Portal:Punch/Reviewed Books

Volume 147 (July-December 1914)

Date	Page	Title	Publisher	Author	Category	Summary
July 1, 1914	19	Tents of a Night	Smith, Elder	Mary Findlater	General Fiction	I never met a story that conveyed so vividly the nastiness of a summer holiday that isn't nice.
July 1, 1914	19	Simon Heriot	Melrose	Patricia Wentworth	General Fiction	... nine-tenths of [the book] is thoroughly interesting and excellently well-written.
July 1, 1914	20	A Child of the Orient	Lane	Demetra Vaka	Short Stories	This [author] writes to amuse, entertain and charm, and her success is abundant.
July 1, 1914	20	Maria	Hutchinson	Baroness von Hutten	Romantic Fiction	Maria has the air of having been contracted for, while that fastidious overseer who lurks at the elbow ... has frankly abandoned the contractor.
July 1, 1914	20	Grizel Married	Mills and Boon	Mrs George de Horne Vaizey	Romantic Fiction	... a striking and original climax ... by far the best scene in an otherwise not very brilliant tale.
July 8, 1914	59	A Lad of Kent	Macmillan	Herbert Harrison	General Fiction	[the author] has a delightful style, a perfect sympathy with the times of which he writes, and no small gift of characterization.
July 8, 1914	59	The Double House	Stanley Paul	E. Everett-Green	General Fiction	I am only sorry that so charming a title as 'The Double House' has been so sadly wasted.
July 8, 1914	59	Jacynth	Constable	Stella Callaghan	General Fiction	As a portrait of futility, Jacynth is the most mercilessly realistic thing that I have met for some time.
July 8, 1914	60	The Lost World	Smith, Elder	Arthur Conan Doyle	General Fiction	If you can run the story through / By aid of portraits when you need it, / And not be half convinced it's true, / You simply don't deserve to read it.
July 8, 1914	60	The Judge's Chair	Murray	Eden Phillpotts	Short Stories	I advise everyone who can appreciate dry humour and quiaint philosophy to sit behind The Judge's Chair.
July 8, 1914	60	The Training of a Working Boy	Macmillan	Rev. H. S. Pelham	Non-Fiction	At least twenty times as absorbing and moving as any novel... to read it is inevitably to be moved to active sympathy.
July 15, 1914	79	Sylvia Saxon	Unwin	Ellen Melicent Cobden	General Fiction	A tale .. of unhappy women... A powerful, disturbing and highly original story.
July 15, 1914	79	Beasts and Super-Beasts	Lane	Saki	Short Stories	[the book] is as good as any of its predecessors... Of the present collection of stories ... all are good.
July 15, 1914	80	The Last Shot	Chapman and Hall	Frederick Palmer	General Fiction	[It depicts] modern warfare as between two First-class powers, fighting in the midst of civilisation ...
July 15, 1914	80	Friends Round the Wrekin	Smith, Elder	Catherine Milnes Gaskell	Non-Fiction	For the reflections of a cultivated woman ... who can transcribe [them] with such tender and persuasive charm, there should always be room.
July 15, 1914	80	The Six Rubies	Ward, Lock	Justus Miles Forman	General Fiction	... plenty of excitement, plenty of hairbreadth escapes ...
July 22, 1914	99	World's End	Hurst and Blackett	Amélie Rives	General Fiction	There are parts of World's End that are worthy of a better whole, but that is the best I can say for it.
July 22, 1914	99	Paul Moorhouse	Long	George Wouil	General Fiction	[Paul Moorhouse's] suicide was a conclusion as little premeditated by the author as it was apparently by the hero.
July 22, 1914	100	The Story of Fifine	Constable	Bernard Capes	General Fiction	I do not think you will believe The Story of Fifine ... but if you are like me you will not be greated concerned about that.
July 22, 1914	100	The Caddis-Worm	Hurst and Blackett	Dawson Scott	General Fiction	... a book which is full of clever writing and fairly shrewd observation.
