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Carry On, Jeeves

(Jeeves #3)

P.G. Wodehouse

4.26 · Rating details · 20,390 ratings · 1,250 reviews

Richard "Bingo" Little falls in love with the daughter of a left-wing (probably communist or socialist) leader called Charlotte Corday Rowbotham. In an attempt to get close to her, Little joins the group, called the Heralds of the Red Dawn, whose aims are to "massacre the bourgeoisie, sack Park Lane and disembowel the hereditary aristocracy". This is more than a little at

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Paperback, 200 pages

Published 1991 by Vintage (first published 1925)

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Aug 04, 2015 Sean Gibson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

After slogging through Words of Radiance (perhaps “slogging” is too strong a word (of radiance), seeing as how I liked it), Jeeves and Wooster made an excellent literary palette cleanser (though I will note that books, even cookbooks, generally make terrible actual palette cleansers).

For those unfamiliar with Wodehouse’s signature characters, Bertram (Bertie) Wooster is an itinerant (and not particularly intelligent) man about town, who is often, along with his indolent friends, bailed out of sh ...more

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Apr 18, 2020 Anne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, read-in-2020, coronavirus-read, humor, libby-app, audio, p-g-wodehouse

I haven't read a bad Jeeves book yet.
This one is a collection of loosely related short stories mostly dealing with Bertie's time in the United States. <--because he's hiding from his Aunt Agatha after he did something Bertie-like to piss her off.

description

Most of the problems (as always) are caused by the parade of Bertie's weird, obnoxious, but ultimately lovable friends who manage to pull him from one hilarious crisis to another. Fortunately, there's always Jeeves to fall back on when their plans run of ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Evgeny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor

“I’m not absolutely certain of my facts, but I rather fancy it’s Shakespeare – or, if not, some equally brainy bird – who says that it’s always just when a fellow is feeling particularly braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping”

Traditionally I start my review of a Jeeves book with a quote. This time it is highly appropriate as it gives the idea of practically all included stories. Poor Bertie Wooster enjoys his carefree life when something big and un ...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Jason Koivu rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, comedy, wodehouses

Only 3 stars? So did I like it? Oh I say, rather! And yet...

Carry on, Jeeves has all of the wonderful Wodehouseisms I've come to know and love: bumbling Bertie Wooster and his genius of a gentleman's gentleman Jeeves; colorful characters galore like Bingo Little and Sir Roderick Glossop; poor sods getting themselves in a fix with the put-upon Bertie having to extract them time and again.

So what's wrong?

Well, this is a collection of stories as opposed to the one, cohesive novella-sized story th ...more

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Apr 10, 2014 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

three stars upgraded to four after writing the review, because:

The ‘deja-vu’ is strong in this one. For the first three or four stories in the collection I was convinced I’ve read them before, recently enough to remember all the jokes and the plot twists. There are two main reasons for the feeling:
- much as I admire P G. Wodehouse, I know he recycles characters and plots frequently, his charm relying more on style than originality.
- I believe all the stories included in Carry on, Jeeves! have ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, love, reviewed-in-2020

A hilarious collection about the antics of Bertie Wooster, who is saved by the clever manipulations of Jeeves, his man-servant.

description

After a night of heavy drinking Bertie Wooster meets Jeeves
I crawled off the sofa and opened the door. A kind of darkish sort of respectful Johnnie stood without.
‘I was sent by the agency, sir,’ he said. ‘I was given to understand that you required a valet.’
I’d have preferred an undertaker; but I told him to stagger in, and he floated noiselessly through the doorway like ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Lea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, acquired-2012, read-2012, reviews, love-the-cover

My first Wodehouse!

My sweet husband picked this up for my birthday, after I said how much I was wanting to read one of his books (thanks to GR reviewer Dan!). It was a nice surprise, and Dan wasn't exaggerating about how great these books are -- I absolutely loved this one, and I can't wait to read more.

