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The publisher says: Diverse, energetic and perennially inspiring, London has a lifetime's adventures in one city. Stroll the Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern to St. Paul's, browse the boutiques of King's Road and Brick Lane, explore Soho's buzzing streets or Hampstead's soothing heath. Temporary traveler or long-term Londoner, find the city's heart with this smart and stylish guide. Find your way with our easy-to-use color maps and detailed walking tours. See for yourself -- critical reviews guide you through London's maze of sights and attractions. Eat and sleep in style as our expert writers cover boutique hotels, hip hostels, Michelin-starred celebrity haunts and the world's best pub grub. Go to town with hand-picked entertainment options from elegant Covent Garden opera to Shoreditch bars and Brixton gigs. Get out and about, laze on Brighton beach, punt in Oxford and bathe in Bath with day-trip suggestions.

Details:
Title: London (6th edition)
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Pub. date: February 2008
Paperback; 452 pages
List price: $19.99
ISBN-10: 1741047129
ISBN-13: 978-1741047127

The publisher says: Whether you fancy sampling some bloody royal history at the Tower of London or indulging in strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, The Rough Guide to London is the definitive insider's handbook to one of Europe's most exciting cities. A full-color section introduces many of London's highlights with expert coverage of all the sights, from Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament to lively Covent Garden and the refurbished South Bank. The guide includes comprehensive information on every corner of the city from swanky Kensington and Chelsea to trendy Clerkenwell and Hoxton and right out to Windsor. You'll find detailed accounts of all the palaces, museums and galleries, big and small, and why they're worth (or not worth) visiting as well as two new color sections on the Thames and London for free. There are up-to-date reviews of many of the capital's hotels and restaurants and specialist sections on nightlife, the gay and lesbian scene and classical arts, all written by London-based experts. From Oxford Street to Camden Market, the guide comes complete with detailed information of the capital's best shopping spots, plus maps and plans for every area.

Details:
Title: Rough Guide to London (7th revised edition)
Publisher: Rough Guides
Pub. date: Jan. 7, 2008
Author: Rob Humphreys
Paperback; about 640 pages
List price: $19.99
ISBN-10: 1843539233
ISBN-13: 978-1843539230

The publisher says: "Gershman's guide may be the best guide for novice and pro shoppers alike," praises the Washington Post, and you'll agree. For more than 10 years, Suzy Gershman has been leading savvy shoppers to the world's best finds. Now Born to Shop London is easier to use and packed with more up-to-date listings than ever before. Inside you'll find: the best of the shopping scene, from world-class department stores ands trendy boutiques to street markets and sample sales; excellent values, from antiques to Doc Martens; great gift ideas, even for the friend who has everything, plus the best gifts for less than $15; the best airfare, hotel and dining values so you can maximize your shopping dollars; detailed city maps and shopping tours.

Details:
Title: Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop London (13th edition)
Publisher: Frommer's
Pub. date: April 21, 2008
Author: Suzy Gershman
Paperback; 312 pages
List price: $16.99
ISBN-10: 0470146656
ISBN-13: 978-0470146651

The publisher says: History, traditions and pomp and pageantry abound in London, yet it's a very modern European city. Whether you're a history buff, art lover, architecture connoisseur, Royal watcher, dedicated shopper or pub hopper, there's something for you in London. And this friendly guide helps you enjoy it fully with information about: getting around via Underground (and saving with Travelcards), bus, taxi or on foot; 4 itineraries to maximize your sightseeing; great day trips to Bath, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon and other attractions; the best shopping neighborhoods and their specialties, including Knightsbridge for the legendary Harrods, Chelsea for the young and the antique, and Kensington for street chic; literary landmarks, parks and gardens, and royal castles and palaces; activities and attractions for teens and kids. And like every For Dummies travel guide, London For Dummies includes: down-to-earth trip-planning advice; what you shouldn't miss-and what you can skip; the best hotels and restaurants for every budget.

Details:
Title: London For Dummies (5th edition)
Publisher: For Dummies
Pub. date: Feb. 19, 2008
Author: Donald Olson
Paperback; 384 pages
List price: $17.99
ISBN-10: 0470165626
ISBN-13: 978-0470165621

The publisher says: This invaluable guide contains all the information you need to get to and around some of the most popular destinations in England. Using London as a base, you can explore the college towns of Oxford and Cambridge; go on rambling walks or bike rides through the English countryside; or experience the mystery of Stonehenge, each in only a day! We give you all the information you need to plan your day trip, from train schedules to parking information and the best places to pick up picnic supplies or enjoy a more leisurely meal. Detailed maps and suggested itineraries for each destination guarantee that you'll see as much as possible without feeling rushed. And if there's so much to do that we think you might want to extend your trip, we give you the scoop on the best places to stay, from budget B&Bs to luxury hotels. Also included are savvy insider tips, historical information and special "finds" that most tourists and tour groups miss.

