Tales from the greatest city on earth

Quiz question: which famous 12-word quotation is followed by the phrase ‘for there is in London all that life can afford?’ Clue: two of the words are ‘tired’. If you need any more clues … well, I might as well warn you now that this probably isn’t the blog post for you. Because it’s about London books. It’s struck me that our capital city is the perfect example of a gift that keeps on giving, at least when it comes to writers and their inspiration. It seems Dr Johnson was correct: 350 years on and there’s still all that life can afford in London. It’s fascinating the different ways authors find of slicing up that life and putting it between the covers of a book.

This year I’ve reviewed four London books for the magazine: you can read the results here, here, here and here. (I felt like the leader of a bank robbery pointing at a map then.)