Carry On, Jeeves is arranged like a collection of short stories featuring Bertie Wooster (in his own words, having half the brains an ordinary bloke should have) and his gentleman's gentleman, Je ...more

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Apr 10, 2020 Geevee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A partnership that has strode the decades and simply because the writing is funny and so well put together. What better to cheer a chap during Covid-19 Lockdown than Bertie and Jeeves what?

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Feb 04, 2015 Pramod Nair rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: british-literature, classics, humor

Reading Wodehouse is always a pleasant experience, which always fills the reader with much gaiety & happiness. ‘Carry On, Jeeves’, is a compilation of ten short stories featuring Bertie Wooster and his gentleman's gentleman Jeeves with the usual assortment of charming characters like Aunt Dahlia, her French chef Anatole, Aunt Agatha, Sir Roderick Glossop and Richard P. Little a.k.a 'Bingo Little ', and is an easy to read and enjoy volume.

In these tales of delightful humor Bertie seeks the counse Reading Wodehouse is always a pleasant experience, which always fills the reader with much gaiety & happiness. ‘Carry On, Jeeves’, is a compilation of ten short stories featuring Bertie Wooster and his gentleman's gentleman Jeeves with the usual assortment of charming characters like Aunt Dahlia, her French chef Anatole, Aunt Agatha, Sir Roderick Glossop and Richard P. Little a.k.a 'Bingo Little ', and is an easy to read and enjoy volume.

In these tales of delightful humor Bertie seeks the counsel of his trusted man Jeeves, whenever his or his friend’s affairs get topsy-turvy and always Jeeves saves the day with the usual tact and the resourceful mind he possess. Like other tales in the Bertie & Jeeves Canon these stories are full of hilarious scenarios; comic timing; delightful characters and funny dialogs with period slang. Each of these tales begins with trivial misfortunes staring at Bertie or one of his friends, which Wodehouse - with his supreme mastery over plot and language - turns into a gallery of absolute pandemonium which will make the reader laughing out loud.

In Jeeves Takes Charge, the first story of the volume Bertie recounts how he came to take on Jeeves as his butler and tells the reader all about the incident in which Jeeves saves Bertie from a rather tight spot for the first time and becomes an indispensable companion of his life.

In ‘Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest’, Bertie & Jeeves are in New York. Lady Malvern a friend of Bertie’s Aunt Agatha entrusts Bertie with the safe keeping of her son Lord Pershore a.k.a Motty for a few weeks while she is exploring the country. Bertie has no choice but to agree and soon finds that given freedom for first time in his life the seemingly docile Motty plunges right into the nightlife charms of the city. Now it is for Jeeves to save Bertie from the wrath of his Aunt’s friend by stopping the drunken decadence of Motty, which leads to more merriment.

In ‘Bertie Changes His Mind’ Bertie Wooster along with Jeeves visits his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Manor and things go really bad for Bertie when he is entrusted with the task of giving a talk at a girl’s school. The events that unfold will surely leave you in splits. Curiously this is the only story in the entire Jeeve’s Series that is narrated by Jeeves himself and it is the only story in the entire canon, which mentions a sister of Bertie named ‘Mrs. Scholfield’, who spent a lot of time in India. ‘Bertie Changes His Mind’ was later augmented into the brilliant full-length Jeeves and Bertie novel, ‘Right Ho, Jeeves’.

Other stories in this volume like 'The Aunt and the Sluggard', 'The Artistic Career of Corky', 'Clustering Round Young Bingo' are all quite charming and pleasant to read. Although many of plots and characters that the reader encounter in Wodehouse books may seem familiar and often repeating in his other books, the style and quality of side-splitting narration makes all of them really fresh & entertaining for me. ...more

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May 10, 2020 Katie Lumsden rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Thoroughly good fun.