July 22, 1914	100	My Lady Rosia	Washbourne	Freda Mary Groves	General Fiction	I do not think Miss Groves' pen is quite sufficently dashing for this sort of thing ... [the book] sometimes ambles rather heavily.
July 29, 1914	119	The South Polar Times	Smith, Elder	Apsley Cherry-Garrard	Non-Fiction	Three numbers ... were brought out at Cape Evans, the winter quarters of Captain Scott, during 1911.
July 29, 1914	119	John Barleycorn	Mills and Boon	Jack London	General Fiction	A sound enough text for any sermon; and .. a sound enough sermon for any text, with a strong smell of the sea and of adventure about it.
July 29, 1914	120	The Youngest World	Bell	Robert Dunn	General Fiction	... full of gracious qualities, thoughtful, and throughout on a high literary level, but as a realistic transcription of frontier talk it leaves me incredulous.
July 29, 1914	120	Jetsam	Mills and Boon	Victor Bridges	Short Stories	Mr. Bridges' dialogue is nearly always bright, and his knowledge of the machinery of yarn-spinning excellent.
August 5, 1914	139	Reality	Cassell	Olive Wadsley	General Fiction	Reality has the pulse of life about it ... which, indeed, is about the highest praise that a critic can bestow.
August 5, 1914	139	Vandover and the Brute	Heinemann	Frank Norris	General Fiction	[A] resurrection of this early attempt at realism ... He would, I fancy, have softened some of the crudities and allowed a touch of humour.
August 5, 1914	139	Captivating Mary Carstairs	Constable	Henry Sydnor Harrison	General Fiction	... a tale with a 'punch' in every chapter, some of them below the belt of probability...
August 5, 1914	140	Monsieur de Rochefort	Hutchinson	H. de Vere Stacpoole	Historical Fiction	It is the greatest fun throughout; events are rapid and the dialogue is crisp
August 5, 1914	140	Bridget Considine	Bell	Mary Crosbie	Romantic Fiction	... a story that has many charms, not the least of them being its humour.
August 5, 1914	140	The Greenstone Door	Sidgwick and Jackson	William Satchell	General Fiction	... the Maori part of his book is worth reading again and again.
August 12, 1914	157	A Knight on Wheels	Hodder and Stoughton	Ian Hay	General Fiction	A book which has a happy beginning, a happy middle and a happy end, together with lots of incidental laughter.
August 12, 1914	157	Dr. Ashford and His Neighbours	Murray	Warre Cornish	General Fiction	A narrative of social life in Sunningwell ... delightfully critical ... interesting and profound.
August 12, 1914	158	Concerning a Vow	Stanley Paul	Rhoda Broughton	Romantic Fiction	In freshness and vivacity ... here is a story that need fear comparison with none of its most popular predecessors.
August 12, 1914	158	Me as a Model	Palmer	W. R. Titterton	Autobiography	His jocular skittishness, aided by asterisks, exclamation marks and suspensive dots, has curiously little behind it.
August 12, 1914	158	The Jam Queen	Methuen	Netta Syrett	General Fiction	... a story which deserves a considerable success.
August 19, 1914	173	The Brother of Daphne	Ward, Lock	Dornford Yates	Romantic Fiction	It is vastly pleasant and easy to read.
August 19, 1914	173	Old Andy	Methuen	Dorothea Conyers	General Fiction	... there is plenty of pure joy in Old Andy ... in the remarks of grooms, servant-girls and casual country folk ...
August 19, 1914	174	Jenny Cartwright	Lane	George Stevenson	General Fiction	About as gloomy a story as ever I read... Half of the characters in the book seem to come by violent ends.
August 19, 1914	174	Wild Honey	Constable	Cynthia Stockley	Short Stories	Stories of love, adventure, horror and the wild... I can commend her book confidently to all intelligent beach-haunters.
