What Soldiers Read

Hutt News, Volume 16, Issue 14, 2 September 1942, Page 5

What Soldiers Read

What happens to all the books which are collected by libraries and j the public for the men in the forces? 'So lar as the Dominion's largest In'land camp is concerned, where the ( troops of the Tank Brigade have j been gathered from all over ' New Zealand, the fullest possible use is made of the reading matter ao „.ited. Fqr eighteen months an attractively arranged library, housed in the Y.M.C.A. Institute under the care of a qualified librarian, has been in constant use by the thousands of men who have pas sed tlrrqugh .during their training. All types of fiction are represented;; jfrom the ever popular Western story and the detective to the standard novels of &u'ch writers as ' Galsworthy, Wells, Priestly, Arnold Bennett (to mention only a few), and the distinctly classical Dickens. Scott, Bulwer Lytton, etc. What is the average choice of reading? .Well, the first is easily the Western novel, with the mystery tale running close behind. Many read purely for pleasure, ahd tnerefore seek the wide open spaces of Mulford's or McLeod Raine's creation; others delight in the thriving suspense of Oppenheim, Agaha Christie and writers of the same school. Sea stories by Humphrey Jordon, and "Taffrail" are always out, and the historical story is not neglected. D. K. Broster and Maurice Walsh are most popular in this field. One 1 writer whose books are never 011 the shelf is Leslie Oharteris. All the main classes of non-fiction are well represented in the le i ling list, especially travel and biography. Books for which a special request is made may be obtained from the N.Z Government Country Library Service on application. Such requests vary widely and include Hitler's "Mein Kampf", Technical Plumbing, Poultry 'Farming, Hydraulics, Paderewski's Memorirs; and Miniature Camera Photography.

Some soldiers r£ad widely; some read avidly al lthe time; others borrow only occasionally. A few change books daily, but some keep them for the full period allbwed.

The refeTence section includes the two volume Oxford- Dictionary, two encyclopaedias, Pefet Office j Directory, Year Book, Automobile Encyclopaedia, Accountancy Text-books issued by the N-2|| Society of Accountants. Each used but the Directory is consulted most of ail.

Thirty-five daily papers are kept in the newspaper racks and magazines'; and illustrated weeklies He on the reading tables.