TALKING OF BOOKS...

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 528, 5 August 1949, Page 10

TALKING OF BOOKS...

sy F making many books there is no end." If true when written, how much more apt these words are to-day when tablet has given way to ‘typewriter, papyrus to printing press, when Ecclesiastical simplicity is ‘replaced by the more devious rhythms of Freud or Marx, when in varying de--grees most men have acquired scholarship and, in the midst of all their running, still find time to read. Preoccupation with books is part and parcel of modern living. Consequently, a few months ago, ZB Book Review got off to a flying start. The pattern is fairly simple, Four books are reviewed by four speakers, while groups of not-so-important works are dealt with by a chairman. Over two hundred books have been received and over one hundred and thirty reviewed since February. No book is taken at random, but all are chosen with an eye to worth and general interest. Books and the job of chairman are given to as many different people as possible. "Names" are culled mainly from educational and writing circles,

4 while experts in other fields are called in from time to time. A pleasing standard of delivery and subject matter "has been achieved, although occasionally the pattern becomes a little ragged. An expert who can write clearly on his own subject is not always good over the air. An author, no matter how well he puts thought on paper, cannot always attract interest through voice alone. In cases like these it might be better to have the script written by the expert and spoken by someone else. No matter how "cultural" a session may be in intent, its first aim must be to hold listener-interest. No song and dance or funny patter is asked for or- expected in Book Review, but where giving and receiving are done. by a voice on one side of the microphone and an ear on the other, a certain amount of showmanship is essential. At times, too, we strike a dull patch when all four books are on the heavy side. A little juggling of reviews here would give a more balanced diet. These on the debit side. On the credit -a session which has stimulated interest from the first broadcast. With a great many people, tuning in to Book Review on Sunday evening is now as routine as chatting about it during Mon- | day morning tea, a sure sign that the session is "alive." Small details of criticism apart, Book Review, Citizens’ Forum, Sunday Supplement and similar sessions are all broadcasts with which the average intelligent listener can identify himself, and in presenting them ZB programme organisers have combined imagination with an understanding of one of the true functions of radio.

Sycorax