P.G. Wodehouse

[Lady Clementina]

Brian E wrote: "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 ..."

I remember being very sceptical when I first read this since I know nothing of golf. But I needn't have worried--it was thoroughly enjoyable.

[Nigeyb]

Interesting


I too am put off by the golfing stories but will not approach them with more anticipation

[Nigeyb]

There's a load of PGW collections for a few pence today on Kindle in the UK...


https://shorturl.at/htALO

[Roman Clodia]

Ooh thanks!

[Roman Clodia]

I'm midway through Plum Pie which is a collection of stories and short pieces: so far I think the Jeeves short stories are better than the novels, but that the Blandings novels (bear in mind I've only read one, Leave It to Psmith), are better than the Blandings short stories - any thoughts?

Blandings seems to need a bit more room to breathe with all the various characters and sub-plots. A few bits of Jeeves don't read well today: visual gags about 'blacking up' and the fat-shaming that underpins a large young woman on Bertie's lap but Wodehouse really 'gets' farce in what feels like an instinctive way.

[Nigeyb]

I prefer PGW's novels to his short stories but do agree that his best short stories are the Jeeves and Wooster ones, many of which are splendid

[Brian E]

I finally got around to reading Leave It to Psmith and discovered it to be a fun Blandings Castle novel, albeit a pre-Empress one. After avoiding P.G.'s Psmith books, I finally was able to sample the Psmith character and my curiosity was piqued.

Accordingly, I just obtained a freebie Kindle of Mike and Psmith so I can cheaply examine Mr. Psmith's 'roots' before P.G. expanded his use (the book originally had only Mike's name in the title). I will sneak it is between Christmas and New Year's, a period that seems to me should make for some prime P.G. reading time.

Also, here's my review of Leave It to Psmith which I was going to put in that book's thread, but since we are all here and I'm basically a bit lazy, why not here?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Brian E]

Roman Clodia wrote: "A few bits of Jeeves don't read well today: visual gags about 'blacking up'.."

Yes, the 'blacking up' is what made Thank You, Jeeves the only 3 star Jeeves novel of the many I've read. I'm not that PC but even being willing to enjoy politically incorrect humor can't make something unfunny funny. And when a humor novel's climactic humorous bit, intended to be uproariously funny, instead is so dated that it leaves you blank and feeling meh, then the book doesn't work. The book could have been 2 stars but it did have pages and pages of other Wodehouse humor that had me chuckling. It was only this key climactic bit that fell flat.

Here is my review of Thank You, Jeeves
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Roman Clodia]

Brian E wrote: "I finally got around to reading Leave It to Psmith and discovered it to be a fun Blandings Castle novel, albeit a pre-Empress one. After avoiding P.G.'s Psmith books, I finally was ..."

This was my first Psmith too, and also my first Blandings novel - I have yet to meet the famous Empress!

[Roman Clodia]

Brian E wrote: "Yes, the 'blacking up' is what made Thank You, Jeeves the only 3 star Jeeves novel"

Very interesting notes in your review, Brian, especially about the modern adaptation. As you say, it's just not funny as it stands.

[Alwynne]

Nigeyb wrote: "I prefer PGW's novels to his short stories but do agree that his best short stories are the Jeeves and Wooster ones, many of which are splendid"

I think Mulliner gives them a run for their money!

[Nigeyb]

Thank You, Jeeves is an all time favourite...


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

The n word understandably induces revulsion in modern readers but if we are going to still read books from the early 20th centuy we either have to accept they were different times or forego a lot of writing from the era

I note in my review...

As is so often the case with books written in the early 20th century, the modern reader may look askance at some of the racial epithets that were acceptable at the time however, and whilst I do not for one moment excuse it, sadly it was socially acceptable back in 1934. That important point aside, I say again this is PG perfection.

[Nigeyb]

Alwynne wrote:


"I think Mulliner gives them a run for their money!"