August 26, 1914	191	Alberta and the Others	Sidgwick and Jackson	Madge S. Smith	General Fiction	[The author] says it is all true... an entertaining record, written, as the publisher's say, "in high sprits throughout."
August 26, 1914	191	A Tail of Gold	Hodder and Stoughton	David Hennessey	General Fiction	... has some pictures of Australian mining life that are not without interest; but [little] other reason for its existence.
August 26, 1914	191	The Cap of Youth	Hutchinson	Madame Albanesi	General Fiction	... bound to be popular, and I should have no complaint to make if I did not feel that its author has it in her to do better work.
August 26, 1914	192	Penrod	Hodder and Stoughton	Booth Tarkington	Humourous Fiction	Even readers to whom American humour is generally a little indigestible may gleam some smiles ... provided it is taken in small doses.
September 2, 1914	212	Naval Occasions	Blackwood	Bartimeus	Short Stories	The most entirely satisfactory and, indeed, fascinating thing of its kind that ever I read.
September 2, 1914	212	His Love Story	Mills and Boon	Marie van Voorst	Romantic Fiction	... a charmingly written romance.
September 2, 1914	212	Something Impossible	Mills and Boon	Mrs Penrose	Romantic Fiction	I am bound to confess that ... this rather acid and ironical piece of nonsense is a disappointment.
September 9, 1914	232	The Belfry	Hodder and Stoughton	Margaret Baillie Saunders	General Fiction	Told in a pleasant haphazard fashion, enriched with flashes of caustic wit and disfigured with a good deal of ... slovenly writing.
September 9, 1914	232	Behind the Picture	Ward, Lock	M. McD. Bodkin	General Fiction	It would be better ... if it contained less of the tale, which is parlous nonsense, and more of the trimmings.
September 9, 1914	232	Mirandy	Sampson Low	Dorothy Dix	Short Stories	Trite philosophy passed off as new goods ... [using] an American negro as mouthpiece.
September 16, 1914	252	Germany and England	Murray	J. A. Cramb	Lectures	A resume of lectures delivered in London in the early part of 1913... his arguments should be very closely regarded by haphazard optimists.
September 16, 1914	252	The Lure of Romance	Lane	Francis Prevost	Romantic Fiction	This is great fun [with] a truly gripping finish!
September 16, 1914	252	Love's Legend	Constable	Fielding Hall	Romantic Fiction	I commend the book, for it has a charm of manner that will appeal to all.
September 23, 1914	270	Military Policy of the British Empire	Clowes	B. R. Ward	Military Non-Fiction	If you are at all concerned with the science and policy of arms ... you will find this book of extreme interest.
September 23, 1914	270	The Great Miracle	Stanley Paul	T. P. Vaneword	Science Fiction	I am afraid [the author's] primary conception has been too much for him: he lacks the nice imagination of a Wells.
September 23, 1914	270	Patience Tabernacle	Mills and Boon	Sophie Coles	Romantic Fiction	[A] quiet story of the love affairs of Patience and the wrong boy rejected, and the right man discovered, in time.
September 30, 1914	288	Perch of the Devil	Murray	Gertrude Atherton	General Fiction	A tale of mining life ... You must read this book.
September 30, 1914	288	The Gate of England	Hodder and Stoughton	Morice Gerard	Historical Fiction	A pleasant, if undistinguished, tale that will be enjoyed by the young of all ages. [The author] has done better work.
September 30, 1914	288	Pan-Germanism	Constable	Roland G. Usher	Military Non-Fiction	... the author analyses the origins, assumptions and pretensions ... of those who have essayed to direct the destinies of modern Germany.
October 7, 1914	307	Bellamy	Methuen	Elinor Mordaunt	General Fiction	There is some shrewd hitting here ... none of the adventures of Bellamy should be skipped.
October 7, 1914	307	Wonderful Woman	Hodder and Stoughton	Dion Clayton Calthrop	General Fiction	The best work we have yet had from [the author], combining his special and expected graces with an unusual and moving sincerity.
