Reading Around the World: London

Reading Around the World is a new feature that combines my love of travelling with my love of reading. Each month I plan to spotlight either a city I have visited, or a city I plan to visit in the near future, and recommend some of my favourite books set there. After all even if you can’t visit these cities yourself the next best thing has to be reading about them and living the experience through the eyes of the characters.

London is a city very close to my heart. A mixture of old world and new there are buildings like the Tower of London, which have been standing for centuries, a few streets away from skyscrapers like the Shard, which is now the highest point in London. I live just outside of England’s capital and work in the heart of Central London, so to say I spend a lot of time there is a fair understatement. There is plenty to see and do, and every time I travel there I discover something new about London I was previously unaware of.

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The two series I’ve read that I’m going to recommend for London will likely come as no surprise to anyone, because they’re two of my all-time favourite series.

The Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab is set in an alternate version of London, or more accurately it’s set in four alternate versions of London; Grey London, Red London, White London and Black London. Grey London is the version closest to the real London I live and work in, but I’d much rather live in Red London, a world where magic is real.

The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon is also set in an alternate version of London. This time however it’s an alternate version where England’s history has branched off and taken a different path, creating a future where clairvoyants are real but feared and hunted down. This series doesn’t stay in London, but the first two books are set there.

Also set in London are Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices trilogy and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. I haven’t read either myself, but the Infernal Devices trilogy has been recommend to me and I’ve heard amazing things about the Rivers of London series.

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Have you ever been to London before; what was your favourite part of the city to see and explore? Also what are some of the amazing books you’ve read set in London, or England, that you’d recommend?

Let me know in the comments.