A book by NEIL GAIMAN published in 1996.
One of the best travel books ever written! During late 1990s and early 2000s I made few trips to London, and always raved about the city and my encounterings to my colleagues and friends. One well-read colleague of mine suggested I should read this book. So, then on my next trip I bought this book on 2004-05-04 from a bookstore somewhere near Oxford Street or Charing Cross Road, I don't remember exactly anymore, I have only written the date on the cover page. During my two-week stay, I travelled a lot on the underground, and read the book during the trip. I still have the London Underground travel card between the pages that I used as a bookmark. They probably still use good old cardboard tickets over there, unlike here where everything is digital forgettable crap.
The book has been described as ``urban fantasy'' and it takes place in ``London Below''. I'm not going into the plot itself, but if you are a fan of the underground and places in London, you are going to love this book. The story is good with interesting characters. One of the highlights of the book is that the names of places in London are given almost a literal meaning, e.g. Blackfriars. As a tourist and non-native speaker you always wonder about those, and this book simply exploded my imagination. Also I learned about abandoned and disused underground stations, notably British Museum, so fascinating stuff.
Later I learned the book was actually a companion to the BBC produced Neverwhere (TV series). I've seen that too, but I still prefer the book.
Last updated: 2023-11-17 14:41 (EET)