The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-06-01
HighIights from
the Latest Books

Fewer eyebrows will rise and
less shush-shush will greet Hen
ry Bellamann's new book,
Floods Of Spring" Simon and
Schuster; $3.50, than greeted
his successful Kings Row." but
it is every bit as fine novel.
And if anything, the characters
there are fewer major ones
are cut more clearly.
David Retiring flees the
smugnes sof his early life for
the same vicinity in which
Kings Row took place to
achieve what he thinks will be
real independence. He becomes
a rich farmer but has only one
friend. He loses his family -
two by death - because of his
hard refusal to be human. And
the same stubborn refusal to &C
cept reality almost results in
the loss of his life and soul.
The story rolls on with the
uncomfortable surging and
backlash of the river upon
whose bank David, surely one of
the greatest figures in recent
fiction, plants his farm. Well
knit and we'll written, Floods
Of Spring should be we'll re-
ceiVed.
Rachel Fields last novel,
And Now Tomorrow" Mac
milan: S2.75), may lack the
brilliance Of "All This, and
Heaven, Too" but it is written
with the skill which made her
famous. 1t is the story Of a wom-
an, poorly adjusted to her New
England family, and how she
sought release in love. The fall
ing Of this love, and the pro-
cesses and people who helped
her regain life, complete the
story.
A first novel of unusual dis
tinction is The Company She
Keeps" (Simon and Schuster:
S250), by Mary Mccarthy, less a
novel than a series of portraits
of woman who may not have
known what she wanted. Five
chapters portray her as she sees
herself and is seen by others. The
last floodlights the heroine in her
entirety after an unnecessary di-
vorce, a hobby job and other
loves.
If you have a Tory in your
kitchen, give her or him a copy
of How to Cook a Wolf" (Duell,
Sloan & Pearce; $500, by M. F,
K. Fisher. He or she will boil
and there's chapter on how to
boil water. If there was ever an
unorthodoX cookbook, this is it.
In the first place, anybody who
likes to eat should enjoy read
ing it, for it has more wise wise
cracks than there are kinds OF
hash. Miss Fisher holds that
cooks should balance the day,
not each meal, so let them eat
starches-all they Want-for
breakfast, meat and more meat
for lunch, and a gentle gorge of
salads and dessert at night. She
also tells what and how to eat
in an air raid shelter.
BLIND COURAGE
Here is the autobiography of
a blind man. That isn't so UNI
usual, but this blind man didn't
lose his sense of humor or cour-
age or good sense while losing
his sight. He is Karsten Ohnstad,
and his The World at My Finger
Tips (Bobbs-Merrill; So is as
entertaining and fine book as
you are likely to read this year.
Blind at 10, Ohnstad went to
college where he dated, went to
shows, joined three clubs, amaz-
ed his roommates at his card
playing ability and made good
grades. He couldn't get leave
from his job TO write this book,
but the publishers were so inn
pressed they advanced him
money. They made no mistake.
Unwilling TO add just another
travel book TO that overcrowded
shelf, Rose and Bob Brown take
their readers on a genuinely ex-
citing voyage in Amazing AM
azon' (Modern Age: So. Every
body knows the Amazon is the
worlds greatest river, but the
Browns prove it. You can see
animals, plants and people of
the Amazon in this book which
geography textbook writers
would do we'll to emulate.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Kentuckians will weep no
more, unless they are far from
the bluegrass, when they read
Weep No More My Lady"
(Whittlesey House: $500. and
citizens of other states should
find reason to cheer. The author
Alvin E. NARROW, takes his Ken
lucky straight and ii is plenty
potent.