Books: New Books: Aug. 27, 1923

The following estimates of books much in the public eye were made after careful consideration of the trend of critical opinion: THE MAN WHO ATE THE POPOMACK—W. J. Turner—Brentanos ($1.50). The popomack is a fruit— the rarest and most delicious fruit known to mankind. It had only one drawback—its unpardonable smell— and the fact that that smell transferred itself to anyone who ate the fruit. Lord Revoir ate of the popomack. What happened to him then is the theme of this extraordinary allegorical play by a young British poet. Two of the scenes exist only in the minds of some of the dramatis personae. A brilliant, interesting, witty experiment. THE DESERT HEALER—E. M. Hull —Small Maynard ($2.00). Sir Gervas Carew was a misogynist. His wife had run off with another, so he straightway went to the Sahara and became a sheik—El Hakim—or (in English) M. D. His path crossed that of Marny, Lady Geraldine. Her husband was a perfect brute, but she was loyal. Ensued sandstorms, struggles with Arab assassins, lots of noble self-sacrifice, wads of local color. "And with a little cry. . . . she lifted her lips to his." Swift exciting rubbish by the author of The Sheik—a perfect specimen of what used to be called a hammock book. HOMELAND—Margaret Hill McCarter—Harper ($2.00). Jack Lorton, before he went to France, thought Leslie Jannison was going to be his own little Dream-Girl—yes, that was the way he talked. But when he came back he found her practical, efficient, modern, unsympathetic. Enter a beautiful blonde home-wrecker, Mrs. Sidol, about to be divorced and wanting Jack's legal advice, accompanied by several involved plots. When the plots are all disentangled the band strikes up The Star Spangled Banner and everybody agrees that America is God's Only-Country. Sweet vanilla ice-cream for the unsophisticated! THE ALASKAN—James Oliver Curwood—Cosmopolitan ($2.00). Men are Men in Alaska and Women are Women. And when a Man meets A Woman, up in those Big Open Spaces where the Eskimo dogs chase the mackinaws around and around the aurora borealis, something Big and Virile and Gripping is bound to happen. It does. Scads of it. It wouldn't be He-Man-like to tell you just what. But if you like Mr. Curwood's particular brand of Red-Blood-and-Romance, The Alaskan will suit you exactly.