WILMETTE LifE August 31, 1928 - Esther Gould's Book Corner . ·. JUST PARAGRAPHS A hook by a deep sea diver looks as if it 'm ight be a real coup in the history of publishing-that is until someone gets one by a whale or a shark. This is a book promised for the Fa11 by Thomas Eadie who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for rescuing his fellow diver in working to salvage the "S4." With a sort of touching faith the literarti of the country apprise their publishers and the literary departments of the papers of their whereabouts for the summer. It is as if they had an ever-springing hope that there might be a royalty check from the former or a philanthropist's check from one of the latter trying to find them. novel this should be htdged as an historical novel only. · "Uther and lgraine" is an historical novel and of a period of which it is particularly hard to write convincingly. Mr. Deeping has done well in many respects but he has in large extent failed, as so many historical novelists do fail, in being convincing. To turn back to an age of barbarism and write of a time when life was held· so lightly, loves were loved so fiercely, is to stretch · our credulity to the breaking point. That it stretches the author's, too, is evidenced by the fact that his characters are seldom more than puppets taking part in acts for which history pulls the strings. But what Mr. Deeping has done is to make a glorious tapestry. He has changed his style to one rich, ·positively riotous in color, but with stiff straight lines like those old tapestries made in the ages before they dared allow themselves, in art, the informality of curves. For instance, in description of a struggle between two women, "lgraine despite her spirit was faint from loss of blood and all a-tremble." This rigidity and pomposity of style which though I might quote endlessly I could not illustrate' properly away from the whole, is , while slightly tiresome, yet appropriate to the subject. Uth~r and lgraine were the father and mother of King Arthur of Britain. Everyday Life in Japan Told by Mission Workers Did you know that the ricksha was originally a baby-buggy adapted by an American missionary. to ~h~ needs of his invalid wife? "Unfathomed Japan" bx Harolg W. Fog~t a!ld Ali.~e Robbins Foght gives hts btt o! mformation and much more that IS of very real interest. It is a lively chronicle of the daily adventures of an American and his wife in Japan, traveling not so much the beaten tourist paths as the les5 known byways, where the real heart of Japan i~ where live its real makers -the tillers of the soil; the seeke r s after food in the sea; the small artisai· s and the homely sages. A LIFE OF THOMAS HARDY Plans are under way for a memorial to Thomas Hardy in his native Dorsetshire and his biography is to be published early this fall by Macmillan. The material for this book was gatherecl' ·bv his wife, Florence Emily Hardy, ~from his own words and diaries, and most of it was actually read and revised by him. Mr. Hardy's latest poems, made ready for publication shortly before his death, are also to appear shortly, under the title, "Winter Words m Various Moods and Metres." This is the story of the stormy years before they came together, when Uther, after having rescued the girl from a terrible death at the hands of barbarians, l~aves her, thinking her a nun. She was only a novice but had not told him. Then follows a long period of woe for poth of them, ending at last in a duel between u.her and the girl's husband. Merlin and sorcery enter into the story which is, on the whole, worth reading for the colorful picture it presents of that far off time. . Telephone for your Boolu. Telephones: Gnealeaf,.. Wilmette 3711 Rot_. Park IIZZ BOOKS The Lift of George Rogers Clark · Jame1 Alton James Professor James has consented to autograph copies of this, his lattst book. University of Chicago Press . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . s~.so A NEW DEPARTURE "UTHER AND IGRAINE" By Warwick Deeping Alfred A. Knopf It is a great temptation, when an author well known for one type of thing turns to another, to compare the two, usually to the disparagement Qf the newer. But this, tempting as it is, is palpably unfair. If Warwick Deeping, author of the very popular "Doomsday" and "Sorrell and Son," wishes to try his hand at an historical Surrender J. C. Snaitb .......... Sz.oo Appleton Goethe Tbt History of a Man Emil Ludwig Putnam ..........·.. Ss.oo A Hap~ P .Y Whtrt the Loon Calls H tlt"J Sinclar Drago Macauley ..··....... Sz.oo A PSYCHIC NOVEL "THE DOOR UNLATCHED" Lull in the Day's Round At the Plaza, eating is never a task to be done quickly, but a happy lull in the day's round-approached with pleasure and filled with keen enjoyment and bttte·r health. The very environment of the Plaza, quiet and unhurried, with facilities for seating hundreds of diners in comfort, invites you to linger over your meals and enjoy their goodness to the full. Eat at the Plaza tomorrow. Breakfast, luncheon or dinner. En ttr the Greek Anthony Gibb1 Harptr ~ Brothers .... Sz.oo By Marie Cher Minton Balch & Co. Marie Cher is a talented author, an American, whose novel, "The Door Unlatched," as well as a collection of her essays, was first published in England. Miss Cher has taken as this first' subject for her talent a curious one, a story with great difficulties which she has handled skmfully. Roger Darrington, living in Paris and without any very decisive interest in life, becomes very much enamoured with the history of the French Revoluti9n. Living in rooms which played a part in those stirrjng days and creating them over again for. himself he suddenly finds his personality taken over by an alien one, a man who actually did live a century and more ago and played a vital part in that great half lives. this strange Raoul taking drama .. From that time on Roger only possessiOn . of him and putting him through these heart rending experiences at his pleasure. To add to his fantastic dilemma the child for whom he is tutor and her mother both fit into his dream. This places him in the. unpleasant position of being whtsked from reality to unreality in the p_resence _of others and thereby. sometimes losmg his proper dignity. The story moves soberly ·and to an inevitable climax. The book is as I have said, exceedingly well do~e the style is easy and vivid. It may or' may not ~e appealing to ~ou as a story. To me t.t was not: I found myself regrettmg that Mtss Cher, wit~ so much a~ he~ command of literary talent and hastortcal _background, of knowledge of comtemporary Paris and contemporary hu~an nature, should not have found dtfferent, perhaps more vital. use for them. Blades Gtorgt Barr M cCutcbton Dodd, Mead ~ Company s~.oo Though This Be Madness Putnam Robert Keable .......·..... Sz.oo Seven Days Whipping John Bigg· Jr. Scribnrn ..·..·.··.. $1..00 Five Deans SitlnlfJ Darlt Tht fivr Deans of the Church of Enaland wert: Coltt, Swift, Donat, Sualty. and lngr. Harcoun. Bract a Co .....$2.50 Day of Fortune NomHJn Matson Century Co. . ........ $2.50 LIBRARY PLAZA CAPIETERIA IN THE LIBRARY PLAZA HOTEL Show Girl· I. P. McEIJOfl SU.on and Scbastrr ...... $2.00 Orrington Avenue just South of Church Str~t Open 6 a. m. to 7:45 p~ m. includiag Sundays ·· _, o":~ I ,_ l l