Which books should I read while in England?

Which books about England, or set in England, would you recommend to a traveller, and why?

I’d appreciate any suggestions (fiction, poetry and non-fiction).

If you’d like more specific locations, I’ll be spending time in London, Oxford, the Cotswolds, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Maidstone and Richmond.

London:
Too much choice. What about The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which turns ideas about modern cities upside-down? Or Diary of a Nobody, which is hilarious and would fit in with your 1890s interests too.

Oxford:
You won't have time for reading books, you'll be in Blackwell's buying them...
Don't read Brideshead, Inspector Morse or Philip Pullman, anyway - all far too obvious and make you look like a tourist. Try Zuleika Dobson (the ideal book to be seen reading in a punt), Matthew Arnold (for walks around the surrounding hills), Newman's Apologia pro vita sua if you're that way inclined, Gaudy Night if you must have a detective story, Crampton Hodnet if you're sitting in the Botanic Gardens or staying in North Oxford (you'll enjoy the rather Importance of being Earnest atmosphere of this early Barbara Pym).

Cotswolds:
Queen Lucia, Cider with Rosie

Hampshire:
No getting away from Jane Austen, I'm afraid.
A lot of Patrick Gale's excellent novels are set in a fictionalised version of Winchester. Trollope's Barchester books aren't explicitly set in Winchester, but they go very well with that setting.
If you're visiting Portsmouth then I suppose naval fiction is indicated, or perhaps My father and myself (Joe Ackerley's wonderful account of his pursuit of men in uniform...). Capt. Marryat's Children of the New Forest if you go for Victorian children's books.

Maidstone:
Dickens!
Maybe something Bloomsburyish if you're visiting Sissinghurst, e.g. Portrait of a marriage.

Richmond:
The only thing that comes to mind is Heart of Midlothian, 95% of which is Edinburgh, but which does have a couple of scenes in Richmond Park. Practically anything about Henry VIII or Elizabeth I will have something about Hampton Court or Richmond, though.
(You were talking about Surrey, I suppose? - For Richmond, Yorks it would be A. Wainright's walking guides or historical fiction from the Civil War; not James Herriot, please!)

Great list.

For London, I'd also add The Budda of Suburbia. As a piece of whimsy I'd also add Neverwhere, yes it's fantasy but it also captures something of London and you'll never look at places like The Old Bailey in the same light.

For London we have already done Suggestions For London Book?

And if you're at all interested in what London was like 150 (ish) years ago you have to throw in at least one Dickens and The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. Then there's 84, Charing Cross Road, a must for any traveller interested in literary London and Mrs Dalloway (preferably as you discover Kew Gardens); The End of Mr Y for Hertfordshire and either Slide Rule or Watership Down for Hampshire. For Oxford you get to choose between His Dark Materials, Brideshead Revisited, The Oxford Murders or any of the Morse books by Colin Dexter. You will be here for at least a couple of years, won't you?

>5 Booksloth:
I wondered about Watership Down, but couldn't remember for sure where it was set. Slide Rule might be a good one to read on the way back to Australia ("how I left England in disgust when Attlee won the election..."). Maybe Angela Thirkell's Trooper to the Southern Cross would be another good one for the journey home. :-)

We ought really to be able to come up with a list of books explaining England from an outsider's point of view. Things like:
England, their England (a rather tedious book with two or three hilariously funny sections everyone knows, written by a puzzled Scotsman in the 1920s),
I discover the English (very odd book by a somewhat snooty French/Dutch/Russian/Turkish lady of Bolshevist sympathies who slept with H.G. Wells)
Notes from a small island (by an anglophile American who has written at least twenty books containing the same two jokes, but very funny if it's the first one you read),
A Passage to England (Indian visitor to England in the 50s - a bit too respectful to be really interesting)

How about London by Edward Rutherford

Mother London by Michael Moorcock, Capital by Maureen Duffy, Trevelyan's Shortened History of England, and best of all, particularly for the East End of London and literary delight, Iain Sinclair's Hackney, That Rose Red Empire.

Sherlock Holmes of course. Not just London, although predominently so. I recently came across a nice set of cosy/mysteries set int he Cotswolds - A cotswold killing is the first I think.

There's lots of non-fiction too. From good beer guide which will find you a 'decent' pub anywhere, although there are plenty more that aren't listed. To Underground england which describe various features (mostly man made) beneath what you normally see. RSPB birds of britain and europe is the best book for the skys around you.

The White Hart is the oldest licensed pub in London is located about two blocks south of the British Museum where Museum Street changes names to Drury Lane. having read Tales from the White Hart, one of my favorites from my youth, made my visit there very enjoyable.

Any Inspector Morse story by Colin Dexter would make a visit to Oxford more fun.

My first visit to London was just two weeks ago. We stayed on Baker Street and just about everything I wanted to see was in walking distance and just about every where you looked there was something that had been mentioned in a book I have read or a literary site. Walking back to the hotel on Marlybone we passed a plaque announcing that the house where Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol.

84 Charing Cross Road as mentioned above, followed by The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street for lovers of English literature. And you can't go wrong with Dickens.

If you're interested in odd corners of 19th century London, Charles Lamb's Essays of Elia can be fun to dip into. Or even Henry Mayhew, if you want the non-fiction counterpart to Dickens and Michel Faber. Both get a bit wearing if you try to read too much at once, though.

No-one's come up with much in the way of poetry yet. Tricky, because so many poets have lived in London, of course. As you're apparently not planning to visit Slough, what about Betjeman? He was a better poet than many people think, and he often comes up with perceptive insights into the sort of Englishness that goes with London and the South-East.
When you're in London, you might want to visit the Poetry Library (in the Royal Festival Hall building on the South Bank). http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/

Rural Rides and The Warden would i think suite.

There is a book available for February pre-order on amazon uk or bookdepository, called
"Spitalfields Life: In the Midst of Life I Woke to Find Myself Living in an Old House Beside Brick Lane in the East End of London" based on the spitalfieldslife.com blog. The blog is excellent for local history.

ETA: avail directly in the US in May

Poetry is hard to recommend in a vacuum, but I'd second John Betjeman for London and the south east, and also suggest Edward Thomas for rural southern England, and Matthew Arnold's Scholar Gypsy for Oxford.

Thank you for giving me so many detailed suggestions (especially ones on avoiding looking like a tourist). Much appreciated!

Sounds good! Thank you

Thanks for the tip!

I wish I could stay that long or longer!

Thank you for the suggestions.

I loved The Crimson Petal and the White; that might go onto my list of books to be re-read.

Thank you! I appreciate all the suggestions

Good thinking

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to make excellent suggestions.