Books: Roaring 50s

THE PRIVATE DINING ROOM (169 pp.)—Ogden Nash—Litfle, Brown ($3). There have been persistent reports that Ogden Nash, long aged 30, had decided to enter his 50s and assume a middle-aged spread. The rumors are now confirmed by Poet Nash (born 1902) himself. Poem after poem in this new collection indicates a deliberate relapse into maturity; a new horizon shows both in waist and vision, along with such signal quirks as a grumpy dislike for opinionated young men and a difficulty in reading the phone book without glasses. There is even a blunt admission that when...