P.G. Wodehouse

[Roman Clodia]

I'm in!

[Nigeyb]

Hurrah. I'll schedule it in for Jan 2025 but happy to move it to any month

[Roman Clodia]

That's good for me.

[Renee]

I’m in as well!

[Nigeyb]

Great news Renee

[Brian E]

This is a duplicate of a recent post on Eggs, Beans & Crumpets thread:

’m going to suggest several Wodehouse novels/short story that may be appropriate for group reads:

1. STAND ALONE - Hot Water – 1932 – GR 4.12
One Semi-Competent Reviewer describes it as follows:
Much of the story takes place at the Château Blissac in St Rocque (Wodehouse’s fictional Monte Carlo) which makes for an interesting change. Wodehouse delightfully captures the atmosphere of France in the 1930s. The plot embraces American senators, English aristocrats, safe crackers, con men, jewel thieves, and a Bloomsbury novelist.
Hot Water contains none of Wodehouse’s regular characters however the various types he often deploys are all present and correct. No one is quite who they appear which makes keeps this interesting and it is in turns funny, sentimental, and exciting.

Positives:
- It gets a 4.12 GR rating which is high for a stand-alone that we haven’t read;
- It has a set up and characters different from previous reads;
- It has an international and political flavor with American politicians and Brit aristocrats in France. Sounds like a good Wodehouse for right now:
- I have a copy on my TBR shelf staring at me right now ( a positive for me at least)
Negative
- Nige read it in 2018 (but by now it’s in the hard-to-reopen back vaults of his memory bank)

2. STAND ALONE – The Girl in Blue - 1970 – GR 3.88
GR Summary Jerry has been summoned to sit on the jury where he meets the delightful Jane, with whom he falls instantly in love. He is deliriously happy until he remembers he is already engaged to Vera Upshaw-who has been hounding Jerry to claim his inheritance, currently kept in trust by Uncles Crispin and Willoughby. Meanwhile, Willoughby is thrilled at being the proud owner of Gainsborough's small painting, The Girl in Blue, but when she goes missing and is believed to be stolen, Jerry is called upon to track her down, wherever she may be.

Positives:
- Nige nor RC are not listed as having read it
- I own a copy

3. DRONES CLUB – Money for Nothing – 1928 – GR 4.02
GR Summary Following a contretemps with Colonel Wyvern, what could be better than a sojourn at Healthward Ho? Quite a lot, as it turns out, when Lester Carmody of Rudge Hall puts himself into the hands of Dr Twist, the aptly named owner of the establishment, and pursues a devious money-making scheme.

Positives
- Nige and RC are not listed as having read it (Nige is listed as having shelved it)
- It’s a Drones Club with unfamiliar characters so it works like a standalone

4. JEEVES & BERTIE – Very Good, Jeeves! (Short stories) -1930 – GR 4.30
This was my favorite of the Jeeves short story collections and I selected it because:
Positives:
- RC and, surprisingly for a Jeeves, Nige are not listed as having read it
- While I’ve read it twice, the last time was in 2016 and my back memory vault is even harder to reopen than Nige’s
- It has a variety of good side characters in each of the stories including Bingo Little, the Glossops and both Aunt Agatha and Aunt Dahlia,
Negative:
- Can RC do 11 Jeeves and Bertie stories? I’d have to think of an incentive

5. MULLINER – Meet Mr. Mulliner – 1927 – GR 4.05
The first Mulliner collection.
Positives:
- If you want to try a Mulliner collection, why not start with the first one?
- Neither RC not Nige are listed as having read it.
- While I have read the stories in the Mulliner collection, The World of Mr. Mulliner, that was many years ago and there’s my memory vault situation.
- I own a copy

6. MONTY BODKIN – ?
RC mentioned reading a Monty Bodkin. GR lists the Bodkin trilogy under The Drones Club but the trilogy books are
Monty B#1 – Heavy Weather– 1933 – 4.24 – a Blandings book that the group read in 2024 and I read a few times, the last in 2016
Monty B#2 – The Luck of the Bodkins – 1935 – 4.06 – probably the best to read next but I read it last year and Nige read in 2021
Monty B#3 – Pearls, Girls And Monty Bodkin – 1972 – 3.98 – haven’t read it yet; Nige read it in 2020.

