Listmania!
Books to Enjoy: Anglophilia
The Bookshop (Flamingo)The Bookshop (Flamingo) by Penelope Fitzgerald
Buy new: £2.36 / Used from: £0.03
This slim novel is absolutely flawless. No one can match Fitzgerald's prose style.
Snobs: a novel: A NovelSnobs: a novel: A Novel by Julian Fellowes
Buy new: £0.02 / Used from: £0.01
Hugely satisfying read that combines romance with the uniquely British obsession with class.
The Little Lady AgencyThe Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
Buy new: £0.01 / Used from: £0.01
Cambridge graduate Hester Browne serves up posh chick lit with a retro twist. Delicious.
The HippopotamusThe Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.97
Fry is always fun to read, but this book is especially good.
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting MarriedLucy Sullivan Is Getting Married by Marian Keyes
Buy new: £5.94 / Used from: £0.32
Since Keyes is Irish, technically this book belongs on another list but it is set in London.
An Unsuitable Job for A WomanAn Unsuitable Job for A Woman by P.D. James
Buy new: £4.89 / Used from: £0.01
One of P.D. James earliest books. This one features a quintessential English heroine who's set on finding a murder in Cambridge.
Gaudy Night (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)Gaudy Night (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) by Dorothy L Sayers
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £1.33
Detective fiction from the golden age, featuring another English heroine in a university town.
Bridget Jones's Diary: A NovelBridget Jones's Diary: A Novel by Helen Fielding
Buy new: £2.97 / Used from: £0.01
Delightful, but you don't need me to tell you that.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timeThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Buy new: £4.62 / Used from: £0.27
An obvious choice, perhaps, but enjoyable nonetheless.
An Instance of the FingerpostAn Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
Restoration mystery told in four parts.
Notes on a ScandalNotes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Buy new: £5.59 / Used from: £0.01
Despite the moral tone, I found this a light satisfying read. It does raise interesting questions about power and morality.
Emma BrownEmma Brown by Clare Boylan
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.01
Clare Boylan develops Charlotte Bronte's fragment into a satisfying yarn. Perfect reading for any time of year.
A Room with a View (Penguin Classics)A Room with a View (Penguin Classics) by E.M. Forster
Buy new: £2.19 / Used from: £2.10
Hugely readable and very pleasurable.
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of CaptainBrideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain by Evelyn Waugh
Buy new: £6.02 / Used from: £4.00
Another readable classic. Enjoyable to read and thoughtful as well.
Middlemarch (Oxford World's Classics)Middlemarch (Oxford World's Classics) by George Eliot
Buy new: £5.22 / Used from: £0.01
I'm too ashamed to admit how long it took me to read this book, but it was well worth the effort.