Entertainment For Lively Minds
Ask Jeeves
Posted by Uncle Monty on 18 November 2010 - 2:28pm.
I'm only 100 or so pages into my first ever PG Wodehouse novel - Right Ho, Jeeves - and I have to say that I'm loving it. What a breath of fresh air; it's quite unlike anything I've read before.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because it's down to you, yes YOU. Or at least, those of you who have praised Wodehouse in these pages. You were, of course, right. So, well done all of you.
Lay off the sausages. Toodle-oo. Monty
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Welcome to the Club
You have so much wonderful reading ahead of you.
There was a thread on here a few days ago about seasonal music and I was tempted to add that there are also seasonal reads. Wodehouse is my perfect winter read, guaranteed to lift the gloom that settles on me as the clocks go back.
The only writer that I regularly reread - currently have a collection of short stories "Carry On Jeeves" by my bed.
I completely agree on
I completely agree on Wodehouse being a perfect winter read. I first read his Jeeves stories over the Christmas holidays when I was visiting my extended family and we had a little too much togetherness time, if you know what I mean. When things got tense, I could just find a cozy spot and Jeeves would perk things right up.
I love when a book makes you laugh out loud and Wodehouse is one of the few writers who can do that (for me, anyway).
As Lord Emsworth's butler
Shouldn't you declare an interest here?
Indeed
My love of Wodehouse is already known to a number of the Massive
Wodehouse shaped hole in my education
Hi Uncle Monty, Which did you start with? I've not read any Wodehouse before.
"Right Ho Jeeves"
I mention it in the original post, but I can see that it looks like a Wooster-like aside.
I have no idea if that's the best place to start, but it suits me fine. A more seasoned Wodehouse fan might have better ideas, though I have noticed that Young Men in Spats has received a fair few mentions in recent weeks (including Stimpy below).
I bought this and another Jeeves for £2 apiece in Fopp...
Doh!
Sorry about that Uncle Monty! I really need to read a bit more carefully. Thanks for the tip.
I'm collecting the Everyman editions as they're released
Lovely hardback reprints of the first editions and, due to copyright expiration, they're less than a tenner each.
I'm a huge fan of the Psmith stories and the Blandings tales. Not so keen on the Jeeves/Wooster stuff.
My current favourite is Young Men In Spats.
Blandings
The Blandings series are the best in my view.
I don't enjoy the one-offs as much (that is, the books with characters who don't reappear in other books), which is possibly because Wodehouse paints the characters so thin, but they're so readable and short that they never outstay their welcome.
Love that Empress
The Blandings books are my favorites as well. Truly enjoy Jeeves and Wooster. I seldom go on a long driving trip without some Wodehouse book on CD, especially the fine BBC recordings.
Medicine
Yep, Wodehouse is a true balm for the soul on these dark nights. I'm particularly fond of the Psmith stories, especially the one (I recall) partly set at Lords.
Started reading them after
Fry and Lauries "Jeeves and Wooster" I haven't found anything as funny to read since, it's time I dug out the "Jeeves Omnibus" again, thanks for the reminder. My enjoyment of them is enhanced, in my opinion, by hearing Fry and particularly Lauries voice in my head. "What ho Gussie", perfect.
Definitely time
i re-read. I have read them on and off for 30 years or so and they are by far the funniest things I've ever read. Thought Fry & Laurie's TV version was superb and picked this up really cheaply from Amazon last year in a box set. Have fun.
Though I quite enjoy the TV adaptations....
...I've come to the conclusion that they don't really work on TV because the essential joke is the narrator doesn't quite get the full picture.
Bit like Ron Wood's autobiography in that respect.
One might say the same thing
about Watson's description of Holmes' cases. This might explain why he (Watson) has been portrayed alternately as an buffoon (in the Rathbone/Bruce films) and the true brains of the operation (in The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes and elsewhere). Not many laughs in Conan Doyle though. Psmith aside, I think you can't beat Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop" to raise the spirits.
Mmmm
I really enjoyed the TV version however I totally agree that the books are a must read to get the full experience.
They also lose half the humour
So much of the joy of Wodehouse is not in the plot (which is, frankly, much the same in a lot of the books) but in the turn of phrase.
