1942

I recall a friend having some old books that were published during the war years that carried a notice that they were printed in smaller type in an effort to conserve paper for the war.

1. The Song of Bernadette, Franz Werfel 99 copies on LT

2. The Moon Is Down, John Steinbeck 501 copies

3. Dragon Seed, Pearl S. Buck 123 copies

4. And Now Tomorrow, Rachel Field 1 copy

5. Drivin' Woman, Elizabeth Pickett 3 copies

6. Windswept, Mary Ellen Chase 8 copies

7. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas 455 copies

8. The Sun Is My Undoing, Marguerite Steen 12 copies

9. Kings Row, Henry Bellamann 37 copies

10. The Keys of the Kingdom, A. J. Cronin 105 copies

I remember reading The Robe in high school after I saw the movie which I think starred Victor Mature. I saw the movie version of the Song of Bernadette which I believe featured Vincent Price.

I have 1, 2, 7, and 9. I have read All This and Heaven, Too and Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, but not this one. I read Kings Row a long time ago: racist, misogynist, and just plain weird, as I recall. The movie is much better!

A lot of these are familiar, but the only one I've read is Song of Bernadette.

I've only read The Moon is Down, which I recommend.

US N O N F I C T I O N

1. See Here, Private Hargrove, Marion Hargrove 23 copies on LT

2. Mission to Moscow, Joseph E. Davies 17 copies

3. The Last Time I Saw Paris, Elliot Paul 27 copies

4. Cross Creek, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 179 copies

5. Victory Through Air Power, Major Alexander P. de Seversky 21 copies

6. Past Imperfect, Ilka Chase 6 copies

7. They Were Expendable, W. L. White 41 copies

8. Flight to Arras, Antoine de St. Exupéry 146 copies

9. Washington Is Like That, W. M. Kiplinger 2 copies

10. Inside Latin America, John Gunther 20 copies

I enjoyed reading The Robe (my father's name was Lloyd C. Douglass so we had to have the novels around the house as conversation pieces:-), also read Keys of the Kingdom by Cronin. Still have copies of both books but I'm unlikely to reread them. They have a gentle prose and moral (actually, Christian) tone that, frankly, seems dated.

I think I HAVE the Moon is Down somewhere...I guess I'll have to dig it up and read it.

Zero for me

I own and have read both The Keys of the Kingdom and They Were Expendable. I also recently found a Norwegian language translation of The Moon is Down. Can't read it in Norwegian, but it's a beautiful copy of the book.

They Were Expendable is a harrowing account of the U.S. forces left behind to defend the Philippines from the impending Japanese invasion in the weeks right after Pearl Harbor. The book was made into a movie directed by John Ford, starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne and released in 1945. The wikipedia entry for the movie says, "While both book and film depict actions which did not occur, they were believed to be real during the war and the film is noted for its verisimilitude."

There is a terrific review/essay on the book here: http://www.amazon.com/They-Were-Expendable-Bluejacket-Books/dp/1557509484. Scoll down to the review by Edison McIntyre.

This is the correct Touchstone for: And Now Tomorrow. There are now 10 of them in LT.

Tomorrow's House (the incorrect Touchstone)was a book written in 1945 for people dreaming of a post-war new home. I wonder if it predicted the growth of suburbs in the USA?