The city of Oxford, England, has generated and attracted many authors, especially associated with the University. It has also inspired many books.

The following categories cover some books associated with the city, through their authors or subject matter:

Dictionaries and other books from Oxford University Press

Middle-earth books

Narnia books

Works by J. R. R. Tolkien

The following are book series:

Oxford World's Classics

Inspector Morse (Colin Dexter) — also a television series

Kate Ivory (Veronica Stallwood)

A Staircase in Surrey (J. I. M. Stewart, five novel series: 1974–78)

Individual books

The following are some selected individual books, many by Oxford University alumni:

Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (Sue Townsend, 1993)

The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green (Cuthbert M. Bede, in three parts: 1850s)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)

Another Kind of Cinderella (Angela Huth, 2002)

Bleak Midwinter (Peter Millar, 2002)

The Book and the Brotherhood (Iris Murdoch, 1983)

Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh, 1945)

Dancing to the Pipers (Kate Fenton, 1993)

Death at the President's Lodgings (Michael Innes, 1936)

Dangerous Games (Jodie Sinclair, 1997)

Death of a Don (Howard Shaw)

The Devil's Hunt (Paul Doherty)

Dirty Tricks (Michael Dibdin, 1991)

Doomsday Book (Connie Willis, 1992)

The Game (A. S. Byatt, 1967)

Gaudy Night (Dorothy L. Sayers, 1935)

The Greatest Sorrow (Keith Ovenden, 1998)

His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman, trilogy: 1995, 1997, 2000)

The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937) — written at 20 Northmoor Road, North Oxford

The House in Norham Gardens (Penelope Lively, 2004) — set in Norham Gardens, North Oxford

An Instance of the Fingerpost (Iain Pears, 1997)

Jill (Philip Larkin, 1946)

Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy, 1895) — Oxford is called "Christminster"

Juggling (Barbara Trapido, 1994)

The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien, three volumes: 1954–55) — mostly written at 20 Northmoor Road; see also film trilogy

Lyra's Oxford (Philip Pullman, 2003)

The Men and the Girls (Joanna Trollope, 1992)

Oxford Exit, Oxford Shadows, etc. (Veronica Stallwood)

The Oxford Murders (Guillermo Martínez, 2003) — to appear as a film

An Oxford University Chest (John Betjeman, 1938)

The Poison Tree (Tony Strong)

A Storm in Oxford (E. Tangye Lean, 1932)

Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K. Jerome, 1889) — a journey from Kingston to Oxford on the River Thames

Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll, 1871)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carré, 1974)

Tom Brown at Oxford (Thomas Hughes, 1861)

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis, 1997)

Towers in the Mist (Elizabeth Goudge, 1938)

The Travelling Hornplayer (Barbara Trapido, 1998)

Where the Rivers Meet (John Wain, 1988)

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame, 1908) — Grahame is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford

A Young Oxford Maid (Sarah Tytler)

Zuleika Dobson (Max Beerbohm, 1911)

See also

Oxford in literature and other media

Balliol College in fiction

Further reading

Hood, Nancy, Literary Oxford. Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999. ISBN 0-7509-2115-3.

External links

A-Z of Literary Oxford exhibition at the Museum of Oxford, 10 February – 8 July 2007.