October 7, 1914	307	Oddsfish!	Hutchinson	Monsignor Benson	Historical Fiction	Written in a most captivating manner, and with a plausibility of incident and dialogue onto too rare in novels of the Restoration period.
October 7, 1914	307	King Jack	Hodder and Stoughton	Keighley Snowden	General Fiction	Jack, though a shade arrogant at times, is a stimulating figure, human both in weakness and strength.
October 7, 1914	307	The Achievement	Chapman and Hall	Temple Thurston	General Fiction	[a] haphazard selection of episodes and comments ... He has wandered into the wrong galley. A pity.
October 14, 1914	327	Tributaries	Constable	anonymous	General Fiction	Quite one of the best written novels of the year.
October 14, 1914	327	A Soldier of the Legion	Methuen	C. N. Williamson	General Fiction	Suffers from some excess of plot... on the whole a readable book, but not quite equal to the best.
October 14, 1914	327	Raymond Poincaré	Duckworth	anonymous	Biography	There is a supreme interest for us at the present moment in this study.
October 14, 1914	328	The Clean Heart	Hodder and Stoughton	A. S. M. Hutchinson	General Fiction	A live book this, and to be commended very warmly.
October 14, 1914	328	Ape's Face	Lane	Marion Fox	Supernatural Fiction	[The author has] a rare feeling ofr the most haunting phrase, a feeling which gives distinction throughout to the story.
October 21, 1914	347	The Price of Love	Methuen	Arnold Bennett	General Fiction	I am grateful for every work and incident of this enchanting chronicle and for the portrait of Rachel in particular.
October 21, 1914	347	Modern Pig-Sticking	Macmillan	A. E. Wardrop	Sport	It appeals to a special and limited public... [but these] spirited pages deserve to rank with the best that has been written about this sport.
October 21, 1914	348	The Happy Recruit	Methuen	Pett Ridge	General Fiction	It is not the [lack of] story that lends the charm but the people who come into it... [which] make his books always worth reading.
October 21, 1914	348	Dalliance and Strife	Hutchinson	F. Bancroft	General Fiction	The completion of a trilogy on the Boer War... we are given too much flirtation and too little fighting.
October 21, 1914	347	The Cost of a Promise	Hodder and Stoughton	Baillie Reynolds	Romantic Fiction	Mrs. Reynolds has done better.
October 28, 1914	367	Coasting Bohemia	Macmillan	Comyns Carr	Biography	A stream of reminiscence that runs pleasantly through many pages.
October 28, 1914	367	The Letter of the Contract	Methuen	Basil King	General Fiction	If divorce in USA / Inspires such work, it stands to reason / To change the law in any way / Amounts to literary treason.
October 28, 1914	367	The Encounter	Arnold	Anne Douglas Sedgwick	Romantic Fiction	Quite charmingly told... [the author's] book is both apt to the moment and quite interesting in itself.
October 28, 1914	368	The Pastor's Wife	Smith, Elder	Elizabeth von Arnim	General Fiction	I heartily and thoroughly enjoyed the story... it was written to to charm - and it's charming.
October 28, 1914	368	The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton	Methuen	Phillips Oppenheim	Humourous Fiction	Laughter in these dark days is so wholesome ... that we musn't be too exacting with [the author].
November 4, 1914	387	Germany's Great Lie	Hutchinson	Douglas Sladen	Non-Fiction	I recommend the public to consume every word of the text, but to omit the larger part of the notes.
November 4, 1914	387	The Book of the Blue Sea	Longmans	Henry Newbolt	Juvenile Fiction	The palates of discerning boys [will be] most delightfully tickled. To a nicety [the author] knows how to reproduce the spirit of the sea.
November 4, 1914	388	Shifting Sands	Lane	Alice Birkhead	General Fiction	... though the manner of the story is very episodic, there are scenes and conversations of considerable vivacity and truth.
