Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-28

Summer gives the average man an
opportunity to catch up In his reading
Now, If ever. is the time to get the Jump
on that increasing list of books which
he has been promising himself to read
ever since he quit school.
Have you grown out of the taste for
reading, while closely hugging to your
self the pleasant delusion that you are
something Of bookman?
Books. like everything else In life,
must be used to be appreciated. LII IS
one thing to believe that one is fond OF
reading and quite another actually to
read
AS a man is known by his works, so
the booklover is known by his books.
The years. however, do certain things
to all of us. They have a way OF bring
ing new interests, new faces, new OPP
portunities and new duties.
Between these various other urges the
love for books often gets crushed to the
wall SO fatty that 1t is with some diff
Guilty that it resumes its old-time shape
and vigor.
Every person who ever liked to read
however, may regain his former pleas
ure in this activity Il he will diligently
apply himself for a time. Reading
grows by what it feeds on. The latitude
of bookdom is so large that there is
something for every taste. every vagary
And there is no better time, we are
convinced, TO renew acquaintance with
reading than during the Summer
months Often 1t is too hot even to
go to the movies. The car may be In
the repair shop or something. The
radio program of the moment may
sound fiat and Improbable.
On such night there is surely noth-
ing quite so good to do as to take out
some book one has been going u
read for years, or perhaps only
months, or maybe for SO little as q
week. .
Life has way of taking the book
lover by surprise # he lies down on the
pleasant jon before him. This JOB, OF
course. is nothing more nor less than
reading everything that strikes ones
fancy, or everything that ever has
struck ones fancy.
Let us admit the impossibility of the
task at the outset. The bookreader has
a list of volumes that would fill library
carefully put into the card index OF his
mind for future reading.
He will never get around to them all,
Let us admit that much. The Thing is
beyond him. The passage of time VIII
have rendered many of them uhneceS-
sary. Recall that fine volume which
one so whole -heartedly desired five
years ago,
Every one was reading it then. IT
held public attention Those who had
not read 1t were the subject of sneer.ng
looks But at the time its reading for
one reason or another was impossible,
Now one sees that, after all. he missed
nothing The book is distinct back
number, its place on the shelves has
been filled. and IL is found today only
on secondhand booksellers stalls, COW
cred with dust and with A large sign
above 1t;
IAN Books on This Table so Cents -
Ruthless time has removed this par
ticular book from the list of personally
required reading; but there are scores of
good ones left which are just as neces-
sarv as ever
Take those classics" which every
one really ought to have read Every
one admits it, The list Is definite, in
escapable. It's authenticity reposes not
on the Judgment OF any one man, of
times past or present, but upon the
consensus Of the reading public. The
final Judge is, above all, the hard
headed publisher, who keeps on issuing
the true classics. year after year. to
meet the perennial demand of mankind.
Let no one be chagrined or hurt over
the impossibility of reading all of the
generally accepted books. There is no
reason why he should Let every reader
pick out from the list only such works
as especially appeal to him, II one is