From the publisher’s description: “It’s 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London—a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson, Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid, the young soccer star from Senegal and his minder—are receiving anonymous postcards reading “We Want What You Have.” Who is behind it? What do they want? Epic in scope yet intimate, capturing the ordinary dramas of very different lives, this is a novel of love and suspicion, of financial collapse and terrorist threat, of property values going up and fortunes going down, and of a city at a moment of extraordinary tension.”</p>
<p>Not fiction, but a very enjoyable true story: A Streetcat Named Bob by James Bowen. It’s about a London heroin addict who finds a stray cat, the bond that they form and how Bob helped James kick the habit (it’s much lighter reading than it sounds!)</p>
<p>A very enjoyable film: Billy Elliott, which has since been made into a West End musical. Whilst most of it is set in the north during the miners strikes of the 1980s and only a very small part is set in London, it’s a much more realistic (if gritty) view of life in the UK when you’re not rich, glamorous and living in central London. Definitely worth a watch, especially seeing as it’s only 1c (+P&P) on Amazon </p>
<p>Other films - Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Mary Poppins, About A Boy, Bend It Like Beckham, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shaun of the Dead (very funny spoof horror film).</p>
<p>A number of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine books, excluding the Inspector Wexford series, are set in London. Also, these P.D. James mysteries are set in London:A Mind to Murder, A Taste for Death, Original Sin, A Certain Justice, and The Murder Room.</p>
<p>Thanks ! This is helpful
We may have to have a few "movie nights " before we go</p>