H.V. Morton , In Search Of London
H. V. Morton turns his traveller’s intuition and his reporter’s eye for detail to the city that has fascinated him since childhood—London past, present, and timeless. He explores the City and the Temple, Covent Garden, SoHo, and all the “submerged villages beneath the flood of bricks and mortar,” uncovering layer upon layer of London’s history. Morton follows the thread of imagination back and forth across the city, tracing unforgettable scenes: the Emperor Claudius leading his war elephants across the Thames. . .the grisly executions at the Tower. . .the world of Shakespeare, Dickens, and Queen Victoria. . .and the shattered yet defiant city of the Blitz as well as the postwar London of “ruins and hatless crowds.” Morton’s quest for London’s heart reveals how its daily life is rooted in a past that is closer and more familiar than we might think, making the book as informative, entertaining, and rich in human colour today as when it was written fifty years ago.
( Courtesy of GoodReads 440 pages paperback )
Notes From A Small Island ; Bill Bryson
Pub Names of Britain , The stories behind over 10,000 names ; Leslie Dunkling and Gordon Wright
The most comprehensive book ever published about the story and origins of over 10,000 pub names throughout Britain.With over 100 colour photos this dictionary is a fantastic introduction to a peculiarly British institution.
( Courtesy of Blackwell Limited ; 305 pages, paperback )
A Good Year, by Peter Mayle
Max Skinner has recently lost his job at a London financial firm and just as recently learned that he has inherited his late uncle’s vineyard in Provence. On arrival he finds the climate delicious, the food even better, and two of the locals ravishing. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it? Enter a beguiling Californian who knows more about wine than Max does—and may have a better claim to the estate. Fizzy with intrigue, bursting with local color and savor, A Good Year is Peter Mayle, beloved author of A Year in Provence, at his most entertaining.
( from the sleeve, 287 pages )