Show Clever Y Western Novels Are Well Read Through Prairie States SAN SA- SAFRA FRA FRANCISCO CISCO March larch 13 i AP It AP-It It the trashy cowboy nove novel has any admirers in m the mountain or prairie states there is nothing to indicate it in too tbs correspondence of or Joseph Henry Jackson literary editor of ot Sunset Magazine Contrary to what is sometimes believed westerns are popular In Inthe Inthe inthe the west just as they are In the east he finds but it Is the be better ter written western story that makes friends Mr 11 Jackson receives about eight thousand letters yearly concerning books and find from tram them he forms his conclusions as to the literary preferences preferences pret- pret of ot western readers There Is a noteworthy absence of appeal for Cor tb tha colored sketch of or wild an and wooly western life Of or course he conc concedes des it is only the reader of ot good books Who is sufficiently interested to go to I the trouble of ot writing a critic or an author Fiction leads in popularity with readers on the sunset side of ot the continent from continent from Alaska to Mexico The mystEry story holds Its Us place year after atter year Fear ear as does the historical historical his his- novel particularly that dealIng dealIng dealing deal- deal Ing with western history Jackson thinks the popularity of ot books in this section can be ranked as to classification about as follows follows fol tol- fol- fol lows fiction travel biography popular science history poetry and humor Humor doubtless would be closer to the top except that there are comparatively so few Cew humorous books published In the last year besides those that he read for tor published criticism Jackson read and reviewed books by radio He e was among the first book reviewers to go on the air Now there are two seventy-two or more broadcast book chats maintained main main- The life lite of ot the average book re reviewer reviewer re- re viewer is one book after another While he does not hope to peruse all the hundreds of ot volumes turned out yearly Jackson saps pays the professional professional professional pro pro- reader can familiarize himself himself him him- self with the contents of ot a n vast number Jackson reads from fifteen fifteen teen to eighteen a week the year around An hour is enough to devote to the lighter type of noVel he lie de de- de dares clares To accomplish this entire paragraphs almost a page at a time must be consumed at a glance This requires training and long practice but for the professional is not no so superficial in result as on one might think It Is his opinion that the system I of ot teaching pupils to read by word recognition a method which discards discards discards dis dis- cards the alphabet completely will upon development enable the comIng coming coming com com- ing generation to read with thoroughness thoroughness thoroughness thor thor- almost as rapidly as th the professional reader does now The radio reviewer If It he Would be successful must figuratively take the listener by the elbow steer him out of or the crowd to one side of the curb just curb Just as he would halt a friend on the street to discuss the merits of oC a movie Jackson be be- He warns the reviewer of at too much of ot 6 k regardIng regarding regarding regard regard- ing familiarity for the kind of people people people peo peo- who listen to radio book reviews are the kind who tre freeze ze up quickly and resent regent attempted familiarity It If I it is even the tiniest pit lt it off ott tone |