A SATCHELL OF BOOKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 82, Issue 305, 24 December 1938, Page 18 (Supplement)

A SATCHELL OF BOOKS

CHOICE FOR HOLIDAY READING

The author’s task is to amuse or to instruct. It seldom occurs that the two tasks may be blended together, hence a man should decide for himself whether he shall read for pleasure or for profit. Let us look at the side of pleasure. I wanted to see G. B. Lancaster’s book "Promenade” (Angus and Robertson) because it is a portrait of early New Zealand life. I have read it and it leaves me with a mixture of feelings and it does not altogether please me. Is the book or myself to blame? I do not know for sure, but I am certain it will be read by many with great interest, but to me that interest is not unalloyed pleasure. The blemish on this book is that it deals with some inhuman creatures. The chief characters fashioned in a measure after the gentleman de Thierry, who desired to become King of New Zealand, is not attractive and the girl wife who goes to her wedding with all of the inhibitions of an unwilling woman who has not yet become a full blown rose, is too unhappy and too modern in thought. It is certainly not amusing. The talk of the beach, the wild times of the whalers is well told, but it must be remembered that it was the prospect of an American fillibuster coming to take charge of New Zealand which caused Mr. Busby to act when he did and bring the tribes together to resist the invader. I do not recommend “Promenade” as a holiday book, but some may like it. "Maelstrom,” by E. V. Timms (Angus and Robertson) is to my mind the ideal of a holiday book. There is tragedy in the narrative but it is kept in a minor key, the dominant note being that of adventure. Had “Promenade” been written in the same manner, with the adventure in the foreground and the secret thoughts of the womenfolk in the background, then one would have enjoyed the book better. "Maelstrom” is set at the time of the death of R-icheleau , and the ascendency of Mazarin. Intrigue and adventure go along hand j in hand with rascality, in which every I man who is respectable in life, will. find holiday. Mr. Timms is an Australian, and Miss Lancaster is a New | Zealander. In historical romance the Australian has it.

"Guns or Butter.” "Guns or Butter,” by W. B. Bruce Lockhart (Nutnams) is in excellent style. Bruce Lockhart has retired from Fleet Street because he found that writing a column by day and books by night was bringing him to an early death, and he desired to live. He has’found the opportunity now to visit the countries of Europe which he knew some seventeen years ago. He is older and soberer to-djv, he sees with the eyes of experience, he can make comparisons with the past, he can assess character. Dr. Williams, of the Times, regarded Bruce Lockhart, even in his Moscow days, as a clever man, and in this book his cleverness is revealed more than ever. One may not accept his views but one must be interested in the way in which he brings forward tags of history like a good journalist, how he paints good pictures, and discusses the probable turn of events of Europe. Then, there is the intriguing personality of the author himself. Bruce Eockhart has made his own personal adventure of the spirit a public property. His sins he parades as a sort of public confession, but in this book he dampens down this endeavour to portray himself as a sort of sportive fool without the will to exert lis talents when his career proclaims his ability and his tenacity of purpose.

A Book About Scotland, The Scotsman’s prayer, "God Give Us a Good Conceit of Ourselves” does not appear in this book to mar it. "Scotland, 1938” is a book on Scotland as she is to-day, written by one who appreciates that a book about a country should be suitable for those outside of it. Mr. J. R. Allen is the editor and the publishing house of Oliver and Boyd are the publishers. Under editorial guidance has been collected a number of essays on Scotland from twenty writers, and they all seem to enjoy portraying a section of Scottish life and character as it now is. It is not Burns rehashed, it deals with everyday life in the cities, in the countryside, it tells of the trades and how people spend Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights. It is Scotland to-day and as such it make excellent reading. The delightful photographs enhance the delight to be found in this book. Austria in Travail.

"Before Dawn,” by Juliana von Stockhausen (Hodden and Stoughton) is a first novel. It is surprising the number of good first novels this firm brings forward. The author is descended from an ancient family of Westphalian aristocracy. After the war she married an Austrian and settled in a country house east of Vienna and saw the break-up of the Austrian Empire and of her own fortunes. By patient endeavour the family braved the difficulties of poverty, endeavouring to provide the best which they could for their children, struggling to make ends meet. It is a moving story but told delightfully, and although it is a pensive tale it is told as such narrations should be, and that is revealing the bravery in the hearts of people whose ancient standing has swept away and who find themselves compelled to make a new earth. They do so by retaining their old Heaven in their hearts. The author and her husband had to leave Austria, and her book was banned in her own country. She shows clearly that nations may change their constitutions, but those composing nations continue to be the same sort of people that they always were. A Man’s New World. Another effort at reconstruction is retailed by the Abbe Dimnet in his book “My New World" (Capes). There is much about this French priest which intrigues the English. He is a Frenchman to the bone, yet he can love England and delight in her literature. He can, because of his real affection, see into the English heart and make some penetrating observations. This is expressed with kindliness. Besides, he is a master of the English language himself, and he can offer a model in expression to most of the native born. During the war he continued to live in Paris during the bombardment. His war experiences, however, are not the

only fare, it is his trips to America in order to secure funds for his religious institutions which offer a new slant on American life. He found that already hard at work with appeals, and his appeal was only one of many. He found his most lucrative channels I through literary associations and the [colleges. He became a public personality in this way and attained to an eminence in America which, if his book be a guide, he has not fully appreciated. The author of the "Art of Thinking" is always informative and always a charmer. A good holiday companion for anyone at all. On the Sea. “Ship by Herself,” by Humphrey Jordan (Hodder and Stoughton) is perhaps not up to the standard of “The Commander Shall,” but it remains a good book and a companionable volume. It is in part a story of the sea, in part a thriller, in part a detective yarn, and for these elements to be successfully woven into one book Is no mean achievement. It is also interesting as a revelation of how a ship’s company act in an emergency, that is to say, always with a weather eye on the human cargo, the passengers.