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May 04, 2016 Vimal Thiagarajan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I can never tire of Wodehouse. I can never tire of his books that are filled with characters like a friend who is 'As vague and woollen-headed a blighter as ever bit a sandwich', and a fiance who is 'one of those robust, dynamic girls with the muscles of a welter-weight and a laugh like a squadron of cavalry charging over a tin bridge' and an aunt who 'fitted into the biggest arm-chair in the house as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the ...more

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Dec 02, 2019 Ange H rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I just love Bertie and Jeeves! This excellent collection is the third one I have read, and like the others it had me often giggling like an idiot. I'm pretty sure I have read a few of these, or at least a version of them, before but that doesn't make them any less entertaining. The last story was told from Jeeves point of view, a definite first in my experience.

Irrelevant note: I found the original receipt tucked in the pages and used it as a bookmark. I think it's cool that someone bought this ...more

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Dec 26, 2018 Diane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humorous, british-charm, audiobooks

This is another delightful collection of stories involving Bertie and his impressive valet, Jeeves. I listened to this on audio and it was a gem.

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Jan 16, 2019 Nigeyb rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Carry on, Jeeves (1925) is a very jolly collection of early Jeeves and Wooster short stories.

It's interesting to read these early J&W stories as it's so early in the duo's development and regular readers can observe how P.G. Wodehouse is starting to get ideas about their respective characters which become more pronounced as the years roll by. His descriptive writing is also not quite fully formed yet either. That said, there are plenty of glorious and wonderful examples of Wodehouse's peerless ...more

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Nov 06, 2016 Faith rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, overdrive

After reading a string of books by authors who took themselves too seriously and satisfied inadequately, it was a pleasure to return to Wodehouse. I really needed a good laugh. This book of witty and sometimes hilarious short stories about Bertie and Jeeves was read with great relish by Frederick Davidson.

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May 26, 2020 Rebecca rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, laugh-out-loud, anglophiles-delight, reviewed-for-blog

I’d never read any P.G. Wodehouse before, but of course I was familiar with his two most famous creations, empty-headed aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his omniscient manservant, Jeeves. Many people are turning to cheerful, witty reads during lockdown, so this seemed like a perfect time to give one of the books a try. The bio in my secondhand paperback calls this the first set of Jeeves and Wooster tales, while Goodreads lists it as the third book in a 14-strong series. I didn’t realize when I bou I’d never read any P.G. Wodehouse before, but of course I was familiar with his two most famous creations, empty-headed aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his omniscient manservant, Jeeves. Many people are turning to cheerful, witty reads during lockdown, so this seemed like a perfect time to give one of the books a try. The bio in my secondhand paperback calls this the first set of Jeeves and Wooster tales, while Goodreads lists it as the third book in a 14-strong series. I didn’t realize when I bought this or picked it up to read that it was a collection of 10 short stories, but that makes sense – these are such silly, inconsequential plots that they couldn’t possibly be sustained for more than about 20 pages each.

It doesn’t take long to get the hang of a Jeeves and Wooster story. Bertie or one of his rich, vapid pals will get into a spot of trouble, usually because of an aunt’s expectations, and a madcap plan – swapping places, impersonation, kidnapping or the like – is required to get out of it and/or get the girl. Jeeves has a brilliant idea and saves the day, all while commenting disapprovingly on Bertie’s fashion choices. Most of the stories are set in London and its environs, but a few also have the pair transplanted to New York City, where Bertie seems to have nothing better to do than lend his chums money. The first nine tales are narrated by Bertie, while the final one has Jeeves as narrator – on a visit to a girls’ school he plays a rather wicked prank to disabuse Bertie of the notion that he might like to adopt a daughter.

These stories were amusing enough, yet quickly blended into one. Pretty much as soon as I finished a story, I forgot what it was about. Looking back, not even the story titles can spark a memory. I made the mistake of not taking notes, so I’ve retained only general impressions. I enjoyed Bertie’s voice and the period slang as well as the dynamic between master and servant – it’s clear who’s really in charge here. “[T]his was obviously a cove of rare intelligence, and it would be a comfort in a lot of ways to have him doing the thinking for me,” Bertie says. “It’s a rummy thing, but when you come down to it Jeeves is always right.” Though I’ve never seen the adaptations, I couldn’t get the faces of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry out of my head. That’s no problem, though, as the casting couldn’t be more perfect.

