Books: The Wouk Mutiny

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The desk is bare except for a well-thumbed dictionary, a picture of the novelist's wife and an old-fashioned gold watch with Roman numerals and a heavy lid. For five years the watch has lain open on the desk while its owner listened to its ticking and wrote steadily, using the same aging desk pen and yellow lined pads. Says Herman Wouk (pronounced woke) :

"I reported in to my boss, the desk, five or day." six Out days of a this week, at unflinching least six writing hours a stint came some...