Evening star., 1936-09-05
FINDS POLITICAL HONOR RARE
Author Has Few Kind Words for Those Who Opposed Reforms
Sought by Great Democrat-Dubose Heyward Novel
Notably LIGHT in Theme-Other Recent Books Reviewed.

his confederates when caught and who
became in time . sort Of modern
Robin Hood. It makes good reading
Of itself and throws incidental light
on the settling Of the Southwest.
VILLAGE CHRONICLE. BY James
McConnaughey. New York: Farrar
81 Rinehart
THIS book, . selection Of the
"Discoverers," who, In plain terms,
are q branch of Farrar & Rinehart
devoted to bringing out first novels,
has been well criticized, but, for those
indefinable causes known to reviewers,
has fingered on the present writer's
shelf until the first fine fervor of
its reception has died down. 1t seems,
in brief. welI-named, well-written and
unlikely to be remembered very long.
It Is q village chronicle. as its title
says; it tells of the trials and COM
pensations of small-town existence in
the human" rather than the "realist"
vein. Does that not say enough? Its
writer has a smooth, unnotable style
and seems q bright young man who
will frequently be bringing out books
on popular literary themes.
BURNING CITY. BY Stephen Vim
cent Benet. New York: Farrar &
Rinehart.
THIS is book Of best-selling poems,
now some time of the press. It
is above the level of much accepted
verse, below the level of fine poetry
and quite readable. All the work is
new, having been written since the
publication of John Browns Body"
the publisher informs us.
PASCHA THE PERSIAN. BY Mar
garet Linden. With Illustrations
by Milt Gross. New York: Claude
Kendall.
THIS is the tale of an aristocratic
Persian cat who fell in with a
hobo feline from Second avenue, and
came upon many strange adventures
thereby. While the humor Is not
utterly unpredictable, the work is
amusing, and MiIt Gross pictures are
pleasantly absurd. Cat lovers of
course will like it, but it Is intended
for a wider public.
STRONG POISON AND HAVE HIS
CARCASS. By Dorothy L. Sayers.
New York: Harcourt, Brace g. Co.
A DOUBLE dose of sudden death,
published in this country to ap-
pease the appetites Of those who read
this authors best-selling "Gaudy
Night" The same detective novel;
writing female, ably abetted by the
same dilletante detective lordling, ca
vorts through the pages and, with the
aid of super-educated "gentleman's
gentleman" and a whole harem full
of decayed gentlewomen, they solve
a couple of mysteries that are not so
very mysterious after all.
On the whole, these stories are not
bad reading for those who like that
sort of thing. They will help pass the
evening and won't produce either
brainstorms or Nightmares.
GOD IS MY ADVENTURE. BY Rom
Landau. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, Inc.
THIS work is subtitled, "A book on
modern mystics, masters and
teachers" and its author further ex-
plains In his preface that it is a con-
fession Of adventure and the story of
his friendships with the men whom
future generations may call the
prophets of our time" The reader
naturally interested, then learns that
these men are Count Keyserling,
Stefan George, Rudolf Steiner, Krish-
namurti Shri Meher Baba, George
Jeffreys, Frank Buchanan, p. D.
Ouspensky and Gurdjieff.
Proceeding further the reader Is
likely to decide that the book has been
badly named. For, while it is
ostensibly an account of the philoso-
phies of each Of these men, it contains
more than mere exposition Of faiths.
1t is pretty fair resume of the spirit
ual world as it is today, outside the
limits of he established religions. Mr..
Landau has gone into those branches
of spirituality where he feels that there
is living progress, even when he mis-
trusts that progress. 1t is in this
sense that he takes his title-his "ad-
venture" has been to search out the
makers of new avenues to God, of
whatever quality.