Christmas Browsing

HAVE you ever had that disposing before Christmas, teaching You know the one I inform what shall I buy my room mate. Or what shall I buy the boy friend (or girl-friend)? That blank moment when you would just as soon jump into the next river as look at another gift shop. Along with a few of our editorial aides, we have taken all of the grief out of this year's Christmas buying with a finely chosen (we were going to say something about a fine-toothed comb, but who ever heard of combing a book?) list of comes from which you may select one for your best professor on your worst class mate. So here goes:

If you go for Omar Khyyam and choice Chinese and Indian poems we cannot recommend too highly. The Oriential Caravan by Sinder Ikbal Ali Shah (Claude Kendall, $2.75). A distinct treasure house of fine litetature, this is a highly appropriate gift selection. If you wish to continue your line of reading straight down to the turbulence of man and sea, we suggest Mother Sea, beautifully written by Felix Riensenberg (Claude Kendall,$2.50), whose characters move with the restlessness of the waters.

Somewhere we have read of the number of books that make the depression less trying, but Elmer K. Ferris has added one that should not be counted in with the regular run of them. Who Says Old! (Sears) has a cheeriness, a salutary tang that is particularly appropriate to the time of Yale logs and winter evens. If you wish to have a little excitement to touch off your evening's reading of the heavier volumes, a few hours will be entertainingly spent with Congo Jake in the winds of Africa. A. C. Collondon (Clande Kendall, $2.75) takes you through some tight squeezes that will make you wish the fire would stop throwing shadows on the wall.

AN OLD newspaper slogan tells us that "names make news," and Ruth Stewart has capitalized on this in her latest, Capital City (Sears, $2.00). To most of us the life of a reporter is particularly fascinating, and when we meet the "big shots" of the world in the pages of this book, it becomes doubly so. Yes, we suggest this for an after study reading home.

In case you didn't know it, there is a line between the good and the had in the city of perpetual Worlds Fairs, and Arthur D. Welton tells you all about it in The Line Between (Sears, $2.00), a gentle little tale of the men and women that one meets in this center of the wild and wooly west. And of course, dual personalities are always interesting. A far cry from the hustle and bustle of Michigan Avenue is a little town in merry England where Duchess Laura lives in her own quaint fashion. As conceived by Mrs. Bellor Loundes, Dutchess Laura -- Further Days of Iter Life (Longmans, Green, $2.00) is a real study of the nobler class.

We knew it! One just can't evade it. We mean all of the hullabaloo that has been raised during the past year or so. And Ursula Parrott has brought it all to us in The Tumult and the Shouting (Longmans, Green, $2.00), along with the revelation that it all started way back in 1877 in a famous Boston family history. There Ought to be a Law against such things, you may feel, but William Seagle thinks that there ought to be a law against useless laws, and he tells you why in his new book (Macaulay, $1.25), a compilation of ridiculous legislation, fascinatingly illustrated by William Gropper.

GETTING down to the more serious things in life (one must to that in a column once in a while, you know), there are four tomes that you should consider when buying something for father, or a favorite professor, and we might include also, just any ordinary man. We are talking about The Edwardian Era, by Andre Maurois (Appleton-Century, $3.00): Charles the First, by Hillaire Belloc (J. B. Lippincott, $4.00): Mary Queen of Scots, by Eric Linklater (Appleton-Century, $1.50); and An American Colossus, by Ralph Edward Bailey (Lathrop, Lee & Shepard, $3.00). In these four presentations we find a bit of history in the making told through the lives of four of the greats. Mr. Maurois is particularly witty in his new biography, one of the best that he has turned out to date. Mr. Belloc has successfully evaded dullness and boredom in his tale of King Charles, and the reader will find him inspiring and enjoyable throughout. Mr. Linklater presents Queen Mary in all of her glory, with all of the activities carefully recorded. It's minus hooey, and is straight from the shoulder. Accurate historical facts and sound reasoning evolve into a work that is truly great in Mr. Bailey's presentation of the life of Alexander Hamilton. This is particularly timely in this period of increased interest in government.

You're right -- absolutely right. We cannot go through a season without at least one anonymous volume on the life of some anonymous writer. This time it's an anonymous, autobiography, Rough Hewn (Appleton-Century, $2.50), and we suggest that you follow its tragic, humorous, and exciting events carefully. As Rough Hewn is the autobiography of one in our midst. Winner Take Nothing is a series of sketchy biographies, all rolled up into one gloriously gory volume by that master, Ernest Hemingway (Scribners, $2.00). A collection of sharp, straightforward stories, it holds a sinister fascination that tells us to urge you to go right down to the corner bookstore and grab up this new collection of short stories.

JACOB WASSERMAN again demonstrates his ability as a story-teller in his latest volume of Jewish Lore. The Dark Pilgrimage (Liveright, $2.50). His account of the re-incarnation of a 17th century prophet who had betrayed his people is one that will prove fascinating, as well as instructive. Four stars for this, and it's a grand gift selection.

Hollywood. Tia Juana, Agua Caliente, Malibu, Colon. What glorious pictures these words conjure up in the minds of the moviegoer and the newspaper reader. Can't you just picture the exciting days and nights spent in these colorful cities. And, by the way, if you're planning to go travelling, and wish to visit these lands of your dreams, don't fail, absolutely, to read Incredible Land by that picturesque writer, Basil Woon (Liveright, $2.50). As a guide book it is excellent, but it is no less a very readable volume for an evening at home on the magic carpet.

Incidentally, we've forgotten that you may have a younger member of the family to remember this season, and we have found just the thing for him (or her) in the line of books in Pepper by Hugh King Harris (Lathrop). Lee & Shepard, $1.50). This canine counterpart of Black Beauty is the "autobiography" of a lively little terrier who will soon capture you with his drollness and lively antics. Speaking of the animal world, Marguerite Steen has a new biography, Spider (Little, Brown, $2.50), is the story of the life of Richard Adams, the composer, told in the fascinating manner of the author of Stallion.

In the vein of mystery and creeping things, granted that you have a liking for a dash of the thrilling with a preference for locality, try Brand's "Death in a Forest" (Kendall, $2.00), which takes you into Central America, or T. Lund's "Robbery at Portage Bend" (Kendall, $2.00) a story of the icebound North and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police. If your taste is less primeval "The Murder of a Banker" (Knopf. $2.00) by J. S. Fletcher should prove diverting.