I'm now racking my brain to recall if I've read any

Either way, I will check some out before much longer

Thanks

[Alwynne]

Nigeyb wrote: "Alwynne wrote:


"I think Mulliner gives them a run for their money!"

I'm now racking my brain to recall if I've read any

Either way, I will check some out before much longer

Thanks"

Curates and aunts abound.

[Brian E]

Nigeyb wrote: "The n word understandably induces revulsion in modern readers but if we are going to still read books from the early 20th centuy we either have to accept they were different times or forego a lot of writing from the era ."

I am very accepting of the politically incorrect and dated when I read fiction of the time be it racial or anti-Semitism. But I disagree with your assertion as it applies to a book intended to make me laugh at it as in Thank you Jeeves.

I think there is a clear distinction between "accepting" and "laughing at" or "finding funny," I can "accept" Wodehouse's dated racial/ethnic attitudes just as I accept Bennett's or Galsworthy's or more recently, Margaret Kennedy's in The Constant Nymph. The difference is that those authors weren't trying to make me laugh with its use or, if there were, it would have been in a one-off joke done as an aside and not as the key climactic bit of a humorous novel.

I did not laugh at the key climactic comedy bit at the core of Thank You, Jeeves. On reflection, I don't think it was the "n" word use so much as the whole 'blackface" bit. If there were no use of the "n" word I still don't think I would have laughed at the bit. Putting myself back in the mind of the readers of that time, I understood how it could be funny to them. I accept that. But that understanding did not enable me to find the humor and laughter myself.

Nigeyb, I presume you were able to not only accept the bit but find the humor in it and laugh at it. Good for you. I wish I did too as I read Wodehouse in order to laugh. My being unable to laugh at the climactic bit made the book unable to be the "PG perfection" that you were able to find it.

[Roman Clodia]

That's what I was thinking too, Brian: that it's not just the N word which, as Nigeyb rightly says, was common parlance but the act of 'blacking up' as the source of comedy. It's still being talked about between Sir Roderick Glossop and Bertie in the short story I've just read as it's at the heart of their relationship and what brought them together.

On the other hand I'm feeling delightfully un-PC while smirking at the Fat Uncle Competition taking place at the Drones 🤭.

I've always thought of PGW as apolitical, so surprised to have just read a story called Bingo Bans the Bomb - where Bingo Little is arrested - of course! - for inadvertently joining a group of debs protesting against Aldermaston and nuclear weapons.

[Nigeyb]

I can't remember my reaction to that scene, or indeed the scene itself as I have no recollection of Bertie doing blackface, but my review reminds me that I found the entire book consistently amusing and sporadically hilarious.

[Nigeyb]

Roman Clodia wrote:


"If anyone fancies some Blandings buddies, just shout..."


It look as though it is quite some time since I read the first in the series...


Something Fresh (1915)


...so count me in


There's actually quite a few not logged by me on GoodReads which means I have not read them for over 10 years


One thing that constantly disrupts the peace of life at Blandings is the constant incursion of impostors. Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice.

Now there are two of them – both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth’s secretary, the efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot – despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood’s hapless affair of the heart

[Roman Clodia]

What ho! Nothing I'd enjoy more than a stagger through the delights of Blandings with you, Nigeyb, and anyone else who would like to join us. And I have just bought that very book so I'm all ready to go.

When would you like to do it?

[Nigeyb]

Hurrah


February 2024 works for me

You?

[Roman Clodia]

Perfecto - I'll set it up now.

[Nigeyb]

Current Grapevine Press PGW omnibus editions cheap for Kindle and what's included......



COMPLETE NOVELS OF P.G. WODEHOUSE (GRAPEVINE PRESS) - 39 pence for Kindle - contains....

