Books: The Editors Like

BY AGATHA FASSETT

Mrs. Fassett, an infinitely tolerant friend of Béla Bartók and his wife, brings to life in this memoir the composer’s brilliance and his extraordinary capacity for making a nuisance of himself. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, $5.00.

And the Bridge Is Love BY ALMA MAHLER WERFEL

Married in turn to Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel, the author tells a great deal about the artistic history of Central Europe between 1900 and World War II, viewing it all as a Wagnerian backdrop for her romantic temperament. HARCOURT, BRACE, $5.95.

BY G. B. STERN

Miss Stern, an unrepentent hero-worshiper, describes her meetings with various distinguished people, mostly literary, and proves that all of them were delightful. The book is peppered with asides and excursions as rewarding as the main points. REGNERY, $3.75.

Gate to the Sea BY BRYHER

Set in the fourth century B.C., this taut, compact novel combines a story full of action and suspense with a subtle examination of the ethics of loyalty. PANTHEON, $2.75.

Warlock BY OAKLEY HALL

The standard Western ingredients — marshal, gambler, deputy, wicked rancher, thugs, and ladies in black and white —gingered up by an intelligent consideration of the responsibility and cost of keeping law and order. Plenty of shooting all the same. VIKING, $4.95.

September Roses BY ANDRÉ MAUROIS

A French literary lion, elderly but unsubdued, goes purring after a young beauty, to the annoyance of his wife and the amusement of the reader. HARPER, $3.00.

Esmond in India BY R. PRAWER JHABVALA

Almost plotless, this social comedy rambles through the activities of two families drifting in the backwash of emancipation as if it were the morning after a party, dissecting Indian society with dry wit and exploring Indian character with mischievous irony. NORTON, $3,95.

The Once and Future King BY T. H. WHITE

Mr, White has reworked his Arthurian novels into one huge panorama of a fanciful, idealized England that is past and future, heroic and absurd, and altogether wonderful. Merlin alone is worth a dozen lesser books, and he is only one picket in the fence. PUTNAM’S, $4.95.