Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-11

The books one intends to read but
never does are among the most inter
esting of all. Every booklover know:
them. He has checked them of time
and time again, biography here, q
work Of fiction there, now some Spe.
cialized book, then a work of sociology
Each time he has done so he has
made q firm resolve to get the book
He finds them listed in advertisements
of all sorts. He runs onto reviews Of
them, and sees them in bookshop win
dows. Each time that a title or ar
authors name appeals to him he says
to himself, IT must get that"
He has a childish faith that he will
Despite the fact that he has beer
drawing circles around the names OF
such books for many years. he has
never given up the idea that he means
business when he does 1t.
The roaring presses, however, keer
so far ahead of his purse that he never
buys one-tenth, or one-twentieth, OF
the books he checks. For this no one
is to blame, least of all himself.
Every booklover is a type of the true
enthusiast. An enthusiast is what the
name implies, enthusiastic, but a true
enthusiast is fanatical. The former
may be stimulated by a desire to 'keer
up with the new books" or to keep UP
with Jones, who read all the new
books"
Such book enthusiasts are necessary
and no one would sheer at them. They
make the publishing business what II
is, because there are so many of them.
The true enthusiast, however, is man
or woman who would read whether any
one else read or not. He would read
books If no one knew he read them
He is, in books, what the true moral
list is in the field of ethics. The truly
ethical person does a thing because II
is right, not because it may be adj
vantageous to him. He Will not dc
something, not because it may rebound
against him, but because he knows II
to be wrong, according to such stand
ards of right and wrong as he possesses
X X X
The book enthusiast is a Secretive
individual, in so far as his hobby is
concerned, except with the right people.
Put him in the company of another
real booklover, and he will open up his
heart and mind, but with the generality
of men he is a clam.
He does not talk books much, you
might think he never read at all. He
long ago got beyond the point where he
thought 1t incumbent upon him to pre-
old and new book upon the market.
If any one asks his opinion as to "the
best short history of America" he Is as
apt as not to say that he does not
know. If pressed, he may offer a few
names, Beard, Morrison, Schlesinger,
Hart, Schouler, Elson. Then, again, he
may not.
He knows better than most that the
best books" are not to be Jumped off
so easily. Best for what? Best for
whom? Best under what conditions,
and for which readers? He has looked
over the gigantic catalogues in the book
stores, has conned the pages of Miss
Graham's 1.-THE Booklover's Manual, !"
and realizes how few of the essential
books he or any other one person has
read
The modesty of the true booklover is
often mistaken for ignorance, but he
has got beyond that fear, too. He
knows that 1t makes no difference
whether he impresses any one with his
knowledge. A book, with him, Is the
essential thing, not his opinion as to
the book, nor some one else's opinion
of his opinion of the book.
\ \
He goes along gayly through the
years, making his check lists of books.
fully intending to purchase them all,
and ending up by buying perhaps one