HERMAN WOW JAMES JONES NICHOLAS MONSAMAT JOHN P. MARQUAND His novel oi Navy life m World War "The Hit more/ of "From Here II, Army life, to Eternity In “The Cruel Sea” ha tells a tale o4 bleak Presents a Me-time portrait of a Regular Army Caine Mutiny," tells am and unfar dramatises m brutal and bitter detail terror m board a small exciting language British convoy ship. Con- general from childhood to Pentagon age. in his gettable tale of a U. S. crew's re- and custom minesweeper discipline before Pearl Harbor. It sidered to be one ol the rear's finest stories of nor el, "Melrille Goodwin, U. S. A" Held by volt against a sadistic H is now im first was No. 1 seller captain. best in Washington lor twenty- action at sea, it ranks among the lire bast-setting many to be the author's linest book, it is in the on the best-seller list. place three weehs. top brocket of fiction sales. of literary panorama 1951. books. These books and others to be men- spreading a colorful tapestry of tioned are first-rate literary performances, THEbright covers, alluring titles and which also were bought avidly by the read- of and names great unknown authors, is ing public. Does this mean the public cluttered with the blurred figures of con- Books of the taste is improving, reaching out for better flicting tendencies. And this Year yet perspective books? Perhaps. At least there was less of endless words, looked over as a whole, trash, more merit among the top sellers a This presents certain pattern. has been By Carter Brooke Jones than in any recent year. It must mean a year of good novels. something. Book Critic The Non-flction. which dominated the pub- of Star. lishing picture last year, fell behind in im- Here’s Our Choice of the Year’s portance. though there are always a few Five Favorite Novels books in any category which will tend to But it is time to offer evidence in refute any general conclusion you venture support to make. of the contention that this was a year of novels. It has been the custom At the close of 1950 it was hard to pick good to recommend as out a few novels of top merit. This year the five “best.” That is particu- situation is reversed. So many excellent larly difficult this year. But at least I can novels have appeared that it is difficult to offer five favorites among those I read— name five—or 10. for Chat matter—and say and remember, it is impossible for a re- these were, in one person's opinion, the viewer to read all the books, despite tall best. To sum up the outstanding non-fic- claims by certain professional readers. If tion is somewhat easier. While there were you like novels, I don’t think you can go some penetrating books on current prob- wrong in procuring any or all of these. No lems, foreign and domestic affairs, perhaps attempt has been made to arrange them in the outstanding non-fiction ran to biogra- order of merit; they are listed by title phy and autobiography. alphabetically. Personal preference: Whether the of businesses publishing “From Here to Eternity,” by James Jones and bookselling are flourishing or drooping (Scribner’s). is not a question to be answered cross- by “Lie Down in Darkness,” by William out one term or the other. It ing depends Styron (dobbs-Merrill). on who reports. The as con- responses'are “Melville Goodwin. U. S. A.,” by John P. tradictory as those elicited by the question. Marquand (Little, Brown). What type of book is selling most? (See “Requiem for a Nun," by William Faulk- Page 4 of this Supplement for a local re- ner (Random House). port). It may be added in passing that “World So Wide,” Sinclair Lewis some publishers and certain booksellers by (Random House). over the country say business is good, while Ten or 12 other novels of others are pessimistic concerning the year comparable quality could be With such an and prospects ahead. A trend toward op- ANDtte GIDC SINCLAIR LFWIS picked. abundance of top-flight Action, it becomes timism might be seen in the mere number The French Nobel Prize winner died this year Finished his "World So Wide" just before he a matter of individual taste which of these of books published this year, which has at 81. He hod written more than 50 books. died in Rome at 65. It was published here in March. books shown no perceptible reduction, in spite of you prefer. television, high taxes and soaring John Dos Passos’ new novel. “Chosen produc- that of the three the non-Action book out- hold its place as a best-seller throughout tion costs. In one recent week The Star’s sold the others and kept climbing until it 1951. This is "Kon-Tiki** (Hand. Mc- Country" (Houghton Mifflin), which came book department received no less than 140 out late in the year, deserves a was No. 1 on the national best-seller lists. Nally). Thor Heyerdahl's modern saga of special new volumes. niche in our consideration. It is of his This is. of course, Rachel Carson's "The the sea—how three men crossed the Pacific one Sea Us” best—a deeply felt story, crowded with Rachel Carson Led the Around (Oxford Press). The on a raft with sails. The book must have Field characters. They are seen at various stages Washington author, who is editor of the established some sort of record for popular With ‘The Sea Around Us’ of the last 60 their adven- United States Fish and Wildlife Service, demand. years, making tures a cross-section of life in America for One strand woven all has done a rare thing, written a scientific All interesting through this concern with the sea Indicates three book with such charm and au- generations. our literary tapestry is a symbol of the sea. absorbing that it is one subject readers and writers thoritative simplicity that it has Among our first-string novels we would The sea is the heart of three best sellers of appealed alike never tire of. It is an unchanging to an extraordinarily wide audience. undoubtedly include the two sea stories the year, two of them fiction. They de- element, or one changing imperceptibly to which tribute has been paid—"The served to be best-sellers. It is a dissenting The novels were both set in the big war. over the centuries as its submerged moun- Came and “The Cruel Sea." Others note in my contention that Action was pre- "The Caine Mutiny.” by Herman Wouk tains shift and its coral island build (ask Mutiny” eminent this year, but it must be reported (Doubleday) is a fascinating story of a re- Miss This Carson). primeval monster, still (Continued on Page 11.) volt aboard a mine-sweeper and its after- spawning, as in ancient times, tragedy, ad- math. Nicholas Monsarrat's "The Cruel venture, romance, is unaffected by the rest Sea” describes the bleak (Knopf) terror of of the world, where wars and peace divide living on a small British convoy ship called the energies of men and nation rise and a corvette. It is one of our finest stories of decay. action at sea. A fourth sea book, although The connection of these books with tlie published last year, belongs in a way to best-seller lists has been emphasized de- this because it has year too, continued to liberately in a critical survey of the year’s A Reader's Guide to the Year's Best Books Page. Page. BOOKS OP THE YEAR RELIGIOUS BOOKS By Carter Brooke Jones _ 1 By Caspar Nannes _ 8 THE WORLD SCENE STAGE AND SCREEN By Belmont Paries 3 By Jay Carmody _ 9 THE PUBLISHERS LOOK AHEAD MURDER By Mary McGroiy _ _ 3 MYSTERIES GIFT BOOKS By Miriam Ottenberg _10 By William J. Moyer _ 4 ILLUSTRATIVE BOOKS WHAT WASHINGTON READS By Philip II Love _11 Sam Eastman By 4 WIT AND HUMOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS By William Hines _11 By Wharton H. Miller _ 5 BOOKS ON HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY SPORTS By Charles M. Egan _12 By Francis P. Douglas _ 6 BOOKS ON ART AMONG THE POETS Edwin _ WILLIAM FAULKNER Florence _ By Tribble _13 By Berryman 6 PAR FABIAN LAGERVIST BOOKS UNDER FIRE "Requiem lor a Nun," which was published BOOKS ON SCIENCE The Swedish author who was awarded the 1951 this Luther H. Evans _ 7 year, is his lirst novel since he won the Nobel By By Thomas R. Henry _ 14 Nobel prize has his novel, "Barabbaspublished prize in 1950. in this country. .