What London Reads

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

What London Reads

HUMANITY has many primary divisions. One of them may be described as pro-Wodehouse and anti-Wodehouse. The proWodehouseans are a happy multitude, and "at least once a year their happiness is renewed. "Summer Moonshine" (Herbert Jenkins) is Mr. Wodehouse's latest. As the devout expect and hope, it is the mixture as before. It is true that, we are no longer at Blandings and the Earl of Emsworth does not appear. The scene is Walsingford Hall in the county of Berkshire and the owner of the hall is Sir Buckstone Abbott. The baronet is hard up and anxious to sell the hall, which eventually falls into the hands of one of those predatory Americans in whom their author delights. It is impossible even to outline the plot, because Mr. WoAhouse's complications refuse to be outlined. Suffice it that the English and Americans abound in their customary slang; that the author's inventiveness for situations and dialogue has not slackened. Persons of the right sort will pick up this book and laugh almost deliriously. A Scant of Science Among the most famous women in the modern world must be accounted Mme. Curie. Her life story has ajust been written by her daughter, Eve, and published under the title "Mme. Curie" (Heineman). It is the story of devotion to an idea without a thought of worldly gain. Mme. Curie was born Maria Sklodovska at Warsaw in 1807. She was an intense patriot who suffered many disabilities under the Russian oppression. She studied and saved until she was able to go to Paris and the Burbonne. There she met the man who became her husband and was all too soon killed in a street accident. Marie Curie went on with their joint wrfrk. but she would never make profit out of radium. Her worldly reward was twice to receive the Nobel 'Prize. Others have made vast sums from her work, hut she lived and died in an unselfish and ascetic devotion to science as a sacred cause. Mr. Cedric Belfrage has for a very long while taken an especial interest in the "movies." At one time lie criticised them professionally, but, having had enough oj them, started 011 a long travel of which he gave an account in "Away From Tt All." Now. ho lias not exactly gone back to the movies but has written a novel on the subject, of movieland. "Promised Land" (Oollancz) is in dramatic form the story of Hollywood and how it came. The tale starts

—By Charles Pilgrim

in the middle of the last century when Ed. Laurie and his wife, "Ma," went to Los Anp-eles in search of fortune. Their first ambition' was no more than to £ro\v lemons and sell them,' but the energetic wife saw further opportunities. She knew'that something was froinp to happen; that there would be big developments. , Ma boupht land speculatively, hut was not altogether happy about th.e development. All sort 3of undesirable characters arrived and conjircgated and Ma was fundamentally respectable. But she remained speculative. Even when the picture industry arrived ,and she disapproved strongly of the whole outfit, she ptlt her prejudices on one side and profited by it until she had a million dollars. Mr. Belfrape's style and method are picturesque and powerful. The book is bound to be a success because multitudes all oyer the world will want to know how Hollywood became Hollywood. *.* + + EVANGELIST'S TOUR. CTJCCE leaving New Zealand to engage in mission work in the Old Country and further afield, the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher has not been idle with his pen. : lie has written several little books of aii cvangclisti-' nnture that make inspiring reading. The latest of them, published by Marshall. Morgan and Scott, he call::. "South African Jewels." It is an account of his tours in South Africa in 1934 and 1 !)•'?(!, which he savs have given him his most thrilling experiences. Beginning with an interesting account of how diamonds are found, and the labour involved in the finding of them, he goes 011 to speak of the power of persistent, prayo, and to tell how he realised it in the converts he won by his preaching. The book will gladden and encourage readers who are interested in evangelism. ♦ ♦ + * From the Publishers We t-ive and Learn, by Sir Josiah Stamp (Macmillan). The Wheels, by James Spenser (Longmans) . Clear the Ice, Please! by Hugh Talbot (Dent). Escape to Life, by Heinz I.eipmann: Swings and Roundabouts,'by J. Mills Whitham i Duckworth). The Torrington Diaries, Vol. IV. (Eyre and Spottiswoode). Genesis, by Martin Tree (Peter Davies).