Matt Lloyd-Rose

Mostly engrossing, occasionally tedious, thoroughly unique. My daughter is about to move to London to go to the Royal Academy of Music, so now I have to immerse myself in London, as I have done in Baltimore, New York, and Montreal. This book will have you looking up lots of stuff on the internet since the illustrations here, while nice, hardly replace photographs of the things discussed--such as the clock stopped by the bomb from the Zeppelin in 1915. If you're tired of London, you're tired of life, Samuel Johnson said. If you're tired of this book, you are probably also tired of life. So many little tidbits of things to do. Not your usual guidebook. Thanks to the authors for a book which should never be out of print!… (más)

When I returned from London in the middle of June 2016 I was even more enamoured with the city that I had long dreamed about. Visiting the places where many of my icons and inspirations had walked and lived only stoked my fire to know more about this magic-filled city - which I have since referred to as the Wonder City, after seeing a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe as part of their Summer of Wonder. In typical fashion, I delved into even more books set in the city, but when I heard about the artistic reimagining of London which would become Cutiocity I had to get on the pre-order list. After having my order get cancelled by Chapters and having to resort to Amazon to fulfill my desires I finally received my neon-red cloth-bound copy of the tome - which would then go on to sit neglected on my TBR pile for almost 3 years... Even though it took ages to get to, the book was worth the wait, because its filled chalk-a-block full of wit and whimsy about London. Some chapters I could take or leave (sports, uck), but the authors covered almost everything that one could hope for in an alternative travel guide masquerading as a coffee table art book. I especially liked their inclusion of figures and locales from the literary, music, and queer populations, while largely avoiding the taint of celebrity stalking. Sure, the royal family and the Beatles are mentioned, but in such a passing way that they become part of the London landscape alongside all the other weird and wonderful people of London. In theory, this book could have been another 500 pages long, and they still would barely have scratched the surface, but even so the amount of material that they managed to cram in was adorable. Maybe a sequel in the future? I would definitely buy it, and I'll definitely be getting copies of their neighbourhood/thematic maps the next time I visit London (hopefully next year)!… (más)