The Pothunters
A Prefect's Uncle
The Gold Bat
William Tell Told Again
The Head of Kay's
Love Among the Chickens
The White Feather
Not George Washington: An Autobiographical Novel
The Swoop! Or, How Clarence Saved England: A Tale of the Great Invasion
Mike
A Gentleman of Leisure
Psmith in the City
The Prince and Betty
The Little Nugget Psmith, Journalist
Something Fresh - Feb 2024 buddy read
Uneasy Money
Piccadilly Jim
A Damsel in Distress
The Coming of Bill
Jill the Reckless
The Girl on the Boat
The Adventures of Sally
Leave It to Psmith

https://shorturl.at/HKQ47

*

Best of P.G. Wodehouse (Grapevine Press) - 39 pence for Kindle - contains....

The Pothunters
A Prefect's Uncle
The Head of Kay's
Love Among the Chickens
A Gentleman of Leisure
Psmith in the City
Psmith, Journalist
The Man Upstairs, and Other Stories
The Man with Two Left Feet
My Man Jeeves

https://shorturl.at/emFNT

*

Best Novels of P.G. Wodehouse (Grapevine Press)
- 30 pence for Kindle - contains....


LOVE AMONG THE CHICKENS
A GENTLEMAN OF LEISURE
PSMITH, JOURNALIST
SOMETHING FRESH
PICCADILLY JIM
A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS
THE COMING OF BILL
THE ADVENTURES OF SALLY
LEAVE IT TO PSMITH
BILL THE CONQUEROR
SAM THE SUDDEN: OR, SAM IN THE SUBURBS

https://shorturl.at/ewQSV

*

Now you know

I was keen to get my head around this as there's a lot of crossover and many I have read quite recently. Still at that price they're all a steal

[Roman Clodia]

Gosh, PGW was prolific! I'm going to prioritize Blandings for the moment but I'm now completely in agreement that Wodehouse is a comic genius.

[Nigeyb]

Hurrah 🙌🏻

[Nigeyb]

Shall we continue with the next instalment of the Blanding series in April 2024?


The next book is Heavy Weather (1933) (Blandings Castle #5)


The saga of Gally's memoirs continues in this one - it was another five star read for me

[Susan_MG]

I would like to continue on.

[Brian E]

First Wodehouse. Now Hamilton. RC is gradually turning into a female Nigeyb.

[Sonia]

Makes sense to continue as it is a sequel to Summer Lightning.

[SueLucie]

I'd like to read the next one.

[Roman Clodia]

Brian E wrote: "First Wodehouse. Now Hamilton. RC is gradually turning into a female Nigeyb."

Haha, I am! (But sadly not Anthony Powell...)

I'm late to the Blandings party but definitely not ready to go home yet 😊

[Nigeyb]

Hurrah 🙌🏻


Thanks all

Will set it up when I’m next at home

RC, perhaps you’ll see succumb to the Powell magic, I seem to recall it wasn’t immediate with Barbara Pym 🤠

[Brian E]

I haven't joined in since I feel I just read these, but in checking I found I finished reading as follows:
Something Fresh March 3, 2016
Summer Lightning March 23, 2016
Heavy Weather April 8, 2016.

So it has been 8 years. And it will be symmetrical to read the first two in March and then Heavy Weather in April again. So I may join in too. As soon as I finish Queen Lucia which is my current 'entertaining read' selection.

[Roman Clodia]

True, I bailed on Quartet in Autumn but then saw the light with Excellent Women, and never looked back.

[Roman Clodia]

Brian E wrote: "So I may join in too. As soon as I finish Queen Lucia"

Whoop whoop! 🎊🎉

How are you enjoying Lucia? I literally have read those books to pieces and had to buy new copies.

[Nigeyb]

This is getting better and better ❤️‍🔥

[Brian E]

Roman Clodia wrote: "Brian E wrote: "As soon as I finish Queen Lucia"
How are you enjoying Lucia?"

I just started it last night so I've "only just begun." So far so good though. I bought used copies of 5 of the 6 volumes that look like this I'm on the lookout for Mapp and Lucia in that edition but it may be difficult as Goodreads doesn't even have it as one of their many editions.

