I'm enjoying the comments and insights here too tremendously. Rule42, you are a fount of knowledge re: Plum! I'm listening to the Jeeves and Wooster stories right now read by Jonathan Cecil, but want to go on and read everything else Wodehouse wrote.
As I am such a novice, at this point I would have to say that Bertie is my favourite character. He's such a sweet natured goof, always wanting to help out his friends, hardly ever getting angry or at least staying angry , he's not a snob, and he treats Jeeves with the respect Jeeves so truly deserves. Pearls, girls and Monty Bodkin and A Pelican at Blandings are late works, and not really his best - there's a lot to be said for going back to the thirties, when he was at the very top of his form.
But it is certainly true that out of all the books that helpful friends brought along, the Wodehouse books were the ones I read first. Thanks very much for the suggestions thorold. There are so many books to choose from it's hard to know where to start so I really appreciate a starting point! I'll be placing an order with Amazon today. Unfortunately my local bookstores don't seem to carry Wodehouse - I scolded them appropriately on Saturday ;-. Have fun! We don't carry any Wodehouse on our shelves because I'm afraid there's no demand for him.
My favourite used bookstore dealer here locally told me that he can't keep Wodehouse books in stock 'cause they're so popular. That's a great quote :-D 26, yes, I'm thinking starting to collect Wodehouse will be an expensive habit. But I can go slow.
That's interesting to know about Leave it to Psmith. Nice of Wodehouse to include a "colonial" ;-. It may have been just a regular store clerk rather than the store manager that I conversed with that day; the author wasn't Wodehouse but a popular literary author that the store most certainly should have carried, although I can no longer recall who it was I was asking about now ; the ordinal number stated was not quite as high as 25 he may have only said "third" ; and I don't believe he addressed me as "ma'am" but since I don't remember which dress I was wearing that day, he may well have done!
Either that, or he had missed his true vocation as a dead pan comedian. Small world, huh? I am also a big fan of Aunt Dahlia. She is my ongoing favorite from the Jeeves books. My problem is that I can never remember the characters' names later, even though they make me laugh out loud when I read them. I dream of having a complete list of Wodehouse characters -- series stars and ad hocs -- available for easy reference.
Also a list of place names, which are just as funny. Does anyone know of such a compendium? A web site by PGW's greatest fan, heir, or foundation? Anything like that? That should meet most of your needs. There are others, but as the most recently one published actually that should be republished! Daniel Garrison, which does exactly what you want, but you'll have to track it down secondhand.
I find it a very handy reference: it lists just about every named character with a brief summary of who they are and which stories they appear in. It does have a few little errors in it, but nothing fundamental. I find it interesting that no one has listed any of the females in the group except Aunt Dahlia.
Maybe none are favorite characters, but Wodehouse did nail down certain female types unbelievably well. Madeline Bassett she of the "stars are God's daisy chain" quote has come to mind more often when I've met people than most other literary characters.
The Wodehouse girl heroine type - the various Jills, Annes and Sallys - is a bit too good to be true: but two that do stick in my mind are Jane Hubbard with the elephant gun The girl on the boat and Elsie Bean the feisty housemaid in Uncle Dynamite.
I also read Summer Lightning to see what the Blandings stories were like. They really do help whenever I'm feeling down or nervous about the future.
Also like katylit, my favorite character is Bertie by a mile. He's got a great sense of humor and he's such a sweet pushover. I also and maybe this is heresy? I am partial to Beach the butler.
Beach was too well bred to be inquisitive, but his eyebrows were not. After Bertie, Lord Emsworth. His blithe indifference to everything but Empress of Blandings, and some semblance of order in the routine of his household, is sublime -- and in its own way an inspiration.
My Italian doesn't extend much past pasta. People often think that Wodehouse's stories bear no relation to the real world. Wodehouse encouraged that perception, but it is not as true as might appear on the surface. Below the surface of afrost-bound garden there lurk hidden bulbs which are only biding their time to burst forth in a riot of laughing color unless the gardener has planted them upside down but shivering Nature dare not put forth her flowers till the ogre has gone.
Not otherwise does cold supress love. A man in an open cart on an English Spring night may continue to be in love, but love is not the emotion uppermost in his bosom. It shrinks within him and waits for better times. I am relatively new to the Blandings series, having started Something Fresh this week. Already I am enjoying dottery Lord Emsworth :.
Life at Blandings. I have often felt that life at B must have been a very pleasant affair, if not for Lord E and his pig, at any rate for visitors to the castle.
The one thing that might be considered to militate against the peace of life at Blandings was the constant incursion of imposters. B had imposters the way other houses have mice.
I am not certain who is the Empress's pig man now that La Simmons has left. I may be wrong, but I have a sort of idea that he will tirn out to be the latest of that long line of imposters. It is about time that another was coming along.
Without at least one imposter on the premises, Blandings Castle is never itself. Wodehouse on Wodehouse is almost as good as Wodehouse. Can't believe there's only one vote for Uncle Fred! Uncle Fred in the Springtime and Cocktail Time are delightful appearances by the irreverant peer. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Sign in. Forgot your password?
Get help. Password recovery. Soulful Arogya. Please enter your comment! Which was it? Hong Kong Police. Scotland Yard. Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Oxford University. Who among the following was the first character created by Wodehouse? Lord Emsworth. Which of these was Wodehouse's first full-length published novel? Psmith, Journalist. Something Fresh. Galahad at Blandings. Piccadilly Jim.
Wodehouse mentions that all his characters were fictional, except one. He had based one of his characters on a real-life person, which was that character?
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