Details:
Title: Best Day Trips from London: 25 Great Escapes by Train, Bus or Car (3rd edition)
Publisher: Frommer's
Pub. date: April 21, 2008
Paperback; 256 pages
List price: $16.99
ISBN-10: 0470181958
ISBN-13: 978-0470181959

The publisher says: A portrait of London's famous and historic Lincoln's Inn, tracing the development of the Inn from its 14th-century origins to its position today as a distinctive and important part of the English legal system.

Details:
Title: A Portrait of Lincoln's Inn
Publisher: Third Millennium Publishing Ltd.
Pub. date: Feb. 25, 2008
Hardcover; 192 pages
List price: $70.00
ISBN-10: 1903942543
ISBN-13: 978-1903942543
Product dimensions: 11.2 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
Shipping weight: 2.7 pounds

When I first traveled to London after starting my studies in England, I paid the requisite visit to St. Paul's Cathedral. In a city where many of the best attractions are free, I expected a great deal from my £8.50 admissions ticket. I was not disappointed. 

Several weeks later, however, I felt pulled once more toward the building. My wallet was less inclined. So were my feet, guaranteed gauges of whether I'd "done" the tourist track. I decided there had to be another way to see St. Paul's.  read more »

THE relentless pace of increases in British home prices appears to be on the verge of a significant slowdown, with experts across the real estate industry predicting a lengthy stretch of zero growth. That's welcome news for anyone looking to enter the property market, especially in London, where prices in central boroughs have risen by as much as 36% over the past year. The excesses of the city's usual cast of fabulously wealthy expatriates, many of them flush with petro-dollars (or petro-rubles), have produced anecdotes like that of the 77 square foot converted closet in Knightsbridge which sold for over £100,000. With stories like that floating around many Londoners can't help but be relieved that things may cool down, even if many of them have most or all of their equity tied up in a home.

You might think that stagnant home prices in London could make vacation property there newly attractive to a large group of foreigners who don't draw their income from dubiously obtained Siberian oil wells: Americans. You would, however, be wrong. The calamitous decline in the value of the US dollar means that even in a cheaper London all but the wealthiest Americans will be disappointed if in the market for anything more than, say, the aforementioned converted closet in Knightsbridge.  read more »

THE NOTION of bringing the mania of art fairs like those held in Basel and Venice
to London has an obvious logic. Why force the art world to descend on
some Swiss or Italian provincial city for a fair when you can just
stick it in central London, where so much of that world is concentrated
anyway? Like so many good ideas, this one took a while to catch on, but in 2003 Amanda Sharpe and Matthew Slotover founded the the Frieze Art Fair, held in an enormous tent in Regent's Park. The fair has been wildly successful, and a multitude of satellite, alternative, and extra-alternative fairs have sprung up around it. So this week Frieze and its hangers-on are back, once again making London feel even more like an artistic theme park than usual.

But the experience of looking at art at these fairs is an unusual one for anyone accustomed to the comparatively august environs of a museum. Frieze and most of its satellites are unmistakably industry events, existing first and foremost to sell art, not to display it for a curious public. The result is an odd mix of attendees, ranging from high-powered collectors and their buyers to celebrities (Cillian Murphy being my best sighting), along with students and creatively-bearded artistic types. Frieze and its sisters, big tents in more ways than one, seem infinitely more vital than your average museum show thanks to this diversity, but also thanks to something else.  read more »

ART travels and good art travels far. I
find that maddening, seeing as I always miss the moment. Last time I was
in Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum was closed while the paintings toured North
America’s second tier cities. In Paris, the Musée d’Orsay was a whole lot
of white walls because it’s all on loan to Los Angeles. When I get back
home, New York’s Guggenheim might be showing all the Spanish greats, and beyond
Manhattan, America’s “right now” art seems elusive. A body must travel in
order to access one’s own culture.

Luckily there’s London--a city where all you
have to do is stand on a corner and some real art will hit you in the
face. I found my fix near Leicester Square at the Photographers' Gallery,
now showing American photographer Taryn Simon. Her show, An American Index of the
Hidden and Unfamiliar, archives those things that Americans subconsciously accept,
but can never visualize. Photographs include a picture of art hanging on
the walls of the CIA, a Braille edition of Playboy, military training camps,
pet parrots in quarantine, nuclear waste capsules (pictured), a government-sanctioned
marijuana greenhouse, and the throwaway offspring of inbred white tigers.
As a series, the photos deliver a pensive gaze behind the status of all that is
beautiful and safe about life in the States. It’s an intelligent yet
spooky sideshow of contemporary America, and I’m loving it.

So, when’s the show coming to America?
I even have to ask, determined to be in the moment when it comes. I
discover (sigh) that this show already opened at New York’s Whitney Museum last
summer. Like a bad American tourist I throw up my hands in protest: How was I supposed to know? Real Americans don’t go to
the Whitney! No we don't. We just come to Leicester Square.