... Brazilian Misadventure 'Polar Triumph By Arnold Pal mer A FEW years ago half a dozen young men went exploring in Brazil. The ostensible object of their trip was the discovery of the fate of Lt.-Col. P. H. Fawcett, D.S.O., of whom nothing had been heard since his disappear ance in those regions in 1925. Thanks to their possession of an ostensible object, the young men were blessed by the Royal ...

... Left Turn by John Raton (Seeker and Warburg, 12s. 6d.) THE second volume of the autobiography of Mr. Paton covers the years when he was national organiser of the I.L.P. and editor of The New Leader the years of the General Strike, of Labour Government, of united front. Although inclined to self-complacency, Mr. Paton is a shrewd critic of men and events, and his portraits of fellow ...

... by William Saroyan (Faber Faber, 7s. 6d.) AS far as short stories can succeed in England, Mr. Saroyan's previous volume, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, came in for a good deal of praise. His new collection emphasises his quality but causes some doubts about his future. He is not immune from a weakness common among Ameri can writers, and one against which Willa Cather has protested ...

... The racing public consists largely of those who have never owned, trained or ridden a race-horse. Riff and Raff (A. M. Harbord and Fitz) have here on show a hideous warning to followers of form. They have the inside dope and the barber's whispered cert they know why The Boys keep their razors sharp and they give two pages of pictures on hypodermics and the effects thereof. They have insight ...

... : by Owen P. White (Putnam, 8s. 6d.) ENERGETIC tales, loaded with dialect, of the wild life on the Mexican border, forty years ago a life which seems to have been designed specially to meet the requirements of our contemporary film-makers. A picturesque volume which hardly merits the extra shilling asked for it. WILLIAM SAROYAN ...

... edited by Leonard Russell (Hutchinson, 8s. 6d.) FOURTEEN popular novelists paro died by fourteen of their contempo raries. The productions are, of course, uneven, but Miss Rebecca West's imita tion of Mr. Ch*rl*s M*rg*ri is brilliantly amusing, and well worth the price of the volume. There are good points, too, in Mr. Cyril Connolly's caricature of Mr. H*xl*y. Mr. Pavey's witty copy of Mr. ...

... James Agate's Kingdoms for Horses A Very Human Dog-book And Some Inside Dope on Horse Racing Reviewed by ENID MABY HOW good under the sun are the careless gifts of God! writes Mr. Agate on Epsom Downs on Derby Day. First nights and dyspepsia, even the divine Sarah and the ability to twist any playwright's English into much better French, have been left behind in an empty house, and here ...

... This is a very human book in spite of its title, because the author, Elizabeth, with tantalising tit-bits, shows us a flash-past of her own life as well, and the dogs, it must be confessed, at times he second. This string of remembered names stretches from a forbidden puppy as a child her parents overlooked dogs to two snatchable terriers whose picture finishes the book. Some are short ...

... by R. H. Mottram (Hale, i2s. 6d.) ]V /t R. MOTTRAM has taken a prominent citizen of Norwich, whose life over- ^V 1 lapped at both ends the reign of Queen Victoria, and tried to show, from his career and character, the essential features of life in nineteenth-century England. So quiet a book may scarcely make itself heard, but it is worth listening to. ...

... translated by Lawrence Wolfe. With an Intro duction by Alexander Korda (Nicholson Watson, 7s. 6d.) THIRTY tales by different Hun garian writers, well translated and sensibly accompanied by brief bio graphical notices. Coming from a not very large nation, the collection is impressive. The level is high, and many of the stories have a peculiar flavour which is rare in this standardised and ...

... Mrs. Siddons t by Yvonne ffrench (Cobden Sanderson, ios. 6d.) Marie Tempest by Hector Bolitho (Cobden Sanderson, 18s.) THESE two biographies are well produced. Miss firench's study is full of meat, and must be considered a most satisfactory piece of work, not only as a history of the actress but also as a chapter in the history of the theatre. Mr. Bolitho, writing of an actress still ...

... by Sir Harry Preston (Hutchinson, 12s. 6d.) THE host of the Royal Albion Hotel at Brighton never kept a diary and when, towards the end of his life, he began to dictate his recollections of a few of the thousand celebrities he had met and entertained, he had only his memory to rely on. For tunately, it was an admirable one. He forgot nothing, save the faults of his friends and his book is a ...