10 AUGUST 1996, page 27

A Catalogue Of Camels

Eric Christiansen A HISTORY OF READING by Alberto Manguel HarperCollins, £25, pp. 372 A dilettante, said Sir Lewis Namier, is one who is more interested in himself than in his......

The Pangs Of Disprized Love

Francis King PLAYING THE HARLOT by Patricia Avis Virago, £6.99, pp. 252 T his novel, completed in 1963 but only now posthumously published, elicited from Philip Larkin a......