When i want to smile and laugh while reading the one i turn to first is Wodehouse. The stories are just so ludicrous you cant help being seduced by them. His books are, as he himself put it "Musical comedies without music" and the scene might be England but it is an England that never was. I also has another connection to him. One book of his wasthe first novel i read in english (you must read him in original, he is, I suspect, very difficult to translate). I might have been 15-16 and it was a School assignment. You picked book yourself (Money in the bank) and read it and delivered something written about what you had read. The important thing was to get us to use the english we had learned. I read with a dictionary beside me at home. A lot of words i didn't know. I fell in love with him and his way of xpressing himself and have never fallen out again. Since then i have read many Wodehouse. All the Jeeves stories which are my faves but also the Blandings stories and the Drones stories plus some Golf stories and some others. He wrote over 70 novels and if you count short story collections we reach the 100 barrier. Over the years these have became my favourites: Right Ho, Jeeves (1934) (Us title Brinkley Manor), The Code of the Woosters (1938), Money In the Bank (1942), Joy in the Morning (1946) and The Mating Season (1949). All except Money in the bank are Jeeves stories. My aunt, who is an enthusiastic golfer, prefers the Golf Stories.
Me and P.G. Wodehouse
- Thread starter Kurben
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I have a couple Wodehouse books I haven't read -- sounds like i need to.
Yeah, thats Jeeves in his youth so to speak. He and wooster started their career as Short Story characters in this book from somewhere in the 20-ties. Here you see glimpses of the heights they would reach later on.
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
I've only seen the films - if you find the books really good I should go see if I can find them at my local library - thanks for the suggestion
Some of them are really really good but since he wrote so much some are just soso.
I've only seen the films - if you find the books really good I should go see if I can find them at my local library - thanks for the suggestion
I can't tell you how glad I am to see that the Jeeves and Wooster books are being read by teenagers overseas! You are absolutely right, Kurben - PG Wodehouse's books are a sheer delight. They are the closest thing I have to an instant happiness pill! I love all of the Jeeves & Wooster stories, but my favourites are actually the Psmith novels. I can recommend them VERY highly indeed, if you have never read them! Psmith in the City and Leave It To Psmith are probably the best ones to start with. Just pure happiness, contained between the covers of a book... 
Oh, and anything featuring Wooster's Aunt Dahlia is pretty wonderful too!
Oh, and anything featuring Wooster's Aunt Dahlia is pretty wonderful too!
I have them both. And i hate to break it to you but i'm over 50............. but i read my first Wodehouse as a teen. Does that count?I can't tell you how glad I am to see that the Jeeves and Wooster books are being read by teenagers overseas! You are absolutely right, Kurben - PG Wodehouse's books are a sheer delight. They are the closest thing I have to an instant happiness pill! I love all of the Jeeves & Wooster stories, but my favourites are actually the Psmith novels. I can recommend them VERY highly indeed, if you have never read them! Psmith in the City and Leave It To Psmith are probably the best ones to start with. Just pure happiness, contained between the covers of a book...
Oh, and anything featuring Wooster's Aunt Dahlia is pretty wonderful too!
Haha, yes, it definitely counts! I get a little burst of happiness whenever I hear that someone enjoys Wodehouse's books - they are such a complete, self-contained little world, and there really is no nicer world to be in.
Glad that you've got Psmith in the City and Leave It To Psmith. An excellent investment - your life will be greatly enriched by their possession! Did you enjoy them?
Yes i did. I enjoyed most of his books. Some of the golfstories and the oldest member kind of pass by me and i guess its some kind of reference i don't get or something. I inherited most of my collection of his books, perhaps 50 books, from my father. When he died i know i hadn't really the room for them all but i did not have the heart to give them up so they stayed with me. Some are not in very good condition but if you read them carefully it works.Haha, yes, it definitely counts! I get a little burst of happiness whenever I hear that someone enjoys Wodehouse's books - they are such a complete, self-contained little world, and there really is no nicer world to be in.
Glad that you've got Psmith in the City and Leave It To Psmith. An excellent investment - your life will be greatly enriched by their possession! Did you enjoy them?
Such a nice world yes.... The world where the worst thing that can possibly happen, according to Wooster, is for him to get married. And still he managed to get engaged at least three times, all against his will, to different women. He is perfectly ready to acknowledge that women, like alcohol, can make you drunk and commit rash acts of folly but insists that any sober man must see that to be "chained" for life is the fate worse than death. Still he is kindhearted and help many of his friends to woo their ladies of choice. You can never argue about taste as he says. A strange thing about hisbooksisthat there is never a single reference to the war. And still, since the society all the books takesplace in seem to be some kind of eternal between the wars era at least some of bertie and his friends should have participated in WWI, which is a bit strange because it is never mentioned. A kind of parallell universe where war does not exist and politicians are chased by swans and forced to seek cover on top of henhouses.
The story of your Wodehouse collection is lovely, Kurben. 50 old, well-loved books, inherited from your father... what a legacy, from a parent to a child. I would love to see a photograph of them, if you have one (but only if you have one - please don't give yourself the trouble of taking one just for me!).
Do you happen to have a favourite or favourites from among his books, any that you return to more often than the others?
I would love to see a photograph of them, if you have one (but only if you have one - please don't give yourself the trouble of taking one just for me!).Do you happen to have a favourite or favourites from among his books, any that you return to more often than the others?
