Wodehouse books

How to read PG Wodehouse: a practical guide for beginners

Leigh Turner
Leigh Turner

How to read PG Wodehouse?  The different series can be confusing.  Here are some practical tips to get started.  

How to read PG Wodehouse: the problem

I recently inherited a splendid shelf-full of P G Wodehouse in a hand-tooled Folio edition. I have since read and reviewed most of them (see links below).

Leigh Turner Seven Hotel Stories

“Seven Hotel Stories”

As a writer of comic tales such as Seven Hotel Stories, I worship Wodehouse. Comic writing is an extraordinary talent. So when I found myself with a shelf of Wodehouse, I prepared to dive in with enthusiasm.

How to read PG Wodehouse?

My shelf of Wodehouse 

But where to begin with PG Wodehouse?

Where I started

I started with The Inimitable Jeeves and Carry on Jeeves.  Both are packed with laugh-out-loud moments; I can recommend them wholeheartedly.  Fine quotes include:

  • The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say ‘When!’
  • Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, “So, you’re back from Moscow, eh?”
  • It is no use telling me there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof.

How to read PG Wodehouse: Jeeves and Wooster

It should not be for me, as a mere novice student of “Plum”, to offer definitive guidance.  But the bumptious dimness of the “mentally negligible” Bertie Wooster and the calm brilliance of Jeeves the butler has a reassuring, satisfying rhythm and from Very Good, Jeeves I could safely classify myself as an addict, craving time spent in their company.

I look forward to moving forward with the works of P G Wodehouse over the months and, possibly, years ahead (have just finished Joy in the Morning, which surely qualifies as one of the best novel titles ever).  If you adore Wodehouse quotations, see my reviews in the “PG Wodehouse” tab under “Categories” or in the list below.

Further reading: 1

You might want to look at my reviews of the Jeeves and Wooster novels – most with numerous luscious quotes.  They include:

I have also reviewed the six Blandings Castle novels by PG Wodehouse in my Folio Society edition:

Further reading: 2

Jeeves’s problem-solving abilities are, along with Sherlock Holmes, a model for my very own Ms N, the world’s most brilliant, unpredictable and occasionally homicidal hotel manager, in my own comic writing, Seven Hotel Storieshttps://geni.us/SevenHotelStories.  It’s my best-seller.

Leigh Turner Seven Hotel Stories

Further reading 3: the excellent Plumtopia

I was delighted to come across fellow WordPress blogger Plumtopia, who specialises in, amongst other things, how to read PG Wodehouse.  I discovered two invaluable articles:

Recommended.

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4 Responses

  1. What Ho, Robert!
    It was very kind of you to mention Plumtopia. I’m chuffed! I’m glad to have found your blog too — I can see there is much for me to enjoy here.
    I take your point about the similarities in some of the Jeeves stories (some were rewritten and appear in more than one collection). Most of the remaining instalments are novels so you won’t find this quite so much. I do hope you also have a chance to try some of Wodehouse’s non-Jeeves stories. Everyone has their favourites — I’d suggest Something Fresh, Ukridge, or Leave it Psmith.
    Thanks again,
    Honoria

  2. I expect to inherit a set of Wodehouse too (not anytime soon, I hope) – though in a less handsome edition, and am glad to be reminded of the pleasure of re-reading him that await.

  3. Vor langer Zeit, als ich mit meiner Familie in London lebte, entdeckte ich ohne Hinweis(!) wodehouse und war sofort begeistert – kaufte alles in Paperback – damals 50p und finde es grossartig, dass es jetzt eine folio-Ausgabe gibt und dass diese im Besitz eines wirklichen Kenners ist. Ich vermute, dass die satirischen Werke eines österreichischen Autors nicht in einer handgefertigten Ausgabe erscheinen würden.

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