Reading the 20th Century discussion
Favourite Authors
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P.G. Wodehouse
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"I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – girls are rummy. Old Pop Kipling never said a truer word than when he made that crack about the f. of the s. being more d. than the m." comes from Right Ho, Jeeves.Obviously I knew this immediately, simply because of my vast and impressive store of literary knowledge. I didn't have to google it at all. Oh no. Certainly not. Honest. 😉
I think I fell irredeemably in love with Wodehouse after reading the beginning of of Very Good, Jeeves, where Bertie is brooding over a problem: "He uncovered the fragrant eggs and b. and I pronged a moody forkful." Magnificent.
Er...this is probably far more than anyone wants to know, but mention of pronging the eggs and b. has reminded me that some years ago someone in an on-line group referred to "the Dulwich voice" in a discussion about Chandler and Wodehouse (who, as you know, both went to Dulwich College). This prompted me to wirte the following short passage; and incident from Farewell, My Lovely written in the style (well, a pale imitation of the style) of The Master. You may just want to skip to the next post at this point, but..."Oh I say, dash it all, Jeeves - what?" I said in masterful but muted tone.
You see, Marlowe, P. was more than a trifle subdued that morning, having had
a somewhat lively night of it with old Whopper Marriott. All to do with
this rather rummy business of old Moosie Molloy and Velma the showgirl.
Moosie had been rather insistent that I find Velma, so I'd been to see Aunt
Jessie who used to own Florian's - a lively spot sometimes frequented by
discerning members of The Drones. Frankly, she was rather a rum old bird, a
bit unsteady on her pins. She seemed to be on a family-sized toot, and I'll
wager that she views this morning's throbbing Marlowe noodle with unbridled
envy.
Well, she gives Whopper my card and he asks me to toddle out to a canyon
with him to retrieve a jade necklace. I'm a trifle hazy on chapter and
verse but I think Edwin the Boy Scout had taken it for cleaning as his Good
Deed For The Day and it had been put in the post to Stilton Cheesewright by
Gussie Fink-Nottle, thinking it was his article on the amphibian digestive
tract for Newt Fancier's Weekly (with which is incorporated Axelotl
World). Anyway, I must unwittingly have inhaled an extra tincture or two
before we left, because I woke up on the ground wondering what these chaps
put in their cocktails. And poor old Whopper looked beyond the reach of
even one of Jeeves's pick-me-ups.
So your hero was in pensive mood over the eggs and b. Jeeves re-entered as
I pronged a moody forkful.
"Jeeves," I said, "you find me agitated and ill at ease. All is Not Well"
"Indeed, sir?"
"Yes, Jeeves. Indeed." Sometimes a fellow has to take a firm line. "Now
cluster round, there's a good chap. I need a drink. I need a jolly long
holiday. And some life insurance would not be far out of place, either."
"No doubt, sir. However, the items to hand are a coat, a hat and a gun. I
have taken the liberty of laying them out for you, sir, and drawing your
bath"
I mean, what's the bally use, eh?
"Oh. Right-oh, then," I said. Well, what's a chap to do? The man's the
original Irresistible Force. Even old Moosie quails before him.
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Thanks for sharing that
Nigeyb wrote: "I agree. The TV adaptation of a Blandings was underwhelming"Do you mean the one with Timothy Spall? He wasn't right as Emsworth for me--completely opposite to the description in the books
I love it, Sid! We had a brief convo in another group about Dumas being paid by the word to which I contributed this:
"Excuse me sir," he parlayed, while spreading a bit of fat on a morsel of bread, "but do you believe you might find it expedient at some point in the near future, at your convenience of course, and of course I do not mean to trouble you in the least, in fact I would sooner swallow my own horse's shoes than put you out of countenance for so much as the blinking of an eye, but sir, I do beg you, if at some point you are feeling charitable and are kindly disposed towards me can you pass the salt?"
Re Wodehouse, I read one of the early Omnibuses (which I must read again) and there was a two or three page description of some hare-brained scheme wherein Bertie looses the fire bell in the middle of the night, and having roused the entire household and being confronted with them all standing in the yard in their underwear, he suddenly realizes that he failed to come up with a story to explain why he did it. The sentence that had me rolling when the enormity of his problem dawns on him:
"I was not unmixedly at my ease."
Has anyone else read PGW's three books of autobiography? I have them in an old Penguin edition of Wodehouse On Wodehouse and remember enjoying them a lot, although it was a long while ago - a phrase which I seem to be employing with alarming regularity these days. He's very funny (and quite sharply satirical) about Hollywood, I seem to remember.
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Nope Sid, but I am such a fan I really should put that right
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Piccadilly Jim (1917)
by our favourite
P.G. Wodehouse
Anyone else ever read it?
Early days but it's a fun read so far
It takes a lot of effort for Jimmy Crocker to become Piccadilly Jim - nights on the town roistering, headlines in the gossip columns, a string of broken hearts and breaches of promise. Eventually he bacomes rather good at it and manages to go to pieces with his eyes open.
But no sooner has Jimmy cut wild swathe through fashionable London than his terrifying Aunt Nesta decides he must mend his ways. He then falls in love with the girl he has hurt most of all, and after that things get complicated.