November 4, 1914	388	The Laughing Cavalier	Hodder and Stoughton	Baroness Orczy	Historical Fiction	How [the hero] manages to turn it all to favour and romance you must allow [the author] to tell you herself.
November 4, 1914	388	The Unpetitioned Heavens	Hutchinson	Charles Marriott	General Fiction	A brocade of intricate design and exquisite colouring. Let justice be done and [the book] fall to a wide circle of perceptive readers.
November 11, 1914	407	The Witch	Constable	Mary Johnston	Historical Fiction	An eminently readable story of adventure of the coincidental kind.
November 11, 1914	407	Night Watches	Hodder and Stoughton	W. W. Jacobs	Short Stories	What I like best in the stories ... apart from their mere hilarity, is their triumphant vindication of the right to jest.
November 11, 1914	408	The Three Sisters	Hutchinson	May Sinclair	Romantic Fiction	I hope that the noble work [the author] is now doing ... [will lead her to] something sweeter than the morbid atmosphere of her present theme.
November 11, 1914	408	The Hole of the Pit	Arnold	Adrian Ross	Supernatural Fiction	I confess I did laugh once in the wrong place. But everywhere else I shivered with the fearful joy that only the best in this kind can produce.
November 11, 1914	408	Every Man His Price	Methuen	Max Rittenberg	General Fiction	The climax [seems] inadequate to the point of bathos [but] there is much in the tale to enjoy.
November 18, 1914	427	Sinister Street, Vol. II.	Secker	Compton Mackenzie	General Fiction	The most complete and truest picture of modern Oxford that has been or is likely to be written.
November 18, 1914	427	Connaught to Chicago	Nisbet	George A. Birmingham	Travel	[has] just that quiet and unboisterous humour which his public has come to demand of him as of right.
November 18, 1914	428	The Shy Age	Grant Richards	Jessie Pope	General Fiction	On the whole [the author] has a fine understanding of boy-nature.
November 18, 1914	428	The Wisdom of Father Brown	Cassell	G. K. Chesterton	Detective Fiction	Brilliant narrative manner.
November 18, 1914	428	The Demi-Gods	Macmillan	James Stephens	General Fiction	A kind of inspired nightmare, a sort of Chestertonian inconsequence done into Gaelic.
November 25, 1914	447	The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman	Macmillan	H. G. Wells	General Fiction	[the author] has realised this gracious, shy and beautiful personality with a fine skill.
November 25, 1914	447	Prince and Heretic	Methuen	Marjorie Bowen	Historical Fiction	A book which no lover of the Lowlands can afford to miss.
November 25, 1914	448	Our Sentimental Garden	Heinemann	Egerton Castle	Non-Fiction	Altogether a very gentle book [in which] some unquiet heart ... may find "a passing relaxation, a forgotten smile."
November 25, 1914	448	Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812	Hutchinson	Edward Foord	Military Non-Fiction	I was abundantly informed and profoundly interested.
November 25, 1914	448	A Morning in My Library	Times Book Club	Stephen Coleridge	Anthology	The selection is admirably made and does credit to [the editor's] taste.
December 2, 1914	467	The Grand Assize	Heinemann	Hugh Carton	Essay	A book curiously rich in sympathy, fearless and fine, and provocative of much thought.
December 2, 1914	467	Incredible Adventures	Macmillan	Algernon Blackwood	Short Stories	One tale ... is a quite beautiful little fantasy. It redeems a volume that, for all its originality, does not display his art quite at its best.
December 2, 1914	467	Antartic Adventure	Fisher Unwin	Raymond E. Priestley	Biography	I recommend to boys and grown-ups a story as absorbing as Robinson Crusoe.
December 2, 1914	468	The Voyages of Captain Scott	Smith, Elder	Charles Turley	Juvenile Fiction	I can think of no better present for a nephew.
December 2, 1914	468	The Woman in the Bazaar	Cassell	Mrs. Perrin	General Fiction	A story of Anglo-Indian life in which [the author] always moves at ease.
