P G Wodehouse…
WHAT HO! Celebrating The Very Best of P G Wodehouse & My New Friends on Goodreads
One Hundred Years Ago: In 1917, Methuen & Co of London published THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET, a collection of short stories by P G Wodehouse. One of the stories, “Extricating Young Gussie,” introduced two characters to the Book World for the first time — Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves…
Goodreads has got to be the Ultimate Home for Bookworms.
Created “to help people find and share books they love,” Goodreads has become a kind of library and a kind of gathering of friends. And every friend there has a deep love of books. And many of those friends share that love in their own words.
I know I’ve discovered many books there. Some I’d never heard of. Some were familiar — but I’d never really dipped into those particular pages.
While I’ve never had the time to accept a Reading Challenge, and often go days without getting logged in, I still follow members’ Bookshelves and Recommendations.
I welcome “Be my friend on Goodreads” emails, always hit the ACCEPT button — and spend some time checking out my new friend’s MY BOOKS.
I’ve thrilled at winning books through the popular GoodReads Giveaways. Especially those Advanced Reading Editions. And putting on heartfelt Book Reviews of my favourites of those — as well as some of my Discoveries and Longtime Faves: SEE Brian Alan Burhoe’s Book Reviews – Writers, Artists & Stories
It was on Goodreads that I discovered (Re-discovered, actually) Pelham Grenville “Plum” Wodehouse and his comic stories. I had only read a few stories of his over the years, usually in humour anthologies, and hadn’t really been captured by Plum’s world. But lists of Goodreads comic fiction again and again included Wodehouse near the top. And Jeeves. And writers like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett loved him…
So after a while I decided to check him out again.
Hooked!
And here’s my latest book review. It’s my latest read by P G.
WHAT HO! THE BEST OF P G WODEHOUSE – A Book Review
With no more works from Terry Pratchett — and my collection-completing copy of John Mortimer’s RUMPOLE AND THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS sitting smug and comfortable on my bookshelves, I’ve welcomed and cheered my late-in-life discovery of Plum Wodehouse.
On the back cover of WHAT HO! THE BEST OF P G WODEHOUSE, you’ll read this little quote by Sebastian Faulks: “P G Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century.”
I’m not quite ready to agree wholeheartedly with Mr Faulks. Not yet. But with each Jeeves book, each Blandings trove, I’m getting there.
In his Intro to WHAT HO, Stephen Fry tells us: “In my teenage years the writings of P G Wodehouse awoke me to the possibilities of language…”
Maybe that’s it. Perhaps I discovered Plum too late. Perhaps Jeeves and Lord Emsworth of Blandings, Ukridge and Uncle Fred will never completely overwhelm my deep affection for my personal hero Horace Rumpole, that proud, that defiant Old Bailey Hack. But they’re trying.
After all, I’ve always been attracted to the older English writers. Maybe my boyhood spent in Yorkshire…
WHAT HO is a glorious collection of short stories, letters, articles, notes about writing, and extracts from novels & autobiographies. What a read!
And being me, my fave story in this collection is a rare exception from his usual lighthearted farce, gentle satire and musical-comedy story lines. “Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend” is heart-felt sentimental comedy, a Chaplinesque story of Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, and a little Fresh Air Child from London named Gladys, whom he discovers locked in a garden shed for stealing food from the tea tent. Sentimental comedy requires moments of sadness, tragedy and even brief heroics, ingredients not often found in Plum’s writings.
Yes, my fave Plum story so far. Although “Uncle Fred Flits By” and “The Mixer” (in THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET) are tied for second spot.
Some say WHAT HO! THE BEST OF P G WODEHOUSE isn’t the best introduction to the master’s work. I say, “Well, my dear old thing! Pack your spare dickey and toothbrush and prepare for a civilized journey to a world of innocent mirth.”
Time for laughter!
Fave Quote: “He resembled . . . in his general demeanour one of those unfortunate gentlemen in railway station waiting-rooms who, having injudiciously consented at four-thirty to hold a baby for a strange woman, look at the clock and see that it is now six-fifteen and no relief in sight.” – P G Wodehouse
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” SEE: The Life & Works of Brian Alan Burhoe
And — Cheers to My Present & Future Friends on Goodreads! Join Me Now! Just CLICK Here…
Title: WHAT HO Best of Wodehouse, Jeeves, Blandings & Uncle Fred
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