I’m not sure if I’ll bother picking up another Wodehouse book, as I expect that his work is all of a piece. However, you could certainly do worse if you’re after a lighthearted read.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck. ...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Tamra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who wants to laugh

Recommended to Tamra by: James Herriot

Shelves: favorites, my-re-read-list, own-currently

This was my 3rd Jeeves book (the 3rd in The Jeeves Omnibus). I can't say enough good things about Wodehouse. I have systematically been trying to get loved ones and friends to read these books, or at least become familiar with the characters, because I have fallen in love with them. Also, I have found a Wodehouse Fanatic and I imagine a long friendship with them, involving (among many other things) borrowing all their Jeeves books and movies.

Highlights to Carry On, Jeeves:

1. It's hilarious and h ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Stacia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: europe, 2017

Well that was rummy & plum, if a bit repetitive between some stories. I was going to give it 4 stars, but had to up it to 5 because of the smiles & laughs I had while reading.

A charming bit of British humor.

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Jun 08, 2019 JZ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, favorites, read-2019

Since discovering Frederick Davidson's narration, I find his reading of Wodehouse brilliant, and have been collecting his recordings. I love the Martin Jarvis ones, too.

Perfect joy, in the morning, afternoon, or evening. ...more

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Jun 20, 2018 Abhiram R rated it it was amazing

Carry On, Jeeves features Jeeves, a butler and his mostly-clueless master Bertram Wooster, as do all the books by Wodehouse in the series. This book comprises ten short stories where Bertie, in most of them tries to help out his friends- Corky, Rockmettler Todd, Biffy, Sippy, Freddie, Bingo, and on a couple of occasions, even himself, but in every instance digs the concerned parties into a hole deeper into than the one they initially were in and needs to be extricated invariably by Jeeves who fa ...more

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Feb 12, 2016 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, audio, british-classic, postal-book-club

I read this in my pre-Goodreads days so this was actually a re-read but this time around I listened to the audio. Whenever I read a Wodehouse I wonder how I could start incorporating some Bertie-isms into my speech. Would people call it an affectation if I started saying things like, "It's not only sound, it's absolutely fruity!!" While this isn't my favorite Jeeves book I still have to give it 5 stars because everything Jeeves and Wooster is better than everything else that isn't. ...more

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Jun 06, 2013 Kara Babcock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-read, humour, own

This is my second P.G. Wodehouse experience following Cocktail Time , which was not a Jeeves and Wooster novel. I enjoyed Cocktail Time and was looking forward to Carry on, Jeeves, which I didn’t actually realize was an anthology. This proved to be even better than a novel as an introduction to Jeeves and Wooster. It gave me a nice sense of their relationship through the ages. And with each story nice and short and self-contained, I could read one, pause, and then dip into another. I could ea ...more

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Jun 16, 2019 Nancy Cook-senn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The early adventures of Bertie Wooster and his wise valet in New York.

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Mar 20, 2013 Nick Ziegler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My second Wodehouse book, the other I've read being Thank You, Jeeves. The common wisdom about Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories, when you ask a veteran where to start, is "it really doesn't matter, they're all the same."* This sounds initially like a compliment with a double-edge, but really the ability of Wodehouse to adhere to a formula of his own invention without becoming stale, and to somehow tell the same joke over and over again without repeating himself, is exactly what is so breat ...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Larissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, 2008, read-by-recommendation

This collection of short stories was suggested to me by the same person who recommended Ross McDonald and John Le Carre, so I was fairly certain that it was going to be a good bet, albeit in a far different vein. I was looking for something that could be considered 'whimsical' and Carry On, Jeeves certainly did not disappoint. And, as you might expect, the Brits maintain their perpetual knack for making wickedly funny and scathing comments towards people who don't quite know that they are being ...more

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Nov 10, 2017 Ceri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, humour

I listened to an audio version of this collection of short Jeeves and Wooster stories. If you're not familiar with the books, they were written and set in the 1920s and tell the scrapes that a rich, idle, somewhat empty-headed young man, Bertie Wooster, and his friends get into, and how they are extricated from them due to the help of Wooster's man-servant, the all-knowing Jeeves.

