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.
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