Books: Fun and Forget

JAVA-JAVA—Byron Steel—Knopf ($2.50).

"The bronze horses on St. Mark's, however, winked knowingly among themselves, and the winged lion on the column smiled a sophisticated Venetian smile." For Eric, magnificent blond, had just glided his plane on to the Grand Canal, and turned amorous attention to his passenger. $37,500 was the fare she had paid him to transport her, Catherine, decadent American college girl, from the Eiffel Tower to Java, and Philip, her (chief) lover. Meanwhile Eric served very nicely as more than pilot. It became necessary to draw the curtains of the airship, but the Italian populace continued to applaud hilariously,...