[Nigeyb]

You're in for a treat Brian - and head over here to keep us informed with progress...


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

[Nigeyb]

Wodehouse bargain alert in the UK


The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (1914)

is a mere 26 pence today


Looks like an early short story collection and possibly one for completists only, but worth a punt at that price and therefore I have snapped it up

Get it here....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...



First published in Great Britain in 1914 as a book, most of the stories had been previously published in various magazines

Charles van Buren, a GoodReads reviewer states: "None of Wodehouse's most popular characters appear in these stories but the Wodehouse touch is still there. Romance, love at first sight, misunderstandings, inheritances, writers struggling for success and other usual themes are at the heart of these adventures. As usual with Wodehouse, the fun isn't so much in the endings, which can be summed up with the old, "all's well that ends well", but in how he gets there."

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


The blurb....

Wodehouse's well-known gift for satisfying plots and comic surprises is evident on every page, but there are also signs of his debt to earlier writers in the realistic tradition. Set mainly in London or New York, many of the stories concern ordinary people - shopassistants, schoolmasters, secretaries, servants, unsuccessful writers - living the life of rented rooms and cheap cafes. Wodehouse knew well from his own experience. Yet there is nothing sad or gloomy about these tales. Far from they are brimming with life and energy, beautifully written and invariably delightful. And for Wodehouse addicts there is also a goodly sprinkling of goofy young men about town and their valets to satisfy the strongest appetites.

[Lady Clementina]

Brian E wrote: "Roman Clodia wrote: "Brian E wrote: "As soon as I finish Queen Lucia"
How are you enjoying Lucia?"

I just started it last night so I've "only just begun." So far so good though. I bought used copi..."

Hope you enjoy them; I really did--revisited most of them a few years ago (I think during lockdown).

[Lady Clementina]

Nigeyb wrote: "Shall we continue with the next instalment of the Blanding series in April 2024?


The next book is Heavy Weather (1933) (Blandings Castle #5)


The saga of Gally's memoirs continues i..."

This one I am yet to read though the Blandings books are my favourites among all of his.

[Nigeyb]

I'm underway with....


Blandings Castle (1935)


....which GoodReads states is.....

Blandings Castle #3


I now realise I have read these stories before but sufficient time has elapsed that I have not retained the details. This is the perfect stepping stone to get me through to April 2024 when we are all going to be reading and discussing Heavy Weather (Blandings Castle #5).

What a time to be alive 🔥


Blandings Castle (1935)....
Here are a dozen stories to delight all Wodehouse addicts...A crooning tenor is attempting to captivate the affections of the Rev. Rupert Bingham's fiancee, Lord Emsworth is striving to remove a pumpkin-shaped blot on the family escutcheon, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood is making a last-ditch attempt to convert Lady Alcester to the beneficial quality of Donaldson's Dog-Joy, and in the bar-parlor of the Anglers' Rest, Mr. Mulliner fascinates everyone with the secret history of old Hollywood.


This is what's included....

BLANDINGS CASTLE

1 THE CUSTODY OF THE PUMPKIN
2 LORD EMSWORTH ACTS FOR THE BEST
3 PIG-HOO-0-0-0-EY!
4 COMPANY FOR GERTRUDE
5 THE GO-GETTER
6 LORD EMSWORTH AND THE GIRL FRIEND

ELSEWHERE

1. A BOBBIE WICKHAM STORY
7 MR POTTER TAKES A REST CURE
2. THE MULLINERS OF HOLLYWOOD
8 MONKEY BUSINESS
9 THE NODDER
10 THE JUICE OF AN ORANGE
11 THE RISE OF MINNA NORDSTROM
12 THE CASTAWAYS

[Roman Clodia]

Ooh, that's tempting. I've read the first three of the Blandings stories as they were in my omnibus edition, but another three look tempting: Lord Emsworth and a girlfriend! Do report back.

