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In pictures: Londoners’ hottest reads of summer 2024

What's hotter than not keeping your backpack on when standing on the tube? Reading a book. Photographer Orlando Gili took to the streets of London to find out what books city goers are loving.

Sydney Evans
Written by
Sydney Evans
Contributor:
Orlando Gili
Image of man reading To Kill the Truth on a bench
Photograph: Orlando Gili
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There’s nothing quite like the simple pleasure of getting stuck into a good book. From TikTok bookshelf tours, sad girls books and the Brontë Bros (a.k.a Timothée Chalamet and Jacob Elordi), Marc Jacobs and his reading hour or Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club, if you didn’t already know, reading is cool again. Or, as Kaia Gerber said earlier this year, ‘reading is so sexy’.

A whopping 669 million physical books were sold in the UK last year, the highest overall level ever recorded, and visits to libraries are up 71 percent. Spotted on morning commutes, sprawled across a bench and reclining in a deck chair, there’s no hotter accessory than a paperback this summer.

But which books are Londoners loving the most this season? Photographer Orlando Gili took to the streets to find out. Here’s what he found, from Graham Swift and Ali Hazelwood to Richard Osman.

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

Image of man reading The Satsuma Complex on the train
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift

Image of woman reading Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift on the grass
Photograph: Orlando Gili

To Kill the Truth by Sam Bourne

Image of man on a bench reading To Kill the Truth
Photograph: Orlando Gili

The Machine Stops and Other Stories by EM Forster 

Image of a girl on the tube reading Machine Stops and Other Stories by E M Forster
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Aquinas Among the Protestants by Manfred Syensson and David VanDrunen 

Image of a man in a deck chair reading Aquinas Among the Protestants
Photograph: Orlando Gili

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

Image of a girl reading A Court of Wings and Ruin on the tube
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Man sitting on a deck chair reading Butter
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh 

Image of a woman sitting in a park reading Cursed Bread
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else by David Balzer

Man sitting on a bench reading Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else
Photograph: Orlando Gili

The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman

Image of a woman on a bench reading The Last Devil To Die
Photograph: Orlando Gili

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Image of a girl reading Bride on the tube
Photograph: Orlando Gili

 Slanted #42 Magazine

Image of a man reading a copy of Slanted magazine
Photograph: Orlando Gili

For more Orlando Gili photography on Time Out, check out his snaps of elated Taylor Swift fans on the first night of the Eras tour in London and these shots capturing the fading world of Smithfield’s midnight meat market.

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