WINNETKA TALK January 15, 1927 NEWEST BOOKS AND BOOK REVIEWS | | J k FOUNTAIN SQUARE EVANSTON Telephones University 1024 Rogers Park 1122 Wilmette 3700 Americana 1926 H. L. Mencken Alfred A. Knopf $2.50 Caravans and Cannibals Mary Hastings Bradley Appleton $5.00 Walks and Climbs In the White Mountains Karl Pomeroy Harrington Yale University Press $2.50 Plutocrat Booth Tarkington Doubleday Page 8 Co. $2.00 The Joyous Conspirator George Gibbs J. H. Sears 8 Co., Inc. $2.00 This Day's Madness The Author of Miss Tiverton Goes Out. Bobbs, Merrill 8 Co. $2.50 Go She Must David Garnett Alfred A. Knopf $2.50 The Best Short Stories of 1926 Edited by Edward J. O'Brien Dodd, Mead % Co. $2.50 The Best Plays of 1925- 1926 Burns Mantle Dodd, Mead Co. $3.00 Lord's--First Floor Just Inside the West Davis i Street Door. DID YOU KNOW-- That Sherwood Anderson has written a remarkable and unique book, which he calls "A New Testament £" That Zona Gale was seven years old when she wrote her first novel? That Eugene O'Neill's great play "Marco's Millions" will be out this spring, which will be the first time that a play of O'Neill's has ever been published before stage presentation? That the International Jury of Awards of the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition has awarded the Amer- ican Unitarian Association a gold medal in recognition of the high quality of its exhibit of literature, posters, books and pictures in the Palace of Education? o Published Recently Fiction "Under the Tonto Rim""--Zane Grey A glorious tale, strong with the scent of the pines and the vigor of the vast solitudes. "Vivid Vivian"--H. L. Gates (By the author of "Joanna.") Meet her sister flapper, more to be petted than to be scorned. "Tomorrow Morning"--Anne Parrish An epic novel of a woman's life--a story of hope and of a mother's im- perishable love for her son. "A Woman in Exile"--H. A. Vachell A hustling business man from Cali- fornia marries a high bred English girl and takes her West. "Burning Witches" --Marie de Montalvo A warmly colorful, modern novel, portraying a woman's heart and soul ever in conflict. "The Rebel Bird"--Diana Patrick Love, "The Rebel Bird," is an ex- ceptional novel with an intense emo- tional appeal. "The Plutocrat"--Booth Tarkington Unlike his previous novels, this new one has a foreign setting. Persia from the Inside Edward Granville Browne's name is widely known as that of the greatest authority on Persia, and his book "A Year Amongst the Persians," is one of the most fascinating and instructive books of travel ever written. Apart from its lively descriptions of Persia and its people, it is an invaluable guide to modern Persian literature and thought. Dr. Browne gives nis account of the Persians in the form of a narrative of his year's residence in Persia, and he makes it all most vivid--the adventures of travel, the people of every class with whom he talked, their customs, their stories, their beliefs and super- stitions. He discussed deep matters with Persian scholars, was entertained by families of royal blood, and ex- changed pleasantries with the way far- ers on the road. His trial of opium smoking in order to complete his view of Dervish life, and the difficulty he found in giving up the habit are des- cribed in one of the closing chapters of the book. Popular Books (January Bookman) Fiction ; Ferber Galsworthy Show Boat . The Silver Spoon The Private Life of Helen of Troy : Erskine Wren Beau Sabreur An American Tragedy ........ Dreiser Labels PIS VN gn Gibbs The-Big Mogul . oi .c...... 6 Lincoln Her Son's Wife .. . Canfield Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ... Loos Bean Geste .... . craigs ne Wren The Understanding Heart .. Kyne Sorrell and"Son 1.5... ne. Deeping General Why We Behave Like Human Beings ea eh be vp has Dorsey The Story of Philosophy ...... Durant The Book Nobody Knows .... Barton The Man Nobody Knows ..... Barton The Mauve Decade ....... Beer Our Times So... ... Sullivan Abraham Lincoln ........ Sandburg The Revolt of Modern Youth Lindsey and Evans Beebe The Arcturus Adventure . Jefferson and Hamilton Bowers Microbe Hunters . . de Kruif The Royal Road to Romance . ...... i I Halliburton Just Paragraphs Stella Benson, having married an Irishman who holds a position in the British Customs service in China, makes her home in Manchuria. Her latest novel, "Good-bye, Stranger," has a Chinese background, and its opening scene, in which Daley, the American girl, entertains two serious Chinese gentlemen at tea, is full of humor. At the end Daley's English husband changes back again from a fairy to a common man, and the whole book has an element of fantasy which tempers the keenness of its satire. More spring lists are appearing. We thought every author had a book last fall but it seems that a few were missed and those are coming forward during the spring. Booth Tarkington's new novel is already published, Philip Guedalla will have a biography of Palmerston published in February, Sherwood Anderson has "A New Tes- tament," Gertrude Atherton a novel about Pericles and Aspasia, entitled "The Immortal Marriage." There are lots more but we will let you down easy, with a few at a time. "James Stephens is April in Ireland. Chase his laughing fancy down the lyric lane and it stops in tears; or, the other way about. Whether sprightly or serious, his thought nearly always wears a thin, shimmering mantle which may be called Loveliness."--North American Review. Stephens' "Collected Poems" have, just been published by Macmillan. Two new books that have just been added to the series of Studies in Adult Education, published by Macmillan company, are "The University Afield," by A. L. Hall-Quest, and "Correspon- dence Schools, Lyceums, Chautauquas," by John S. Noffsinger. Irving Bacheller was elected presi- dent of the New England Society of New York at its 121st annual meeting recently. Mr. Bacheller is to publish in the spring (through Macmillan) a new novel called "Dawn: A Lost Ro- mance of the Time of Christ." Reviews of New Books "THE BEST PLAYS OF 1925-26"--Burns Mantle. Anyone with sufficient temerity to hope to follow the workings of the drama from the backwoods of Chicago and its environs could not do better than to clasp to himself Burns Mantle's collection of the ten best plays of the New York season. The plays are well chosen, there is no question of that from former experience with Mr. Man- tle's * critical ability, and the book is prefaced by a short summary of "The Season in New York" followed by shorter ones by other contributors of that in Chicago and California. As Mr. O. IL. Hall in his summary of the Chicago season says, "Now we are but a market for; not a manufac- turer of, the shining cracks of the playhouse." Which only goes to re- inforce my statement that we need some such guide to what is really what in the theater. For example, there is a Pulitzer prize play, "Craig's Wife," which did not find its way to Chicago, and yet which was surely one of the most interesting plays of the year. If one would judge the actual weight and worth of a play's dialogue let him read it. "Craig's Wife" which on the stage was a gripping production, stands out as one of the best in point of literary craftsmanship. The dialogue is ex- tremely pertinent, the climax of the play is built up from the first words of the opening. While no written word can give the full effect of that slowly lowering curtain while Craig's wife stands, with the shattered fragments of her life about her, yet the excellence of the craftsmanship makes possible a powerful effect. "Young Woodley" on the other hand, is the sort of play which plays much better than it reads. It hasn't, in other words, the literary excellence though it has good dramatic qualities. "The Dybbuk," that play produced with startling success by the Neighborhood Players in New York, while it is better to read than not to know at all, cannot reproduce on paper the pervading powerful mysticism of the stage pro- duction. There are lighter plays than these given, George Kaufman's amusing "Butter and Egg Man," and Marc Connelly's "The Wisdom Tooth." Also our old friend "The Green Hat." In which we have the laugh on New York having had it first. Altogether Mr. Mantle's book is both entertaining and instructive, a rare and beautiful combination. "GEORGE IV"--Shane Leslie. George TV having labored during all these years under the distinction of having been one of the worst if not the worst Prince of History, has of course attracted numberless biograph- ers. Shane Leslie now comes forward with something a little different, some- thing which he considers a little more fair to the character of the royal sub- ject. Although he admits that George was full of faults, he is anxious to trace the origin of those faults and to uncover the compensating virtues. Mr. Shane has written a lively and very vivid account of those shadowy days. He has followed the new bio- graphical mode in being chatty with- out following it further in being sketchy. ---EstaErR GouLp i ' 3 4 a ini dA Sh bik EEE ER ont cies 4 CARS at dt Sie ts it i aii att 0 MRL 0 3 E 5 f Gt nin 4 at ait LT Gang TN a RAS a