Books: The Editors Like

Fiction

THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLEby John Cheever. (Harper, S3.50.) Mr. Cheever, known as a master of watchmaker’s perspective, demonstrates that he’s quite a hand with sweeping views. The Wapshot boys ramp and totter through some very peculiar affairs, while their father steals the show.

THE RED MARTENby Peter Nisser. (Knopf, $3.95.) The family chronicle form is used as a vehicle for sketches of farm life in Sweden around 1700, permitting the author to toss in much extraordinary information on old customs and Finnish magic.

A HAUNTED LANDby Randolph Slow. (Macmillan, $3.75.) In an admirably written first novel, a young Australian poet explores a man’s evil influence on his children, making this old theme new about 80 per cent of the time, which is good going.

THE ASSISTANTby Bernard Malamud. (Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 83.50.) The pursuit of Virtue leads a reformed rascal into strange difficulties in this austere, elegant short novel.

The Orient

THE RED FORTby James Leasor. (Reynal, $5.00.) The story of how a small, badly generaled, underequipped British force recovered Delhi from the Sepoy mutineers in 1857 is positively enthralling.

A NOSTALGIA FOR CAMELSby Christopher Rand. (Atlantic-Little, Brown, $3.75.) Mr. Rand, an eloquent writer and knowledgeable Orientalist, has gathered together odd events and striking characters from all over the East and presents them with amazed affection to the reader.

THE THIRD EYEby T. PobsangRampa. (Doubleday, $3.50.) Purportedly the experiences, truly amazing, of a Tibetan aristocrat who was initiated into the ultimate mysteries of Lamaism before coming to the West. What a tale, what a tale; is it true by any chance?

Of Artists

FROM RENOIR TO PICASSO: ARTISTS I HAVE KNOWNby Michel Georges-Michel. (Houghton Mifflin, $4.00 and $2.50.) Critic and amateur artist, the author met everyone who ever put hand to brush or chisel, and his gossipy memoirs crackle with gaiety and affection. The illustrations are sketches by the author and his friends,

CONVERSATIONS WITH ARTISTSby Selden Rodman. (Devin-Adair, $4.00.) Interviews with painters, sculptors, and architects whose opinions on their own and each other’s work are reported by Mr. Rodman with a reasonable minimum of comment.

ABSTRACT ART BEFORE COLUMBUSby Dore Ashton with photographs by Lee Boltin. (André Emmerich, $2.50.) The sculptural qualities of objects made by various Amerindian groups are highlighted by admirable photography, while the text is brief and pleasantly devoid of critical jargon.