Anyway I just read "Very Good, Jeeves" and "Summer Moonshine", what next? I'm curious about his non-Jeeves stuff (though I certainly like it well enough).
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 15 May 2004 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)
― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 15 May 2004 09:25 (twenty-one years ago)
― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 15 May 2004 09:34 (twenty-one years ago)
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Saturday, 15 May 2004 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)
― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 15 May 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Saturday, 15 May 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 16 May 2004 09:37 (twenty-one years ago)
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 May 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 16 May 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 May 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 16 May 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 May 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)
Another non-Jeeves to Search is Uncle Dynamite, which I just finished. Special mention for having the 'my wife's just gone to the West Indies'/'Jamaica?' joke on the second page!
― Archel (Archel), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:10 (twenty-one years ago)
:-(
― Archel (Archel), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)
Destroy: the Fred Astaire adaptation of "A Damsel in Distress". Shame they couldn't have done a straight adaptation. The movie thins the plot with song and dance numbers while keeping the leap from the tower. But hey, it's got Gracie and George - so mangle instead of destroy.
― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Monday, 17 May 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)
OK, I will probably be going to the library today, and I'll probably start on the Psmith series then. Rah!
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)
― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)
― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Monday, 17 May 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)
I could be wrong, of course.
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― . (...), Thursday, 20 May 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 20 May 2004 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― Fred (Fred), Thursday, 20 May 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 20 May 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 20 May 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― Baravelli. (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 20 May 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Bunged. (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 20 May 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Baravelli. (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 20 May 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)
― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Friday, 21 May 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)
― camel (camel), Friday, 21 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 22 May 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 22 May 2004 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 24 May 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)
I think it's just you, then.
― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)
― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 15 May 2005 12:19 (twenty years ago)
― tom west (thomp), Sunday, 15 May 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 15 May 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)
― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 15 May 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)
I'm in a Blandings phase at the moment.
― Archel (Archel), Monday, 16 May 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 16 May 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)
― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)
Here is the start of "Leave It To Jeeves."Jeeves--my man, you know--is really a most extraordinary chap. So capable.Honestly, I shouldn't know what to do without him. On broader lines he'slike those chappies who sit peering sadly over the marble battlementsat the Pennsylvania Station in the place marked "Inquiries." You knowthe Johnnies I mean. You go up to them and say: "When's the next trainfor Melonsquashville, Tennessee?" and they reply, without stopping tothink, "Two-forty-three, track ten, change at San Francisco." And they'reright every time. Well, Jeeves gives you just the same impression ofomniscience.
As an instance of what I mean, I remember meeting Monty Byng in BondStreet one morning, looking the last word in a grey check suit, and Ifelt I should never be happy till I had one like it. I dug the addressof the tailors out of him, and had them working on the thing inside thehour.
― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)
― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 5 January 2006 03:17 (nineteen years ago)
Maybe you're not doing it properly.
― frankiemachine, Thursday, 5 January 2006 10:34 (nineteen years ago)
― Phastbuck, Saturday, 7 January 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)
That is simply personal preference, you understand.
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 8 January 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)
Agree 100%.
― frankiemachine, Sunday, 8 January 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)
― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 8 January 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)
In the UK at least, everything Wodehouse wrote will still be under the copyright of his estate for another 40 years or so under current law.
― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 8 January 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)
You'd probably also have to not have read the book, as Bertie does go on about exactly that once or twice. The thing that really snapped my head back about the story ("Thank You, Jeeves") is that early on he proposes going down to the village that his friend Chuffy is landlord of, and one of the selling points is "You play the banjolele, don't you Bertie? There's a troupe of nigger minstrels in the village at the moment". The shock is dimishished slightly by three things, of which the first is the social criticism mentioned above. The second is the restriction of the use of 'nigger' to Bertie and Chuffy, both frankly twits. Jeeves refers to them as 'negro minstrels' throughout. And the third is that there's no occasion when the 'nigger' isn't followed by 'minstrel' or 'minstrely' - it's effectively being used as a musical genre!
(The fourth reason is probably that at no point do any of the minstrels appear.)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)
― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 23:28 (nineteen years ago)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 23 February 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 23 February 2006 09:19 (nineteen years ago)
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 23 February 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Thursday, 23 February 2006 16:17 (nineteen years ago)
― W i l l (common_person), Thursday, 23 February 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)
― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 23 February 2006 19:45 (nineteen years ago)
If you were introducing Wodehouse to someone (namely: me), what would you recommend as the first novel to read?
― swinburningforyou, Friday, 14 September 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)
Short answer: Right Ho, Jeeves. Slightly expanded: the Jeeves books are the obvious place to start, and it's this or Code of the Woosters for me. Choosing this just because I think Code will have other supporters here.
― woofwoofwoof, Friday, 14 September 2007 21:26 (eighteen years ago)
Yeah, Code (rhymes with "Spode") is kind of the canonical starting point.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 16 September 2007 01:28 (eighteen years ago)
I finally gave that book back, unread, a while back.
