London: The Biography

Photo: Philip Friedman/Studio D

4 of 4
London: The Biography
848 pages; Anchor
"You'd be hard-pressed to come away with an imaginative look at a city's history without having to do a lot of research. But with this incredibly detailed, brilliant book, you learnin one readwhat makes London the city it is today," says Spacey of Ackroyd's biography of the city on the Thames, which has become a treasured guide to his new home. "As an American moving here, I didn't know the history of London. I learned details about the city I wouldn't think to ask about."
— As told to Naomi Barr