In a dizzying plot, impersonations pile on impersonations so that (for reasons that will become clear, we promise) Jimmy ends up having to pretend he's himself. Piccadilly Jim is one of P.G. Wodehouse's most renowned early comic novels, and has been filmed three times.
Nigeyb wrote: "Piccadilly Jim (1917) by our favourite P.G. WodehouseAnyone else ever read it?.."
I did. When I added it in October of 2017 I marked it as 4 stars but do not have memories of it and did not really write reviews at the time. I presume I thought it was good solid Wodehouse, neither meh nor spectacular, as I have rated such volumes 3 or 5 stars
That's why I now almost always write reviews, not so anyone else can read them, but so I can read them years later to refresh my recollection on what I thought about the book at the time. My reviews have proved invaluable to me and I often wish I had written one when I get in situations like this.
I have, but probably about 30 odd years ago. If I read it now I'm sure it would feel like it was completly new to me.
No, but it's been on my bookshelf for years while I read other PGWs. Time I got round to it!
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I suspect this is going to be a rock solid 3 out of 5
The earliest PGW books, whilst fine and enjoyable, sometimes lack the polish and sparkling prose of those from the 1930s* and beyond
I'll let you know how it goes
*arbitary choice of date - I've not gone back through all my PGW reviews to come up with something more accurate and considered
It's great fun. It works on it's own but also follows on from The Little Nugget. Ages since I read this book so I don't remember my exact feelings though. There's a film version I saw with Sam Rockwell which wasn't bad, though again I remember few details
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Nigeyb wrote: "Thanks Lady C, I'm warming to it a lot now. Definitely getting better as I progress through it"Hope you enjoy it. I know I did but as to how it compared with other PGW titles, I can't say since its been very long.
Ditto for the movie. Fun, but don't remember how true it was to the story or to what extent I liked it
i recall running into the movie on an HBO/Showtime type channel some years ago and switching off it since I couldn't get into the tone of the movie. I recall thinking it tried too hard to be a zany farce. But such movies are also harder to get into when you drop into the middle of them like I did.However, the movie does have an interesting cast and has Julian Fellowes as the screenwriter and Hugh Bonneville as a stuffy English Lord, presenting an early version of their future Downtown Abbey roles. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371878/
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"I'm closing in on the ending of Piccadilly Jim (1917)..."
....and now I've finished
Another Wodehouse winner
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4/5
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A Gentleman of Leisure (1910)
It sounds most agreeable...
The action begins with bachelor Jimmy Pitt in New York; having fallen in love on a transatlantic liner, he befriends a small-time burglar and breaks into a police captain's house as a result of a bet.
The cast of characters head to England, and from there on it is a typically Wodehousean romantic story, set at the stately Dreever Castle, overflowing with imposters, detectives, crooks, scheming lovers and conniving aunts.
Anyone read it?
Or thinking about it?
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The Small Bachelor (1927)
Anyone read it?
Or tempted?
Here's the skinny....
What must a man do in order to put an end to his bachelorhood? For George Finch, one of nature's white mice and probably the worst artist ever to put brush to canvas, there are many obstacles. Undoubtedly the greatest is his beloved Molly's fearsome stepmother, Mrs. Waddington, who has her eye on an eligible English lord for a son-in-law. Luckily, George has an ally in sharp-witted Hamilton Beamish, an old family friend of the Waddingtons, not to mention George's butler, Mullett, and his light-fingered girlfriend, Fanny, whose valuable skills are of particular interest to the would-be father-in-law.
Wodehouse is the greatest comic writer ever (Douglas Adams)
Mr. Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in (Evelyn Waugh)
This was a lovely one. I think there's a proposal in a zoo, in front of the cage of ... I forget which animal.
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"This was a lovely one. I think there's a proposal in a zoo, in front of the cage of ... I forget which animal."
Alas Lady C, not this one I fear
The good news though is that after a slowish start The Small Bachelor (1927) just gets better and better. The final section is a P.G. Wodehouse tour de force
Review here...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4/5
Wow, Nige, you're going through a stretch of, much like how I refer to the non-Barchester or Palliser Trollope novels, Wodehouse books that I will refer to as his stand-alones. Good show.
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Nigeyb wrote: " It has to be done."And you're just the man for the job.
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https://wodehouse.fandom.com/wiki/Lis...
Nigeyb wrote: "Actually now I consult this list I realise my previous comment was not wholly accurate. There's still many many books still to read..."St. Isidore of Seville said that the man[1] who claims to have read all of St. Augustine is a liar. I suspect something similar may be true of Wodehouse. 😊
[1]Well, he did live in the 6th and 7th centuries when feminism hadn't quite taken off yet.
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Love Among the Chickens (1906) was written when PG Wodehouse was just 25. It launched his career as a novelist. My reaction...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3/5
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Uncle Dynamite (1948)
It's been a long time since I last read it
I'm laughing a lot. Uncle Fred is such a fabulous character
As is Sir Aylmer Bostock - a one off character so far as I recall
Uncle Fred's nephew Pongo has just smashed the prized statue of his lady love's father. His troubles multiply as the replacement bust is revealed to be a smuggling vessel filled with jewels. This bust busting gut buster has Uncle Fred and Wodehouse himself at the very height of their work.
