please empty your brain below
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My own, obviously, seeing as it's even got "London" in the title. But other than that, probably "London Fields" by Martin Amis.
Alan | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 8:21 a.m. | #
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I would say "London: The Biography" by Peter Ackroyd. It was given to me when a close friend died. He knew I had admired it from afar, and used to get it out everytime we visited him. His sister thought the best home it could have was with me. Which I thought was rather kind.
Next to that, it would probably have to be "London: The Moving Metropolis".
Laura-Ann | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 8:54 a.m. | #
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Two great river books, one hilarious and one beautiful and inspirational:
1) Three Men in a Boat. Jerome K Jerome
2) News from Nowhere. William Morris.
Not strictly London, but the Thames is the beating heart of both books.
long distance | 02.03.06 - 9:03 a.m. | #
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Organisers probably thought that 23rd April would be overshadowed (in England, at least) by it being St. George's Day, so the switch seems quite sensible. 23rd April isn't Shakespeare's birthday anyway; it's the date his birth was registered and the date he died, so people like to pretend he died on his birthday, but it's not true. No one knows what day he was born. See:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
eng...tent\\_359364.htm
Chig | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 9:48 a.m. | #
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23rd April is also the date of the London Marathon this year, although that changes annually to keep it on a Sunday.
Jo | 02.03.06 - 10:27 a.m. | #
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Hi !
Fabry | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 10:44 a.m. | #
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Probably "Roofworld" by Chris Fowler. Or "Spanky" by the same guy.
dg writes: Both fantastic - I'd give the nod to the latter.
Lyle | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 11:45 a.m. | #
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Little Dorrit. I'm not a big Dickens fan or anything, but that's such an atmospheric book.
There's also a novel based on the monopoly board, called Do Not Pass Go, but I've never read it.
Karen | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 12:48 p.m. | #
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Although Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same date, they didn't actually die on the same day. This is because Spain had adopted the Gregorian calender in 1582 whereas England waited until 1752. If I've got my arithmatic right Spain's 23rd April 1616 would have been 11 days beore England's. Pedantic maybe, but interesting (I hope).
dg writes: Pedantic perhaps, but it means that UNESCO have got it very wrong.
WestUpperZombie | 02.03.06 - 12:59 p.m. | #
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Certainly not London Fields by Martin Amis - I hated that book!
Mine is a Gin | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 1:01 p.m. | #
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My favourite's not been published yet but when it is it's gonna be authored by one Diamond Geezer 
Christian | 02.03.06 - 1:56 p.m. | #
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Neal Stephenson's Confusion trilogy. You'll find it under Science Fiction for reasons best known to bookshop staff.
And they may have moved the date to now to coincide with the London Book Fair
Disgruntled | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 2:03 p.m. | #
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Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Fabulous book (in the original meaning of the word).
Joules | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 2:26 p.m. | #
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"Mother London", by Michael Moorcock
Pepe
Madrid, Spain
Anonymous | 02.03.06 - 4:02 p.m. | #
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Moorcock's Mother London (THE London novel), Michael de Larabeiti's Borribles trilogy, Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square, Geoff Ryman's 253, and John Wyndham's Day Of The Triffids.
Oh, and the diaries of Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams.
Stephen | 02.03.06 - 5:06 p.m. | #
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Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
Hannah | 02.03.06 - 5:22 p.m. | #
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Armadillo, William Boyd. And Absolute Beginners, Colin MacInnes. Or A Vicious Circle, Amanda Craig. Or Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia. (Sorry, I'm cheating.)
annie | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 9:48 p.m. | #
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Not *whisper* all London schools celebrated World Book Day today...
onionbagblogger | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 10:09 p.m. | #
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From Here to Here, a collection of short stories from stations around the Circle Line. Got it as a christmas present, and I've read it 3 times since.
Nico | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 10:22 p.m. | #
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A wonderful selection of books! And I love the historical accuracy people have contributed here.
Lady Base Camp | Homepage | 02.03.06 - 10:24 p.m. | #
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Alan Moore's From Hell. Victorian East End squalor's never looked prettier.
Scruffy lefty | 02.03.06 - 10:58 p.m. | #
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They might have found three books with (a rather tangential) relation to Barking & Dagenham - - but I bet they (or anyone else) won't find three bookshops in the borough... (Branches of Woolworths or Asda which also sell a few books don't count)
Venichka | 03.03.06 - 12:37 a.m. | #
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A few I forgot to post earlier: Sam Sevlon's The Lonely Londoners (SO good, yet generally appears to be pigeonholed /sidelined as 'ethnic'/BME as opposed to Lit), Colin MacInnes' City Of Spades (as someone's already mentioned Absolute Beginners), Geoff Nicholson's Bleeding London and Geoffrey Fletcher's The London Nobody Knows.
Stephen | 03.03.06 - 2:17 a.m. | #
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your blog is well organized, and seem to have lots of LOVERS !!!
I wish u good luck.
.::SINA::.
sina | Homepage | 03.03.06 - 4:12 a.m. | #
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That would have to be "Di and I" by Peter Lefcourt
Rickster | 03.03.06 - 5:26 a.m. | #
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How about Samuel Beckett's Murphy? It's set mostly around World's End and the final chapter contains a beautifully written passage about old men flying kites at the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens.
Good to see Moorcock getting some representation too.
brendan | Homepage | 03.03.06 - 4:19 p.m. | #
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I would probably have to concur with Joules on 'Neverwhere' - totally awesome book. My favourite London poem is 'Rising Damp' by UA Fanthorpe (which you can listen to onlne) which is about all the hidden rivers of London and how they might suddenly fight back from being turned into sewers.
In the interests of historical accuracy, I think I should point out that it's fairly likely that Shakespeare was born on April 23rd.
There is no record of his birth, because birth registers didn't exist until the nineteenth century (there have always been death registers except in times of particularly virulent outbreaks of plague). But he was quite clearly baptised at Stratford upon Avon (as opposed to the 'real' Stratford, East London!) on 26th April, because the parish record of that still exists. As it was the Elizabethan custom to baptise healthy babies three days after their birth, 23rd April would be the date. The only slight doubt about this concerns the Shakespeare family's adherence to Elizabethan form. There are records of John Shakespeare being fined for church non-attendance, which means he was potentially a crypto-catholic (although my personal view is that he was a fairly successful businessman and took some calculated risks). If John Shakespeare was lax about his own faith, he might have been a bit late getting his son christened if there was no doubt the child would live.
chloe | Homepage | 03.03.06 - 7:57 p.m. | #
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