Fiction: Recent Books: Aug. 24, 1936

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE PLAIN—Herbert Gorman—Farrar & Rinehart ($3). Long (653-pp.), slow-moving, historical novel of the French Revolution, revolving around a 21-year-old hero who saw everyone from Tom Paine to Lafayette, and everything from the fall of the Bastille to the Execution of Louis XVI.

THE SKY BUT NOT THE HEART—R. L. Duffus—Macmillan ($2.50). Readable, pleasant, but somewhat labored satire on the political upheavals in the Kingdom of East Georgiana.

GREENGATES—R. C. Sherriff—Stokes ($2.50). Quiet English novel by the author of Journey’s End, detailing the struggles of quiet Mr. Baldwin to readjust himself to life upon his retirement after 41 years in business.

Non-Fiction

PEOPLE, PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!—R. H. (Bob) Davis—Stokes ($3). Travel notes of a columnist that range from brief impressions written in Mexico and South Africa to scribblings in an airplane over California, and include anecdotes about Artemus Ward, discussions of the Regency of George IV and English rule of India.

UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE—George W. Stimpson—Bobbs-Merrill ($2). An interesting compendium of little-known facts by a Washington newspaper correspondent who has gathered odd items of information all his life. It tells why a patrol wagon is called a Black Maria (there used to be a husky Negro woman bouncer in a Boston boarding house with that name); what U. S. President was a citizen of France (Washington); what is the lion’s share (all). A handy book for people who like to win arguments.