Evening star., 1933-07-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

It Is impossible for any one reader
to keep up with everything put upon the
market, especially nowadays, when ALI
time records for quantity in publication
are being broken.
There are so many new books put
out, even during depression years. that
one wonders who reads them, or how
they possibly could read them. The
only answer is that here Is a reader
and there a reader, every one reading
what appeals to him; there are so many
more readers, nowadays, that each book
receives its quota.
We think of readers in terms of books,
but also we must think Of books in
terms Of readers. No doubt when
Elsie Venner" first was published hun
dreds of persons who meant to read
it, failed in the end to do so, for one
reason or another.
hen. as the years rolled by, 1t be-
c ne an old book. For certain per-
ntage of readers this automatically
relegated it to the dust bin, as the Eng
lish say. They wanted new ones. and
new ones only. This variety Of reader
is always with us. Certainly he has the
satis-oc Ion Of novelty large one, and
lack of uncertainty, also no mean
satisfaction. He takes 'em as they
come, ana LIlc UtNll Ldhc I1lC
x X * X
Especially as to the novel-how can
one know which to read, and which to
leave alone?
Certainly there will be a great deal
Of fortune In it.
No reader can ever be sure that he
has not missed the very things he would
like the most. DR.. Weir Mitchell's
Hugh Wynne" is a trifle oldfashioned,
but a delightful work. written long ago
| but in the full-bodied fashion of quite
the latest, Hervey Aliens Anthony
Adverse"
Discreet inquiries among ones reed-
ing friends probably will reveal that too
few of them have read Hugh Wynne.' y
Most of them. in the proper MOOD. as
they say, would enjoy it vastly. They
could not help it, because it is well writ
ten, dramatic, exciting. satisfying.
Yet they have never read 1t, and
| probably never will. 1t is just one OF
the many good things they will miss
Many a reader has never read Lorna
Doone," now better known as the name
of a small cake than Of book.
The number Of things each one OF us
has not read is legion, but are We to re-
pine? Not at all. Such missing Is in
| evitable. It Is part Of the reading
life. One person can no more read them
all than fly to the moon, although many
readers like to pretend that they have
Such pretension fools no one. however,
as 1t hurts no one. There are certain
pretenders, surely, to whom it is sort
of foolishness to admit that one has
not read anything. Let him name any
book hatsoever. you answer that you
have read it. because the chances arc
| that he has never read 1t himself, or II
he has. that he merely wishes to get
something ON YOU He is like the pet
bore of the man who sells tropical
fishes. the customer who. seeing one
dead fish in a tank of fifty. talks about
nothing else. Let this reading bore
discover that you have not read some
thing or other. triumphantly he recounts
its virtues, as If no other work in the
world had half as many.
Some time this Summer, when the
new books grow stale. and the heat IS
oppressive. take down Holmes Elsie, "
and read about the first ice cream party
held in America. and how the old elder
thought 1t was hot, 1t was so cold, and
how he clapped his hand to his mouth.
and declared that he was scalded. There
are many interesting. amusing. dramatic
episodes. And. above all. Holmes was
a real writer Time proved that. long
time ago, but any reader can prove it to
himself any time, by picking up "-.lsie
Venner."