SWEET AND SOUR

Over a double dozen articles from O'Hara's column in the Trenton Times- Advertiser ramble in and out of books, autobiography, preferences, opinions, friends and foes, "the delicate condition of temperance", writers and writing, etc., etc. The random notes and comments sometimes turn out to be a semi-review of a book (even one he has not read), sometimes reminiscences as man and boy; they query literary log-rolling and the giving of honours; they note the fiscal and physical rewards of writing; they are explicit about the questionability of publishers' blurbs and book jackets; they offer a course on neglected reading (which will stay neglected); they go off on a kick about Irishisms, a relative's country store, Frank Sullivan and Ernest Hemingway and auctorial habits and customs. Flashy to funny, this is fairly uninhibited and self-indulgent essaying which makes mettlesome reading.