New Books - Fiction
I am elbow-deep in the latest chapter of my thesis, plus I have a mountain of review books to read. Then there are the new books of my wonderful and talented friends that require my immediate attention. How do I cope? By buying some new fiction. Well actually, it's all old fiction, and gives an indication of my taste in the obscure and the camp. Here's what I have bought in the last week or so:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQ0PfzFN3fyMBU6otrYzB2VjVnJ1CZwOPEGq7QOOZB9_DozhGiSeEb3Bz0LENzvLbxWLPSKEN3HEd_opwZl7Z7OpgLXoiYCE6TqfXxWTkyCfiwFOBzenPorEiU9b2PmobDgwO2TlUx5A/s400/B_new+fiction+night+letters.jpg)
Night Letters by Robert Dessaix - A wonderful novel posing as a travel memoir. Dessaix is playing all kinds of Nabokovian tricks here. I love Dessaix's writing, and have never read this one.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX73igGbZ7KV2qbXb5qEoiVD7iI4jeHr-8EiBnlUSdfV24hyMD-l7GHNqDIbW7ENF5BrGImHpdYLxSGTi3qqqT175_2B55SyeONs_tjOkg3VyDxyfFNhrPPDfF4BY1OO74iXNTaqAkoJw/s400/B_new+fiction+king+of+the.jpg)
King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher - I simply had to read this one when it was slammed by a Peregrine Worsthorne (was there ever a more exquisitly named personage?) in the Spectator. He was disgusted by its explicit gay sex, and thought it brought ill-repute to all homosexuals. He thought its "unseemly anatomical accounts of group homosexual orgies...poison public opinion."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZXwkg4o0BM9Z385ScoBD9bnzUx60eWhZ_Qdnw9XwFw3-KgZwxJbEIRlvhDFlD1Qb131ozeSYzes0qLBWZ0s63VadPRNskxAWUvmfbibQRanjD7fNePRnHudxHIRQ2FGNdrUqAh8k6H4/s400/B_new+fiction+and+no.jpg)
And No Man's Wit by Rose Macaulay
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vg_CAWiu2N-afB9TAF6v8XaD8AmeUZBaRBMeLTnDktus3YOXdXvOSydkJwCYJ2HDe3NgNiiOnboHkRhs62DVTgOrV5OQ5dUuVomT2jZkjnSR3yTEv98HsMmH-t_J0DLjSQtuooC9MAU/s400/B_new+fiction+corfu.jpg)
Corfu by Robert Dessaix - Another by the lovely Mr. Dessaix.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5AMnt8oVxgYOpg7hQvb8EwdS8s2BS6DhnZFNo2Q-9dLj8ZX56rGyD03I9BkiMOpUJzovTPbvI7hrA1IT9ZwdDejHLPDRcQgMN0k76Fl-viqr4nNJWYFU_ypYq6Nupl9CadYtHLB_vA0/s400/B_new+fiction+Running+Backwards.jpg)
Running Backwards Over Sand by Stephanie Dowrick - I am currently writing about Dowrick's popular non-fiction, but have still never read any of her novels. I found a lovely signed hard-cover first edition.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGPWm_Xee9MW47OxreuhpANa_kfABnMDLKm8Be4zF8z4v268fe_HnFtPXcq4zhbe1d8YQJF2fYLAJPbz6-7qh7rxSBL7itI3WkbSyYtoUkRkDwiupfLC3rvEQcL1-M07FWQYv13D28lA/s400/B_new+fiction+under+two.jpg)
Under Two Flags by Ouida - I adore Ouida as a character, though I have never actually read a single word of her fiction. I am about to remedy that.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQ0PfzFN3fyMBU6otrYzB2VjVnJ1CZwOPEGq7QOOZB9_DozhGiSeEb3Bz0LENzvLbxWLPSKEN3HEd_opwZl7Z7OpgLXoiYCE6TqfXxWTkyCfiwFOBzenPorEiU9b2PmobDgwO2TlUx5A/s400/B_new+fiction+night+letters.jpg)
Night Letters by Robert Dessaix - A wonderful novel posing as a travel memoir. Dessaix is playing all kinds of Nabokovian tricks here. I love Dessaix's writing, and have never read this one.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX73igGbZ7KV2qbXb5qEoiVD7iI4jeHr-8EiBnlUSdfV24hyMD-l7GHNqDIbW7ENF5BrGImHpdYLxSGTi3qqqT175_2B55SyeONs_tjOkg3VyDxyfFNhrPPDfF4BY1OO74iXNTaqAkoJw/s400/B_new+fiction+king+of+the.jpg)
King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher - I simply had to read this one when it was slammed by a Peregrine Worsthorne (was there ever a more exquisitly named personage?) in the Spectator. He was disgusted by its explicit gay sex, and thought it brought ill-repute to all homosexuals. He thought its "unseemly anatomical accounts of group homosexual orgies...poison public opinion."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZXwkg4o0BM9Z385ScoBD9bnzUx60eWhZ_Qdnw9XwFw3-KgZwxJbEIRlvhDFlD1Qb131ozeSYzes0qLBWZ0s63VadPRNskxAWUvmfbibQRanjD7fNePRnHudxHIRQ2FGNdrUqAh8k6H4/s400/B_new+fiction+and+no.jpg)
And No Man's Wit by Rose Macaulay
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vg_CAWiu2N-afB9TAF6v8XaD8AmeUZBaRBMeLTnDktus3YOXdXvOSydkJwCYJ2HDe3NgNiiOnboHkRhs62DVTgOrV5OQ5dUuVomT2jZkjnSR3yTEv98HsMmH-t_J0DLjSQtuooC9MAU/s400/B_new+fiction+corfu.jpg)
Corfu by Robert Dessaix - Another by the lovely Mr. Dessaix.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5AMnt8oVxgYOpg7hQvb8EwdS8s2BS6DhnZFNo2Q-9dLj8ZX56rGyD03I9BkiMOpUJzovTPbvI7hrA1IT9ZwdDejHLPDRcQgMN0k76Fl-viqr4nNJWYFU_ypYq6Nupl9CadYtHLB_vA0/s400/B_new+fiction+Running+Backwards.jpg)
Running Backwards Over Sand by Stephanie Dowrick - I am currently writing about Dowrick's popular non-fiction, but have still never read any of her novels. I found a lovely signed hard-cover first edition.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGPWm_Xee9MW47OxreuhpANa_kfABnMDLKm8Be4zF8z4v268fe_HnFtPXcq4zhbe1d8YQJF2fYLAJPbz6-7qh7rxSBL7itI3WkbSyYtoUkRkDwiupfLC3rvEQcL1-M07FWQYv13D28lA/s400/B_new+fiction+under+two.jpg)
Under Two Flags by Ouida - I adore Ouida as a character, though I have never actually read a single word of her fiction. I am about to remedy that.
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