If you have to rely solely on the dialogue in the books then you lose such classics pieces of description as:
“Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to speak French.”; or
"When two strong men stand face to face, each claiming to be Major Brabazon-Plank, it is inevitable that there will be a sense of strain, resulting in a momentary silence."; or
"It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine."
What's remarkable about Wodehouse is
that it's a reliable rule of thumb that a writer has to work really hard to produce material that's easy to read, yet Wodehouse seems to have bashed out books in the manner of a battery hen producing eggs while maintaining a fabulously high standard.
all geniuses make it look easy
Didn't I read somewhere that he used to pin each page of his work in progress on the wall, starting at desk height and pinning higher with each edit/rewrite, not content until all of them were above the picture rail?
Wodehouse, F Scott Fitzgerald and Melville
the only authors you ever need to read
Said it before and - no doubt - will say it again.
Give me clue
where to start with Fitzgerald and Melville please Sheev.
DA
I suspect that FSF will be the easier to start with. For my money, no-one has written with quite such understated panache or effortless elegance or affecting acuity. You simply cannot go wrong if you start with The Great Gatsby and follow-up with Tender Is The Night
As for Herman Melville - at some point you will have to plunge into the deep, black and icy waters where the leviathan lives - Moby Dick - which is simply the greatest book written. However, an early swim could begin with Billy Budd
Hope you enjoy them
Spot on
I love the Great Gatsby so much that I took my list handle from the book, and if Moby Dick isn't the greatest book I have ever read I can't think what is.
Thanks Sheev
ignorance is obviously not bliss in my case, embarrassed to say I have read neither The Great Gatsby or Moby Dick and feel like I shouldn't have had to ask. I blame, well, I blame me actually, still never too late.
Melville.
Billy Budd is a great start. But can I shout out for Benito Cereno as well? Moby Dick is remarkable, but work up to it. If you start there you might wonder what's the point. Of course if you start reading Melville you know you will need to try Moby Dick at some point. I think its wonderful.
As for Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby. Just read it. Really short, really good, a fine combination in a book I feel.
Have to say...
that I too have been tempted to dip into Wodehouse thanks largely to the enthusings of the Massive. Think I'll draw up a short list for Santa.
TV Jeeves & Wooster
Of course, I loved Fry & Laurie too, & so did my 8 year old daughter at the time, but when I was an 8 year old boy I remember a great series of Jeeves & Wooster with Dennis Price as Jeeves & Ian Carmichael as Wooster. Anyone else recall that?
Blandings...
...is going to be next book 'journey', as I've heard a couple of radio adaptations which were great.
Do I read them in order? If so, what is the order?
Begin with Something Fresh.
Then do Summer Lightning and Heavy Weather. Those two go together in order. Once you've done those three, you'll be hooked.
Go along with that
All three can be picked up for buttons second hand in an omnibus edition titled "Life at Blandings".
Thank you...
...definitely my next purchase.
Don't know why
I've never read any Wodehouse before, something about him just put me off a long time ago, but given the enthusiam expressed and I'm in need of a chuckle, will give them a go. Thanks. On related matter, am going back to the classics and have recently come across some lovely editions (beautifully produced small hardbacks; £6-7) of a limited number of classic novels. Think the publisher is White's books - well worth checking out.
There had crept
...into the face of the young man sat on the terrace at the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes a look of furtive shame. The shifty, hangdog expression which announces that an Englishman is about to speak French
Quote Generator
Random Wodehouse quote generator - possibly why the internet was invented;
http://www.drones.com/pgw.cgi
e-Wodehouse...
If you have an e-reader, much of the collection (it's about 94 books but be slightly careful as several of the American editions are the same books with different titles) is available for virtually nothing via the Kindle and iTunes book stores
I started reading and collecting Wodehouse around 25 years ago and have all of them except for "The Globe By The Way Book" which is stupidly expensive wherever you look. It's been an absolutely joyful part of my life and the books never pale on re-reading.
I started with Jeeves and Bertie, moved on to Lord Emsworth and Galahad and then just worked through the rest randomly. It doesn't really seem to matter much what order you read them in, although I would leave "Sunset at Blandings" until the end with hindsight.
That Wikipedia has a chronological list of 'em
from The Pothunters to Sunset At Blandings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_by_P._G._Wodehouse