The Great London Reading List! Essential London books that Londoners take away on holiday to remind them of home… books visitors should read before arriving in London… fact, fiction, poetry, all genres welcome. If you’re in the mood to recommend a great London bookshop, too, we’d love to hear it! All suggestions to the usual address, please, or leave a comment below or get in touch via Twitter @londonwalks.
No 9. Kraken
By China Mieville
@londonwalks Not a Londoner (damn!) but China Mieville's Kraken is an absolute hoot-Loved it. Followed closely by Oliver Twist. #Londonwalks
— TonyaJ (@TonyaJ) June 27, 2013
The Ed. replies: Thanks Tonya! Oliver Twist is a much-loved work here at The D.C – be it in novel, film or musical form. Your other recommendation, however, took us right out of our comfort zone. Deliciously so. China Mieville's conspiracy-laden romp leads us deep into the research wing of the
Natural History Museum where a prize specimen lies, something that comes along much
less often than once in a lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant
squid. When this rare creature suddenly and impossibly disappears from the NHM,
curator Billy Harrow is thrown into a maelstrom of warring cults, surreal magic
and assassins. Wildly imaginative stuff.
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