Frommer's Portable London 2009

This book is breezy, chatty, and eager to please. The writers want to be your friend on your visit to London. One restaurant review suggests you avoid the salmon; the description of the Tower of London tour warns you away from the locking-up ceremony, calling it "cheesy." The cheerful tone the writers take is wonderful, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they think the average visitor to London is made of money. Admittedly, like most crowded cities, London is notorious for its high prices. But if you limit your visit to the highlights in this pocket-sized volume you will be seeing a very expensive city. The authors' idea of an "inexpensive" hotel can run over 95 pounds per night, which to this working-class Anglophile is pretty pricy. And their discussion of shopping focuses heavily on Harrod's and the Carnaby Street revival, not the nieghborhood shops and pubs where you can get a nice shirt and a pint without being singled out as a tourist. And if you're more interested in culture than in bringing home trophies, the authors aren't speaking your language. Though they touch on highlights like the RSC and the Tate Modern, frankly most of us only needed those pointed out on a map; thorough reviews were superfluous. How about the more esoteric theatres and museums, the small coffee shops where folkies play Welsh murder ballads, the walking tour that takes in the best busking corners? I'd pay good money for a tour guide that included those. I can't call this guidebook bad. If you have mad money enough to throw around with moderate abandon, this book may well be right up your street. As I've mentioned above, its pointers and reviews are thorough, not to mention affable and organized. But for curious college students, sailors on leave, and the eager working American who manages to swing two weeks off work, this book is way out of your league. Keep browsing for the right volume, because this one ain't it.