Hutt Library News

Hutt News, Volume 11, Issue 12, 18 August 1937, Page 1

Hutt Library News

The subscribers tc the Lower Ilutt -UuniLibrary will be pleased to know tluit at Inst, tlie library has been able tn secure a copy of "The Year.-;," by Virginia Wuolf. This new novel by Mrs. Vfoolf is one of the longest written by her. In .form it is different i'rum any of its predecessors. Jts theme is the passing of the last fifty vein's,, seen 1 the everyday life of separate individuals. The theme is presented in Lie concrete details of their daily life and the impact upon individuals of all the forces that mould society, from tear air! love to wax and politics, 'i'lie < pattern of the book is also drawn in certain repeated phra.-es and verbal crime.- ,v!ii-h :-(vm to reveal 'to the reader the strange p-;ych(,'logical and social forces which drive each individual inexorably along his own separate path. The path.; of all these people ia li:e 'eighties of the last century, diverge and cross and diverge again through the years, and Jinally meet once more, at the end of the book, in the present da}'. Another eagerly awaited book, "Coronation Commentary,'-' is now on the library shelves. This is somewhat like "The Years''; but instead of treating with ordinarv individuals, Kings and Queens are the subject matter of the ! hook. Throughout the last one hundred ' years tliere have been four ■,-cronations. j .Mr. JJenni.- comments on them and the effect they have on the life of the nation. Since Sir Philip Oibbs wrote "Kngiand Speaks'' much history has happened, aad the mind-; of Kngii-di people, have been stirred profoundly by events ai home and abroad. In "Ordeal in Knglaad " Sir Philip records the ideas and emotions caused by ad this -drama in many different type.-' of mind, expressing with hi.-- usual cnndi/ur and .-■'.i.-e of i.-'iara-tc-r their varying points i.iview. In this mmk hI.-o he takes his reade; - behind the • rene.s of Knglish life iii id\v:i ami citui.t r/. opening many dour., and oil];; into ariuaiuenl far- !»: ies. rliinvard.s, ('.vmuninist and Fascist meeting olam the lobbies and galleries <if I'a; liae.u ut, c-!d linglisli mansion*. cot tav'S and tenemenl tlwellinus, undergiadiiiites' room:-. little restaurant.* in London where there, is good talk through ciaaret le smoke, and many other place:- \vii"re !-.ng!ish life to-day '•« mest intimately revealed. This book is ciouale<l with interest nig characte'-s. famou* and unknown, and they talk about all the subjects which stir the mind of Kngland to-day: world ;ilf.iir--. tiie political Pan-h ami .Judy show, religion, morals, the stress o,f life !.i;;h |i!aces ami low, the bewilderment of youth. Tur«ui:;h this book— !'i ■ iin crisis to ci/ronalien—Kirglan.! spetiks nucha. Thus anyone reading the above three books would have a very compreheu-u\ e id,-a of tins modern world of ours aad what has been happening to male- t:s what we are. "Civilian Into Soldier," by John A. Lee, the Member for Parliament who* is now Parliamentary ('nder-Srcretary to ( the Prime Minister, is a novel of the Groat War. .Mr. Lee himself litis a very - notable war record. When war broke out he was tramping along a IS'ew Zealand road looking for health in tlie open air with a moist spot on cue lung. He tried to enlist, not out of any patriotic 3 motive, but be-anso he preferred to be shot to death than suffocate. The i monjiis of trainiu:;- renewed his health in a maivelinus manner and he proved himself a -go:-,! soldier. He thus is fully j equipped tn write 1 lie kind of narrative that lings with 1 ruth. This book is almo.-t as much in demand as his previous '' i'hili!i eu of !he 1 'our.'' - "The Pan -o (lues On," by .Mr. Louis (!oldin. the fatuous author of ".Magnolia Street." is a love shvy. It is not such a !;ir.;e canvas as his other books aad therefor,' not quite deep or profound; out it is n■■ vert 111 ! e-;s an exceptiunal ,-tory. It is the life story of a dancer trained in the Imperial Pallet School and that alone makes it a very interest;!!!; li,<.»k coming as it does just after our '-we experience of the beauty of the ballet. This book, though ill fiction form. gi\e- one a very clear picture of the lb-stirs and sacrili-.-es ■ 'Ji.i; a dan.-cr has to perform if she wishes ■11 o.ily to excel at her art but ti. stav toji of the tree when she gets ' there. Cecil i! fie: ts ha.- tit Iti.-t written another a iVel, hi- iirst for two years. Prom Victoria Sratioa, at -Plti in the afternoon, a train leaves in conjunction with the Arlberg - Orient Express, hi vents iia \ e hi might to the departure platform a number of men and women wh'.'se purpose in making their journey offers tragedy and comedy to the observer. Another light novel of romantic interest is "Six .Maniages," by Florence Kilpatri-k. It is a novel of Ihe "antagonistic co-operation" of marriage. A group if half a dozen husbands and wives are presented each "with a marriage problem seen from a different angle. Ail the couples are linked up in one story. The story reveals the lives of ordinary couples more or less happilv married, battling with jealousies, incompatibilities and antagonisms. Even companionate marriage ccmes into tlie and forms a piquant episode in a very human novel. ]