RECENT & READABLE

The Cornerstone, by Zoe Oldenbourg. A superior historical novel, told with massive detail, about medieval knighthood and knavery (TIME, Jan. 10).

Oblomov, by Ivan Goncharov. New translation of a little-known but brilliant 19th century Russian portrait of a young nobleman who is too weary to live, love, or even get out of bed (TIME, Jan. 3).

His Very Self and Voice, edited by Ernest J. Lovell Jr. Carefully culled reports and comments by contemporaries add up to a fascinating picture of Poet Lord Byron, professional romantic and "most amiable monster'' (in Stendhal's phrase) and his loves, feuds, scrapes and enthusiasms (TIME, Jan. 3).

Quite Early One Morning, by Dylan Thomas. The late, brilliant Welsh poet has a lark with some uneven but delightful prose pieces (TIME, Dec. 27).

Gladstone, by Philip Magnus. Probably the best biography ever written of the eminent British statesman who thought that God was a Liberal (TIME, Dec. 27).

Hadrian's Memoirs, by Marguerite Yourcenar. A first-rate novel about the great soldier-emperor who first called Rome eternal (TIME, Nov. 29).

The Private Diaries of Stendhal, edited by Robert Sage. An extraordinary diary covering the youthful years of the brilliant French novelist who dashed off his shrewd or naive, witty or amorous comments on how to get on in the world while he was getting on (TIME, Nov. 22).

The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien. A fantasy about a hobbit who grows out of his tweens to fight Ores, Balrogs and Barrow-wights before he takes on the Cracks of Doom (TIME, Nov. 22).

Great River, by Paul Hotgan. A superb history of the Rio Grande country from Indian idylls through Mexican wars down to the present, with the immense landscape as a backdrop (TIME, Nov. 1).

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