Happy New Year!
And good reading.

Happy New Year! Will you be entertaining friends, relatives, acquaintances this weekend? If so, some books to help with the problem of food are Marian Tracy's Parties From the Freezer (how not to be a harassed hostess!); Louise Spenser's beautiful, clever, well-diagramed Decorating Cakes and Party Foods, Baking, Too!; and a sampling of the "ethnic" ones: Maili Yardley's Hawaii Cooks, and Schindler, Hawaii Kai Cookbook; the mouth-watering Cooking of Japan, by Steinberg; and Mrs. Ma's Favorite Chinese Recipes. A handy little book to have available is Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining. Don't forget the magazines-House Beautiful and House and Garden have exciting ideas for hostesses.

If you plan to serve drinks, Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, and his Book of Food and Drinks; Embury, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks; and Duffy's Official Mixer's Manual will assist the amateur bartender. Or perhaps you will be intrigued by The Non-Drinker's Drink Book by Rollins-excellent suggestions for popular mixes sans alchol. As Mrs. Rollins says, "Because of health, religion, age, weight, money, or simple dislike, almost one-fourth of the nation's adult population, plus all children (we hope), are out there non-drinking. Here are three hundred and fifty-one things to do about it." Besides, they taste good!

If you are still worried about the exact way of doing things-giving and accepting invitations, thank you notes and other correct procedures-you may wish to consult one of the standard books on etiquette by Esquire, Emily Post, Amy Vanderbilt, or Good Housekeeping. If you aren't bothered by picayune details, just go ahead and have a Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

Happy New Year!

Birthdays: Dec. 29, 1915, Robert Ruark, Something of Value; Dec. 30, 1865, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books; Jan. 1, 1879, E.M. Forester, Passage To India; Jan. 2, 1894, Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie; Jan. 3, 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring; Jan. 4, 1796, Jakob Grimm, Grimm's Fairy Tale.

Oletha Williams