7. DRONES CLUB SHORT STORY COLLECTION – Nothing Serious
If you want another Drones Club short stories this would be my suggestion. It has two Bingo stories.

[Nigeyb]

See previous reply


You and RC can decide

🙌🏼

[Roman Clodia]

I'm replying on the Eggs, Beans and Crumpets thread.

[Nigeyb]

Buddy read admin all done for our April buddy read of Very Good, Jeeves!


Here's the thread...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


Very Good, Jeeves is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster

As well as Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster, the stories also feature many regular characters, including Tuppy Glossop, Bingo Little, Bobbie Wickham, Aunt Dahlia, Aunt Agatha and Sir Roderick Glossop.

Bertie says the titular phrase four times in the collection


1 Jeeves and the Impending Doom
2 The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy
3 Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit
4 Jeeves and the Song of Songs
5 Episode of the Dog McIntosh
6 The Spot of Art
7 Jeeves and the Kid Clementina
8 The Love that Purifies
9 Jeeves and the Old School Chum
10 Indian Summer of an Uncle
11 The Ordeal of Young Tuppy

[Nigeyb]

Just stumbled across this….


https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...


The PG Wodehouse Society (UK) brings you The World of Wodehouse Podcasts, marking the 50th anniversary of the death of PG Wodehouse. The Society has invited Patrons and other celebrated fans of the great humourist to discuss why they love his work and to share favourite passages.

With grateful thanks to our wonderful contributors:

Sir Stephen Fry
Lynne Truss
Ben Elton
Nigel Rees
Simon Brett
Lucy Tregear
Neil Pearson
Martin Jarvis

[Roman Clodia]

I glanced at your message and for a moment there thought it said Liz Truss!! 🥬

[G]

Roman Clodia wrote: "I glanced at your message and for a moment there thought it said Liz Truss!! 🥬"

Speaking as a non-Briton, I have found these two names confusing on multiple occasions. Particularly during Liz's short-lived stint as PM, when I finally realized that policing language and governing a party are probably not all that different, so it was ok that I was confused.

[Nigeyb]

Nigeyb wrote:


"I need to reread The Code of the Woosters (1938)"



Roman Clodia wrote:

"You know I'm in for any Jeeves reads, just say the word."


Let's do it RC!

Next month?

June?

Right now?

Any time suits me.



Take Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, old Pop Bassett, the unscrupulous Stiffy Byng, the Rev., an 18th-century cow-creamer, a small brown leather covered notebook and mix with a dose of the aged aunt Dahlia and one has a dangerous brew which spells toil and trouble for Bertie and Jeeves.

[Roman Clodia]

I'm committed to four books in May so let's say June for a rendezvous with Stiffy Byng!

[Nigeyb]

Great


I’ll sort out the admin

Anyone else joining in?

[Brian E]

I will join in for a third reading of The Code of the Woosters only so I can read it with you guys. If you guys read it before June, I probably won't bother.

I like to spread out the Fremlin, Wodehouse and Highsmith reads so that there is at least one every month.
May has a Fremlin. July has a Highsmith. June HAD a Wodehouse. It got moved to April to accommodate the archaic operations of the British Library System ;)
So, it has to be JUNE. The Code of the Woosters can be the substitute for Nothing Serious who left it's June assignment for a previous engagement. I anticipate that, as is often the case, the students will prefer the substitute to the original.
(I already mentally have a Wodehouse set for May, the well-traveled "Nothing Serious")

[Roman Clodia]

Yay! I'm already giggling inside at the characters' names - I've met Gussie Fink-Nottle before (newts, I think?) and maybe Madeleine Bassett who sounds the sort of gal Bertie would get engaged to before Jeeves gets him out of it.

[Nigeyb]

Yep, obsessed by newts. It's a gem RC


Brian, this is wonderful news

I guarantee we will not be going early on this one.

June it is. 100%. Absolutely. Postively.

[Roman Clodia]

Wonderful - thanks for setting up the threads Nigey.