The style of Wodehouse is nicely humorous, and will raise the occasional chortle from the listener. There is quite a ...more

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May 07, 2017 Greg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, reviewed

"... he was a frightful chump, so we naturally drifted together, and while we were taking a snort in a private corner [of a club]... he further more endeared himself to me by an extraordinarily gifted...", well, let your imagination run wild. After all, this is P.G. Wodehouse's whacky, wonderful, always funny, exuberant but impossible world of the 1920s: non-stop drinking, smoking, snorting, and then even more drinking. Let's just hope the decade of 2020 is much the same. ...more

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Mar 01, 2019 Nadin Adel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, i-own-this-book

A charming bit of the British Humor in my most beloved British setting.
The novel is a gift on my birthday given to me by my beautiful British friend!

I can't but say I might be in need of Jeeves in my life every now and then 😄

Funny. Humourous. And a great read after a real tiring one.

I hope there might be an adaptation for this series. ...more

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Jun 23, 2019 Ulysse rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, short-stories-tales-novellas

In the right mood Wodehouse can satisfy one's craving for the down-right silly, and for that his books are simply perfect. ...more

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Jul 20, 2017 Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1920s-1930s, light-as-air, for-the-easily-entertained, good-summer-read, short-stories

I first came across Wodehouse when I was allowed into the adult stacks of my local library at about age 10. The "only two books at a time" rule had long been waived for me in the children's library (in the basement), and now that I think about it I don't suppose there were many 10-year-olds in my town that were given free run of the upstairs. However, Miss Dorothea may have looked straitlaced, but she knew a bookworm when she saw one. I adored Bertie Wooster and his use of language, though at th I first came across Wodehouse when I was allowed into the adult stacks of my local library at about age 10. The "only two books at a time" rule had long been waived for me in the children's library (in the basement), and now that I think about it I don't suppose there were many 10-year-olds in my town that were given free run of the upstairs. However, Miss Dorothea may have looked straitlaced, but she knew a bookworm when she saw one. I adored Bertie Wooster and his use of language, though at the time I knew nothing of the 1920s in London. He "beetled", he "toddled", he ate eggs and B washed down with B and S. He looked at Jeeves with wild thingummy. It's an indication of how widely-read I was at age 10 that I knew he meant "wild surmise".

Fast forward 45 years, and throw in a few episodes of Fry and Laurie's TV series Wooster. Which, by the way, I did not like; Stephen Fry makes me itch and Hugh Laurie makes me get up and do something else, preferably in a different room (or indeed building). I came across this audio CD and since it's a long, hot summer I decided to try Wodehouse on the old MP3 player. I will say I probably wouldn't have had the patience to read this collection on paper, but the audio book helped pass the time when ironing and such.

While not the first book chronologically, these short stories do tell us how Jeeves first arrived in Wooster's life. It's all a bit samey, though. We know Bertie's not the sharpest knife in the drawer but this was the first time I realised how limited his vocabulary is when speaking. All he can think of to say is that something is "a bit thick" or at the most, "rummy." Now that I come to think of it, he's a sort of perpetual teenage boy, and they're not known for expansive vocabularies; and yet when he's narrating, he seems to have a better grasp of the language. The stories are all about ensuring that whoever remains firmly ensconsed in the rich relative's will, or receiving a generous unearned allowance from same. The last story in the collection was a refreshing change of pace, narrated by Jeeves himself instead of Bertie, and showing that the gentleman's gentleman may have been a gentleman, but he wasn't above getting a bit of his own back. ...more

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About P.G. Wodehouse

P.G. Wodehouse

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Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class so ...more