Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-15

costing some happy book with . com.
mon sense treatment CT sex In IL, IL
the reader has prudish tendencies, and
leans over backward in this respect.
such . book might do him good,
but u this is your idea, refrain from
mentioning this element In IL, bat de-
ltberately point out some other quality,
his guard. Thus he--or she-nay End
the book quite Is delightful for its
main honesty IS you did.
#A
/ The next step for the honest recon-
mender-and we tifferentiate him froln
the mere GLIB recommended. q role easy
enough-is to 60 over the lists OF
recent publicat ions, in an effort to ny
ure out which of these books the
would be-reader might like. =
| This much Is speculation, pure and
simple, but so much of all life and
living Is speculation that there car,
Be little harm in this method Of APP
proach.
Il 10 not ut all necessary that he
who would recommend shall have read
the book he recommends for another
II he honestly works out, to the best
OF his ability, the character and tastes
Of the other, and knows something Of
his mood OF the moment, he may do
surprising things in the way Of recon-
mendations Of books he has never read.
That. after all, Is why he N book.
lover.
|, 1t is the same with plays. or any
other art work. Knowing something
of your friend. you do not have 10
have seen The Green Pastures" your
self to believe that he would Ike 1t.
You know he would like IL! And you
recommend IL to him on that basis.
II he is Of q suspicious, though rev.
erent, nature, you may Justly lie to him
by telling him that, on, yes, you have
seen the show. OF course.
Il II r
Here we come to q most interesting
point Of everyday psychology or maybe
Just plain tact. Do not be in too
great q hurry to admit to any one that
you have not read . book, especially
when recommending IL TO him, for him.
self or another.
The booklover will have managed
to wWk up quite n sense of likes and
dislikes in his years of browsing around
through books. He may know as much
about many books which he has not
read as of some Of the books he has
read many times. This Is strange but
true.
THE real booklover has O second
sight. almost. when 1t comes to Sc
| lecting good books for himself to read,
and there Is no good reason why he
cannot do the same for others.
The place where he stands O ltkel-
hood to fail Is simply this-that he may
vitiAte his recommendation by admit
ting, all unnecessarily. that he has not
read the thing himself.
IF he has not read 1t himself, how
can he recommend It TO me?" This
will be the spoken or unspoken COM
ment OF the other reader, who may
regard himself as injured and adopt
an attitude Of hostility toward the Of
tending book.
Thus the wary reader who Is lured
into making book recommendations fol
others. especially for birthdays and the
like. phrases his approvals In strong
but not too strong. language.
Here also turks . danger. Never
threaten o reader with q book. Do moi
RECOMMEND q volume so frantically that
you give him no chance for o personal
opinion.
II you do, you are. in effect. saying
This Is . great book. II you do not
like 1t, something n the matter with
you"
Any reader with red blood in his
veins would take up the challenge
would he not? He would. nine chances
out Of ten. by disag.eeing with you
What you aim to do in recommending
book is TO please, entertain, and
maybe help . reader. Therefore, with
all your recommending, use tact.