― Casuistry, Sunday, 16 September 2007 03:52 (eighteen years ago)
According to my current Standards & Practices, that means you can never borrow that book again, but must purchase your own copy.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 16 September 2007 05:38 (eighteen years ago)
i've been reading <i>leave it to psmith</i> (library didn't have <i>journalist</i>, which hey does anyone have a list of what's out in everyman's wodehouse editions so far? i couldn't find one - ). it's mostly excellent. i can't tell if it had a slow start or if i just wasn't in the mood for those couple chapters. psmith spends a great while impersonating one ralston mactodd, a canadian poet, "the singer of Saskatoon".
― thomp, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 01:28 (eighteen years ago)
grrtalics.
― thomp, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 01:29 (eighteen years ago)
psmith spends a great while impersonating one ralston mactodd, a canadian poet, "the singer of Saskatoon". Just like Casuistry!
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 02:02 (eighteen years ago)
I wonder if Leave It To Psmith is the one I didn't read? It certainly had some really unengaging first few chapters.
― Casuistry, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 07:22 (eighteen years ago)
I wouldn't think it was Leave It To Psmith. Psmith's 'willing to do anything except fish-related activities' ad verbage hooks you in quickly. He pops out of his club and gives Eve an umbrella in the first couple chapters, too - one of my favorite scenes in the book.
Akin to random acts of kindness, that made me want to randomly give someone an umbrella.
― scampering alpaca, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)
i think expecting him to show up would have been more of a hook if i had read the other psmiths first, and thus knew what i was expecting to show up
― thomp, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 19:41 (eighteen years ago)
i read psmith journalist today because it was out in a nice new everyman wodehouse edition and odd paragraph about SOCIAL JUSTICE was really quite odd, and felt like i'd accidentally sat on the remote control
opening descriptions of cosy moments are to-die-for tho; ending's a bit lame.
― thomp, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 16:20 (seventeen years ago)
'Cosy Moments cannot be muzzled!'
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 2 July 2008 00:00 (seventeen years ago)
yes, very good
― thomp, Wednesday, 2 July 2008 12:13 (seventeen years ago)
Started Code of the Woosters this afternoon -- my first Wodehouse!
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 01:55 (fifteen years ago)
Annoyingly, I saw 2 very cheap new Wodehouse books yesterday (one Jeeves, one Mulliner), but ended up not buying them because I wasn't entirely sure that I didn't already own them, due to non-specific titles and blurbs. Got home and found I owned neither.
― ... (James Morrison), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 07:24 (fifteen years ago)
cmon alfred, your first??
got two huge omnibusses (omnibi?) for xmas a few years back, can dip in and out when the mood takes. they're all so similar that i can't usually tell if i've already read or not.
― k¸ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 09:11 (fifteen years ago)
Yes, how did you manage to avoid him this long?
In addition to the sameness, some novels have had more than one title (US/UK) which has tricked me more than once.
― Redd Cadillac & A Blecch Moustache (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 16:17 (fifteen years ago)
Barmy uncles vs. iron-willed aunts: FITE!
― Aimless, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 16:58 (fifteen years ago)
nah, 'sall about devious butlers vs temperamental chefs
― k¸ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 17:04 (fifteen years ago)
they're the lower orders pulling all the strings behind the scenes
The only empress is the Empress of Blandings.
― Redd Cadillac & A Blecch Moustache (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 17:13 (fifteen years ago)
they're all so similar that i can't usually tell if i've already read or not.
this.
useful: http://www.avclub.com/articles/pg-wodehouse,30148/. world of jeeves is back in print in the UK btw.
― caek, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 17:14 (fifteen years ago)
I've the problem with Muriel Spark.
Unbelievable, sure. I've devoured this book though – only 50 pages left.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 18:02 (fifteen years ago)
yeah they're all very easy reads
― k¸ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 18:04 (fifteen years ago)
Ha, Muriel Spark is a perfect example of the same phenomenon.
― Redd Cadillac & A Blecch Moustache (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 18:17 (fifteen years ago)
I have managed to avoid Wodehouse by never liking the artwork on cheap copies I find. Quality idiocy.
― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 20:49 (fifteen years ago)
― Redd Cadillac & A Blecch Moustache (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 September 2010
!
― etc, Friday, 11 April 2014 03:59 (eleven years ago)
:)
― Lem E. Killdozer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 00:25 (eleven years ago)
Found two old Penguin Wodehouses for $2 each yesterday, ine one of those tiny book exchange places. Possibly the only 2 books in the whole shop worth reading, amongst all the Mills & Boon, old Penthouse mags, 3rd-rate SF and military pulp.
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 00:53 (eleven years ago)
Interviewer: Did you always know you would be a writer?
Wodehouse: Yes, always. I know I was writing stories when I was five. I don't remember what I did before that. Just loafed, I suppose.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 14 April 2015 12:31 (ten years ago)