December 2, 1914	468	Candytuft-I Mean Veronica	Hutchinson	Mabel Barnes-Grundy	Romantic Fiction	I must try to believe that [the book] is meant for romantic comedy and not a one-Act farce hastily expanded ... into 300 page fiction form.
December 2, 1914	468	Duke Jones	Sidgwick and Jackson	Ethel Sidgwick	General Fiction	I've put down this book with real regret.
December 9, 1914	487	Princess Mary's Gift Book	Hodder and Stoughton	various	Short Stories	I question if a better collection has ever been brought together.
December 9, 1914	487	Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield	Murray	George Buckle	Biography	A fascinating story that in the hands of [the author] loses no point of interest.
December 9, 1914	488	The Complete Sportsman	Arnold	Harry Graham	Humourous Fiction	[the author] is the most rollickingly funny person at present writing the King's English.
December 9, 1914	488	But She Meant Well	Lane	William Caine	General Fiction	[the author] has a very nice and persistent sense of humour, and [this book] shows him in his most natural vein.
December 9, 1914	488	Dorothea	Constable	Maarten Maartens	General Fiction	Of Dorothea herself I will say little ... but those amazing pathetic Prussians! and the conflicting emotions they stir in your heart!
December 16, 1914	507	The Prussian Officer	Duckworth	D. H. Lawrence	Short Stories	I don't know any other writer who realises passion and suffering with such objective force.
December 16, 1914	507	Spacious Days	Murray	Ralph Durand	Historical Fiction	A straightforward sea story - as honest as the sea and as clean.
December 16, 1914	508	Mushroom Town	Hodder and Stoughton	Oliver Onions	General Fiction	This is surely Mr. Onions' best novel since Good Boy Seldom.
December 16, 1914	508	Spragge's Canyon	Smith, Elder	H. A. Vachell	General Fiction	A good and virile tale.
December 16, 1914	508	Days of my Years	Arnold	Melville Macnaughten	Autobiography	[the author] spent 24 years at Scotland Yard, many of them as chief of the Criminal Investigation Department.
December 23, 1914	527	King Albert's Book	Hodder and Stoughton	Hall Caine	Short Stories	To [those responsible] I can only offer my thanks and congratulatory good wishes.
December 23, 1914	527	Through the Brazilian Wilderness	Murray	Theodore Roosevelt	Travel	His tale of exploit and exploration is told with a joie de vivre that carries everything before it.
December 23, 1914	527	Pages from an Unwritten Diary	Arnold	Charles Villiers Stanford	Autobiography	Throughout the book Sir Charles is the best of good company.
December 23, 1914	527	Cupid in the Car	Chapman and Hall	Lindsay Bashford	General Fiction	Whether [the author] hasn't spoilt an enthusiastic travel book without producing a plausible novel [is a question that intrudes itself].
December 23, 1914	527	The Flute of Arcady	Stanley Paul	Kate Horn	General Fiction	It struck me that [the author] began it as a Cinderella-tale then found there wasn't enough of this to go round.
December 30, 1914	543	The Life of Sir John Lubbock	Macmillan	Horace Hutchinson	Biography	[the subject] was one of the most honourable men who figured in public life during the last half-century.
December 30, 1914	543	Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich	Lane	Stephen Leacock	Short Stories	I found a quiet but intense delight in the first five stories ... but [the last three are] frankly and noisily hilarous.
December 30, 1914	544	The Lighter Side of School Life	Foulis	Ian Hay	General Fiction	One of the merriest and shrewdest books that I have met for a long time.
December 30, 1914	544	Cairo	Constable	Percy White	General Fiction	[the author's] subject is pat to the moment; moreover it is handled with ... unobtrusive skill.
December 30, 1914	544	Molly, My Heart's Delight	Smith, Elder	Katherine Tynan	General Fiction	One of the pleasantest books of the season... This book should be a "heart's delight" to many.