New Britain herald., 1929-05-14
FEARS BOOK CLUBS
 EFFECTS ON PASTEL
\. l. I. Professor Says They Will Stlndlrdile Literary
 Likes aud DisikE
CONCENTRATE ATTENTION
Many Good Books Are Being
 Neglected, Speaker Says

Boston, May IT (UP)-Standard- ixation of the nations literary tastes through book clubs which mail sc- lected book monthly to each of their subscribers. was deplored by Robert E. Rogers, professor of literature at Massachusetts Institute of Technolo- gy, in a radio address here today.
 His speech. made in connection with the American Booksellers aaso- citation convention. dealt indirectly with the present book club war which has excited widespread dis cussion in literary circles.
 Increasingly the attention of the reading public is being focused on two dozens books year." he declar. ed. and the remaining thousands by an inevitable process are piacti- cally excluded.
 Tt would be idle. of course. to attempt to say that the book clubs have done no good. They have got many people hitherto non-readers into the habit of reading. They have served many and many people who would like to know books but who are afraid to show their ignorance in . book store; people who only need . start at serious reading: the in- tcltigent but not cultivated reader. emphasize the word."
 Since this was the case, Professor Rogers said, Tt is all the more pity that the book club selections do not always conform better to the needs and wishes of this great body"
 Professor Rogers described the book club system as false selectiv- ity."
 These are not the best books" he asserted. "The chairman of one board admits that they do not pre- tend to be the best. They are, in many cases, not even an approXima- ton to what the average intelligent reader wants.
 But the thing will grow. The American public is so used to stand- ardization that there is no end to the possibilities. Already we have our detective stories chosen for us. We are threatened with having . children's book club with books se- lected by experts in children's read ing. Can you, as parents. think of anything more ghastly? So the chill dren are to fall into the lock-step the younger the better.
 Do you know there is even car-of-the-month advertised? Why not the suit-of-the-m month? Why not the hooch- of the month? At that 1t couldn't be worse than some of the stun mailed to us between covers. Some day we shall reach the logical goal of the whole business, the non- literary guild for the worst book of the month-and then perhaps the American people will wake up."
 Resolutions Condemn Resolutions condemning the ''best- book -of-the-m idea will be con- aidered at Thursdays session of the American Booksellers association. now in convention here.
 The resolutions. introduced yes terday by Frank l.. Magei. chairm"n Of the associations board of trade. state that there is no best book of the month";" that six or seven professional writers constituting the selection committee are incapable Of covering the whole field: that the judgment of such 8 committee is ex- pected to produce a commercial re- suit: and that books distributed un- der this plan receive fictitious adver- tising detrimental to other books of equal or greater merit.
 It was further pointed out that the book club weans people away from the practice of reading book reviews and browsing" in book shops.
 Arthur Brentano. Jr., president of the association. devoted much Of his address to the growing encroach- ments of the book clubs.
 BrentanO's Views
 ''It is no secret" Brentano said.