8 Great London Reads

The British capital is abuzz with the Olympics. As if it wasn't already the centre of the world, London 2012 -- to give the event its contemporary appellation -- looks set to cement Europe's largest city as the world's most sought-after destination.

Today's thriving metropolis began life as a squat Roman colony named Londinium in AD43, and in those intervening 1969 years it has been through many a tumultuous period. London's trials and tribulations however, have made it the profound, prosperous, energetic and diverse place it is today -- which, in turn, has given it a wonderfully varied literary history. Whether its Chaucer's Cantebury Tales, or Henry Mayhew's grim treatise London Labour and the London Poor or the present-day bestseller Capital by John Lancaster, London, to borrow author Will Self's words has "a theatrical persona", it is "anarchy" and is "ungovernable".

A true melting pot of ideas, cultures and innovations, London's long stint as the world's most populous city and as a magnet of itinerants, immigrants, opportunists and refugees, has meant that it's always been a treasure trove of stories, coincidences and serendipitous happenings.

The eight books are timelined to reflect London's ascent from the early first century to present day.