Books: Nosegay

THE EYE OF GOD (312 pp.)—Ludwig Bemelmans—Viking ($3).

"Sugarwater," says a "Toulouse-Lautrec lady" to a "demure garden statue" in the latest book by Ludwig Bemelmans, "let Champagne show you how it's done."

Since 1937, when Bemelmans uncorked his private stock of anecdote in My War with the United States, he has been showing his sugarwater imitators how it's done. Yet none have been able to match his polite gurgle, his discreet fizz; and none have provided so charming a label as his sketches, or been so deft at dabbing up little literary excesses before they make a mark.

This time Bemelmans pops the cork...

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