PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1934, Page 24

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

Tho chief librarian of the Wellington Public Libraries has chosen "Albert Goes Through," by J. B. Priestley, and "No Feast of Love," by Dcidrc O'Brien, as the books of tho week, and has furnished the following reviews:—

Lovers of Mr. J. B. Priestley's works will find that "Albert Goes Through" is in a rather different manner from that which he usually employs. It might oven be termed a xatire, though a very harmless and amusing one. Albert Limpley, the hero, has no time for girls. His love is given to . the sirens of the screen. Ho is obsessed by the "talkies." It is his pride never to miss a picture. And so, one night, when ho.has a very bad cold, he insists on going to the theatre to sco his favourite actress, Felicity Storm. To fortify himself he takes an overdose of a medicine, which his landlady calls "Thunderbolt." The effect on Albert is indeed that of a thunderbolt. The medicine, together with his cold, causes him to collapse, and whilo he is in this state ho dreams that he has been wafted into the film itself. From that film ho passes to another and goes through several in quick succession. Bach film, though of a different type, has much the same kind of plot, and in each Albert is called upon to rescue the heroine and her brother. He gets all the discomforts of tho situation; but none of the glory. By the time the dream ends Albert is thoroughly tired of Felicity Storm and her brother, and goes home that night a sadder and a wiser man.

Albert tells his own story in his own words in a naive yet garrulous style which is delightful. The book is really funny, and will provoke many a quiet chuckle. Mr. Priestley chooses this way of striking at trashy pictures, and it proves very effective. Clever sketches in black and -vvhito add to the charm of the book.

"No Feast of Love," by Deidre O'Brien, is the story of a possessive mother, who has great dominion over her son, an only child. She had been spoilt by her husband during his lifetime, and expected this spoiling to bo continued by their son. Tho son bo- j comes engaged to a girl connected with tho stage. They are very much in love, so much in love that the son tells his mother that he and his wife must have a separate home. Tho decision, however, is that they will share the same house, and then the trouble begins. Tho mother's will has been law for so long that she can't and won't sec that her daughter-in-law has some rights. The daughter-in-law may not ask any of her friends to the house without her knowledge and permission,.or even be a fowl minutes late for a meal without being reprimanded as if she were a child. This state of things cannot continue indefinitely, and the young wife reaches the end of her patience, and then gets a good offer to go on the stago again. She leaves her husband and mother-in-law, after telling them a few home truths. The book ends up happily with the husband finding that ho loves his wife and cannot do without her. He asks her to come back —but not before his mother has found another home. RECENT LIBRARY ADDITIONS. Other titles selected from recent accession lists arc as follows.: —General: "My Little World," by A. S. 11. Weigall; "Bread Making in New Zealand," by Bycroft Limited; "Out of tho Bough," by J. T. Shaw; '.'Royal Nonesuch," by B. White; "This England," by G. Barry; "A Fisherman 's Log," by G. L. A. Dodd; "Louis the Fifteenth," by P. Gaxotte. Fiction:—"Trail Dust," by C. E. Mulford; "David Ilaruni," by Edward Noyes Westcott; "White Witch," by Bachel S. Macnamara; "The Sancroft Sisters," by B. C. Brown; "Spur of Morning," by Alan Mulgan; "To the Vanquished," by I. A. B. Wylie; "The Curate's Wife," by E. H. Young; "The Goose-man, " by J. Wassermann. t