There are 5-6 i often return too. The first 5 Jeeves Novels (Thank You, Jeeves; Right Ho, Jeeves; The Code of the Woosters, Joy in the Morning; The Mating Season) and Money In the Bank Which is about a slightly strange Lord who don't believe in Banks and therefore hide the family fortune in a "good" place somewhere and then unfurtunately has a car accident and forgets where so he is forced to take service as a butler in his own manor while he tries to search it for the money but the new owners find his activities a bit peculiar for a butler. Hilarious book.The story of your Wodehouse collection is lovely, Kurben. 50 old, well-loved books, inherited from your father... what a legacy, from a parent to a child.
Do you happen to have a favourite or favourites from among his books, any that you return to more often than the others?
I haven't read Money In The Bank, but it sounds absolutely hilarious! Thank you for letting me know about it, Kurben. I have added it to my "must read" list! 
Funnily enough, I stumbled across this online just a few days ago. It is an excellent (and really long!) interview with Wodehouse from 1975, published in the Paris Review. - Paris Review - P. G. Wodehouse, The Art of Fiction No. 60
There is so much fascinating detail in there... for instance, when asked whether he has any favourites from among his own books, he mentions Sam In The Suburbs and Quick Service. He also says, "The critics keep saying that the world I write about never existed. But of course it did. It was going strong between the wars."
There are a lot of fascinating glimpses into Wodehouse's personality too. I love the bit at the beginning when the interviewer asks him for directions to his house, and Wodehouse replies, "Oh, I can't tell you that! I don't have a clue!" Sounds just like something that a bumbling, absent-minded lord might say in one of his books.
It is a LONG interview, but well worth a read. I hope you enjoy it!
Funnily enough, I stumbled across this online just a few days ago. It is an excellent (and really long!) interview with Wodehouse from 1975, published in the Paris Review. - Paris Review - P. G. Wodehouse, The Art of Fiction No. 60
There is so much fascinating detail in there... for instance, when asked whether he has any favourites from among his own books, he mentions Sam In The Suburbs and Quick Service. He also says, "The critics keep saying that the world I write about never existed. But of course it did. It was going strong between the wars."
There are a lot of fascinating glimpses into Wodehouse's personality too. I love the bit at the beginning when the interviewer asks him for directions to his house, and Wodehouse replies, "Oh, I can't tell you that! I don't have a clue!" Sounds just like something that a bumbling, absent-minded lord might say in one of his books.
It is a LONG interview, but well worth a read. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the article!! It was interesting. Quick Service i know. I wonder if Sam in the Suburbs is the same as Sam the Sudden? It is this thing about UStitles and British titles. They are often different which is a bit confusing. I still think the critics have a point in describing his world. It is based on the world between the wars, yes, but you never hear of a character that has participated or know someone that has. The war is nonexistant in his books. He puts a kind of idyllic filter over that time and takes away uncomfortable stuff and leaves us with nutty lords, millionaires, judges and policemen whose main porpose to exist seems to be to have someone to steal a hat from. Aunts, nieces, uncles and cousins are always getting in the way of you and there are very few mothers and fathers to main characters. If Tennyson wrote The Idyll of the King Wodehouse wrote The Idyll of England. Neither setting is or were ever real.I haven't read Money In The Bank, but it sounds absolutely hilarious! Thank you for letting me know about it, Kurben. I have added it to my "must read" list!
Funnily enough, I stumbled across this online just a few days ago. It is an excellent (and really long!) interview with Wodehouse from 1975, published in the Paris Review. - Paris Review - P. G. Wodehouse, The Art of Fiction No. 60
There is so much fascinating detail in there... for instance, when asked whether he has any favourites from among his own books, he mentions Sam In The Suburbs and Quick Service. He also says, "The critics keep saying that the world I write about never existed. But of course it did. It was going strong between the wars."
There are a lot of fascinating glimpses into Wodehouse's personality too. I love the bit at the beginning when the interviewer asks him for directions to his house, and Wodehouse replies, "Oh, I can't tell you that! I don't have a clue!" Sounds just like something that a bumbling, absent-minded lord might say in one of his books.
It is a LONG interview, but well worth a read. I hope you enjoy it!
My pleasure, Kurben! According to Wikipedia, Sam the Sudden was the original title when the book was published in the UK, and it was changed to Sam in the Suburbs when it was published in America later. (Sam the Sudden - Wikipedia) Apparently it features some of the same characters as Money In The Bank! Have you read Sam the Sudden, Kurben, and did you enjoy it? (I haven't read it yet, but I will definitely get round to it.)
Incidentally, I agree with you about the unreality of the world he created. The two world wars absolutely dominated British culture during this time, and it is very unrealistic for them to go completely unmentioned. And as you say, everything else in his world is just idyllic, charming and lovely. Some of his plots include things like murder and burglary, and even they are treated as jolly japes and high-jinks, like a scene from a light musical comedy. However, this isn't criticism at all! A good artist creates their own world, and PG Wodehouse created one of the most magical and enduring and attractive fictional worlds I have ever encountered!
Incidentally, I agree with you about the unreality of the world he created. The two world wars absolutely dominated British culture during this time, and it is very unrealistic for them to go completely unmentioned. And as you say, everything else in his world is just idyllic, charming and lovely. Some of his plots include things like murder and burglary, and even they are treated as jolly japes and high-jinks, like a scene from a light musical comedy. However, this isn't criticism at all! A good artist creates their own world, and PG Wodehouse created one of the most magical and enduring and attractive fictional worlds I have ever encountered!
I have read Quick Service but not Sam the Sudden. There still lurks some unread Wodehouse books in my collection and that is one of them. I loved the characters in Money In the Bank so i will get to it.