Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-23
THIS AND THAT
RY CHARLES +. TRACEWELL.

others do the experimenting with the
| fresh things. Often 1t may be mat
for If money. Since uncertainty as to
the worth of any book does exist 1t Will
be better for some to allow others 10
expend the necessary purchase price
IF time shall show that the Work In
ulestion is really worth while, and, what
is more to the point. desirable In the
individual case then life VIII prHlS one
around to 1t at last.
| Where so many who SuccumD 10 lne
new book lure fall down, in our opinion
is in not regarding themselves as the
ultimate Judge of all books, old or new,
and especially new.
IF her love be not for me, what care
| T how fair she be?" went the old song.
| The same sentiment may be applied TO
| hooks. with certain notifications. IL
| a book is not exactly suited to the inner
spirit of a reader-any reader-Why
| should that particular reader read 1t?
| Recently we purchased With some
| aplomb q large and finely got-up VOL
ume by an eminent English thinker ana
| wit We negotiated 40 pages OF 1t and
| there left It fiat, with some 800 or 400
| pages vet to go, we forget which.
As far as we we're concerned, we mad
wasted our money. The book did not
| appeal to us and at the present writing
we do not think it ever will. Oh course
we may be mistaken Probably we are.
Perhaps the day will arrive when we
will be glad our shelves haroor that
large book. But we would have done
better. we are convinced, If we had lis
tened to our own taste and not some
body else'S.
The needs of the individual case are
paramount in book buying and he who
will not heed them must remain the
vane that answers to every wind but
his own.
As the inner life Of the mind and
spirit is private, unknown except in bits
even by one who sits across the table,
so the choice Of reading must be 1ndl-
vidual. private, almost secret. There
can be no true selection made on the
base of another's choice. In an al
visory capacity such help may have
it's place but that is its limit. When 1t
has advised, 1t has fulfilled its only true
mission
No one else can stand III a mans
mind and know what he thinks ana
hopes and longs for. No other person,
no matter how close, can realize what
he needs for mental and spiritual food.
mere, dS III GIdSSSI JidllCSt NAAHhb AS NAAS
mans food is another mans poison.
He who is inoculated against certain
phases Of life may read easily and with
out harm books that another would DC
harmed by. No one else car say
The need Of one person for romance
NAV be better met by Alexandra Dumas
than by all the stories of all the later
day novelists His friends may not
like them at all We have upon our
desk at this writing historical novel
by a foreign author that seemed upon
casual inspection to be a fair imitation
Of the work of the great Frenchman.
Reading shows 1t to be nothing OF the
sort. but only most sordid. cruel ac-
count Of epraVity~-interesttng enough
in its way, but terrible way.
Such books as one needs--these are
the only books. and it makes no differ
ence whether they were published 1000
years ago or yesterday. There was
claptrap printed yesterday, and there
is cIaptrap being put on the market
now: past centuries saw good books and
the year 1928 knows excellent ones.
The point is that the average book
buyer can make a more certain selec-
ton from books which have been pub
lished some years than from the latest
arrivals Booksellers will be as eager
to accommodate him with the former
as with the latter. When you buy
books consult your own conscience, not
that of some one else.