Judge — February 1936 — page 3: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Judging the Books ‘L STRIBLING has forsaken the ennessee white trash in a big His newest is called “The Sound agon” and between you and me and the reviewer for the Sunday Times it is a great big disappointment. The author has turned from his usual historical and penetrating st completely cynical and “he and gone Nine hun: er.” The book is a conglomeration of loud ballyhoo drawn from the newspaper morgues of the past ten years sounding Gangsters, political bosses and snide lawyers parade through its pages in ex rated profusion, In “The Store’ id “The Forge” Mr. Stribling was a master of gentle. ironic penetrating prose. In “The Sound on” he sounds like Sinclair Lewis tossing off a quick one for the of any popular nickel weekly VERY pretty Josephine ence has just ten her second smash hit in a which, my chi pusand in any league. “If I Have Four Apples” is the name of the book. Last year Miss Lawrence 1 interesting y about the ed, “Years Are es authoress rd boiled but ter- s before ical mid The kind ¢ y where, if Papa gets canned Sat- ht, there is nothing between him and the breadline but a week's pay check The family spend their energies in trying to hang on to a boom time house they have acquired. By aid of chiselling, prize contests, Governmental promises, and the inevitable instalment payments, they succeed in doing so for three- fourths of the book. Finally the house is lost and sons and daughters lose their desperate grip on the fringes of white collar society. It is in the end of the book Miss Lawrence disappoints a little. Her characters seem too much like clinical studies. After all there must have been some love, some family pride and mutual admiration and enjoyment, in the unhappy household As we see it only a coldness and lack of sympathy with human emotions keeps Miss Lawrence from becoming our fore- most portrayer of the American scene. “M and Brethren” by James Gould Couzzens is not the kind of book you want to send Aunt Jessie next Christmas. Mr. Couzzens can write like a sainted fool but Mr. C. also likes to get very dirty. His themes are strong and he seems to think that one-third good writing and two-thirds sex go to make up a literary triumph American family. “Men and Brethren” is about an s+ copal minister who kids himself he is God. He gets all tangled up with off- colored gentlemen, ladies of easy virtue hysterical young priests and seems to derive a great satisfaction playing a sort of ecclesiastical Uncle Don to them « Some of the chapters are spell bindi 1 we hope Mr. Couzzens’ next book Il have less rough stuff and more good straight story telling. ie “Edmund Campion,” the story of a brilliant young Jesuit priest in Elizabethan times, Mr. Waugh gives ist moving historical tale. Unjustly convicted and sent to the Tower to be racked and killed at the command of the Queen he loved, Cam pion died the death of a religious martyr One reign earlier and Bloody Mary would have doubtless raised him to hh power, The book is exceedingly well writter and Mr. Waugh displays the versat of a good craftsman and the enthusi asm of a storyteller in love with | subject. O go from the sublime to the trashy let us consider “T Moon's Or Home” by the stenographer’s pal, Faith Baldwin. The of it is that this book 1 sell twenty times as many copies a ‘Edmund Campion.” Miss I office wife dwin gives us a rest from her yrmula this time and so we have a Hollywood yarn about a star who loves a Richard Halliburton sort of ex plorer chap. Two strong wills clash bu everything comes out all right in the fade-out, “ HE Corpse in the Crimson Slip- pers” by R. A, J. Walling is an- other Mr, Tolefree story with an juicy Dartmoor murder “The Cat and the Clock” by Charles . Booth is a fast moving tale of poli- tics and murder in Hollywood. An in- genious, well written story for mystery story read-in-beds, Mystery of the Smoking Gun" by Carroll John Daly. Quite the best thril- ler in a long time. A story of the ho of a master racketeer upon a great city and how a detective breaks it up. too far-fetched in the light of recent newspaper exposures about artichokes and things, “The String Glove Mystery” by Har- riette R. Campbell is a first-rate psy- chological mystery yarn laid in an lish countryside. A murder is committed on the hur field and everybody is suspected even the horse and the fox. Swell bafflement and much suspense. Recommended for week- end reading. SLIPPED ON ICE and Sprained Ankle But Absorbine Jr. Promptly Applied Saved Salesman’s Job WO days after he had found his first job in more than a year, J. W..* father of a little family, slipped on the icy street and gave his ankle a severe wrench, besides bruising his arm Driven home in great pain, he concluded he'd be laid up for some time and have to start job hunting all over again. But prompt and frequent massage with good old Absorbine Jr. uickly eased the pain and re duced the swelling. He was back at work, feeling fairly comfort- able in a couple of days. Get a bottle of Absorbine Jr. today and keep it handy for these emergencies. There’s nothing like it for sore muscles, aches, sprains, cuts and bruises. Also great for killing the fungi that cause Athlete’s Foot. Very economical, too—a little goes so far. All druggists’, $1.25 a bottle. For free sample, write W. F. Young, Inc., Springfield, Mass. *Based on actual letter from our files 'ABSORBINE JR. Relieves sore muscles, bruises, muscular aches, sprains, Athlete's Foot ‘comicbooks.com -_s