It's odd that there isn't a collection of all the Blandings stories in one place: wiki says there were twelve of them written at different times and appearing in different books.

[Roman Clodia]

I did a quick Amazon search and the 'complete works' Kindle editions get bad reviews for not being even near complete and exclude Blandings.

[Nigeyb]

Roman Clodia wrote:


"I've read the first three of the Blandings stories as they were in my omnibus edition, but another three look tempting: Lord Emsworth and a girlfriend! Do report back."

You can rely on me RC

"It's odd that there isn't a collection of all the Blandings stories in one place: wiki says there were twelve of them written at different times and appearing in different books."

Very frustrating

They could have used Blandings Castle and Elsewhere: to collate all 12 instead of padding it out with another eight non-Blandings stories

Wikipedia has a page on Blandings Castle and Elsewhere: which states....

The first six stories all take place at the book's namesake Blandings Castle; they are set some time between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and those of Summer Lightning (1929). Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle is depicted as a gentleman farmer, growing prize pumpkins and especially concerned with his prize pig, Empress of Blandings; he is also concerned with his nieces and nephews as well as the love life of his younger son Freddie Threepwood. The seventh story concerns Bobbie Wickham, an acquaintance and sometime fiancée of Bertie Wooster, who also appears in three of the stories in Mr Mulliner Speaking. The last five are narrated by Mr Mulliner and are set in Hollywood among the movie studios that Wodehouse knew from his time as a screenwriter in 1930–31.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandin...

[Roman Clodia]

Nigeyb wrote: "They could have used Blandings Castle and Elsewhere: to collate all 12 instead of padding it out with another eight non-Blandings stories"

My thoughts exactly, which is what has been done with the Jeeves and Wooster short stories. Ah well, enjoy what you have - the three I read are excellent.

[Nigeyb]

This seemingly authoritative page states there are nine short stories....


https://wodehouse.fandom.com/wiki/Lis...

...and where they were published


The later three stories were written after the ones collated in Blandings Castle ... and Elsewhere which explains why they weren't published together. That said, an enterprising publisher would do well to now publish all in an e-volume or even physical book

[Roman Clodia]

Oh yes, sorry, nine not twelve, this is from the Blandings wiki:

Blandings Castle serves as the setting for eleven novels and nine short stories.

Something Fresh (1915) — Also published under the title Something New.
Leave it to Psmith (1923)
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) – Six short stories of twelve, written from 1924 to 1931, occurring before the events of Summer Lightning:
"The Custody of the Pumpkin"
"Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best"
"Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey"
"Company for Gertrude"
"The Go-getter"
"Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend"
Summer Lightning (1929)
Heavy Weather (1933)
Lord Emsworth and Others (1937) – One short story of nine:
"The Crime Wave at Blandings"
Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939)
Full Moon (1947)
Nothing Serious (1950) – One short story of ten:
"Birth of a Salesman"
Pigs Have Wings (1952)
Service with a Smile (1961)
Galahad at Blandings (1965)
Plum Pie (1966) – One short story of nine (probably to be read before Service with a Smile):
"Sticky Wicket at Blandings"
A Pelican at Blandings (1969)
Sunset at Blandings (1977)

[Nigeyb]

Excellent


Thanks RC

Glad we've got that cleared up

[Nigeyb]

The Crime Wave at Blandings was republished as a 96 page book by Penguin Classics


Alas now out of print but available secondhand on eBay for £12 should you be interested

[Nigeyb]

Nigeyb wrote: "The Crime Wave at Blandings was republished as a 96 page book by Penguin Classics


Alas now out of print but available secondhand on eBay for £12 should you be interested"

Breaking news

I just bought a copy for £3.49 incl p&p from Wob

Three more copies left....

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/p-g-w...


It seemed rude not to - especially at that price

So I can now read 7/9 of the Blandings short stories


❤️‍🔥