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Uncle Dynamite (1948)
It's been a long time since I last read it
I'm laughing a lot. Uncle Fred is such a fabulous character"
Five stars
Hurrah!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Is there anything better than peak Wodehouse?
Glad to see the 5 stars NigeyB. That's one Wodehouse I don't think I've read though I have a copy on my shelves.
I've just finished listening to Jonathan Cecil reading The Code of the Woosters. It has been many years since I read this one, and he is a fabulous narrator for Wodehouse, so 5*s. Loved it.
I thought The Code of the Woosters was the best of the Jeeves novels and I too gave it 5 stars, even without having Jonathan Cecil's narration..
I find more often than not, the best one is the one I'm reading or have just read.
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I just joined this group and was thrilled to find a Wodehouse thread which I have now read and thoroughly enjoyed. I've read more Jeeves and Wooster than anything else so greatly appreciate the suggestions from Nigeyb about other Woodhouse novels to appreciate.
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It's a public information service, free at the point of delivery
Nigeyb wrote: " It's a public information service, free at the point of delivery"This is going to be a fun group. 😀
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Money For Nothing (1928)
I'm going to be reunited with some old Wodehousian friends too...
The action is mostly set at Rudge Hall, home to miser Lester Carmody, and at Healthward Ho, a health farm run by "Chimp" Twist, along with his cohorts "Soapy" and "Dolly" Molloy, who all previously appeared in Sam the Sudden (1925), and returned in Money in the Bank (1946).
Hugo Carmody, Lester's nephew, and his friend Ronnie Fish also appear (Summer Lightning (1929) and Heavy Weather (1933)).
Sounds like classic PGW....
The peaceful slumber of the Worcester village of Rudge-in-the-Vale is about to be rudely disrupted. First there’s a bitter feud between peppery Colonel Wyvern and the Squire of Rudge Hall, rich but miserly Lester Carmody. Second, that arch-villain Chimp Twist has opened a health farm – and he and Soapy and Dolly Molloy are planning a fake burglary so Lester can diddle his insurance company. After the knockout drops are served, things get a little complicated. But will Lester’s nephew John win over his true love, Colonel Wyvern’s daughter Pat, and restore tranquillity to the idyll? It’s a close-run thing…
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"Poised to start...
Money For Nothing (1928)"
Money For Nothing is splendid. About halfway through now and finding much mirth and merriment
Classic PGW
I had an opening for a little evening light reading and with The Scottish Open this weekend and The British Open next weekend it seemed like a perfect time for The Clicking of Cuthbert
,This is the first collection of PG's golf/Oldest Members stories. I have read others of his golf stories and believe I have read these before sometime in the last century. I know I at least read the Cuthbert short story before but, as I said, that was SO last century.
So it's tee time for the Wodehouse group FORE!!
I have read The Clicking of Cuthbert before. I didn't note it with my other previous reads when I joined GR in 2014 because I didn't have a copy of the book in my Wodehouse collection. But I just looked and I do have a copy but its an old used hardback that I keep in a separate section from my 'Humor Section" so I didn't realize I had it. I am glad I bought the new edition though because I don't think the binding of my old hardback could withstand another read.
Goodreads does not have a picture posted of my old edition but ABeBooks has several copies of the edition for sale. Mine is identical to the following edition, a Herbert Jenkins Ltd. 7th edition from 1926:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...
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Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
Nothing Serious (other topics)The Code of the Woosters (other topics)
The Code of the Woosters (other topics)
Very Good, Jeeves! (other topics)
Nothing Serious (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
P.G. Wodehouse (other topics)P.G. Wodehouse (other topics)
P.G. Wodehouse (other topics)
P.G. Wodehouse (other topics)
P.G. Wodehouse (other topics)
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It has been YEARS since I read any Wodehouse. What on earth is the matter with me?
I should say first the I adore Bertie and Jeeves, except for the one book that is written from Jeeves' POV and not Bertie's. (That one isn't nearly as funny to me, because for me all the humor lies in the language Bertie uses to describe the action and Jeeves' speaking style is very different.) I'm about a chapter in to "Young Men" and Wodehouse is using that same linguistic style that makes Bertie such a hit with me, plus a lot of the characters are known to Bertie fans far and wide as his feckless friends and co-members of the Drones club.
A couple of examples of the language:
“Captain Bradbury's right eyebrow had now become so closely entangled with his left that there seemed no hope of ever extricating it without the aid of powerful machinery.”
“What it all boils down to, if you follow me, is that certain blokes — me, for example — have got much too much of the ready, while certain other blokes — the martyred proletariat, for instance — haven't got enough. This makes it fairly foul for the m.p., if you see what I mean.”
Oh, for the pleasure of rolling around in Wodehouse for awhile! (I became forever his with the line "The F of the S is more D than the M." which is an allusion to Kipling's poem with the line "The female of the species is more deadly than the male." I don't even remember which book that's in. Guess I'll have to reread them all to find out!)