P. G. Wodehouse | Where to Begin
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
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Wodehouse is a writer that you can just tell was a master craftsman. Just perfect sentence after perfect sentence.
instablaster...
I started with "Leave it to Psmith." It was probably Wodehouse's first "adult" novel. The earlier novels were "school" novels and were written for boys in English Public Schools. The Psmith series actually started out as a series about Mike in a book called "Mike at Wrykyn." "Leave it to Psmith" is actually the last book in the series, but it is a great introduction to Wodehouse's adult novels. It is set at Blandings Castle and introduces Lord Emsworth, Lady Constance, the Efficient Baxter, and Freddie Threepwood -- who later populate the Blandings Castle series.
The Mike and Psmith series is the absolute best! Psmith Journalist, and Psmith in the City are some of the most hilarious books ever written in the English language. What's more, is that Wodehouse himself stated Mike and Psmith was his favorite book, though he did apologize for the abundance of detail indulged in describing cricket matches.
Absolutely love anything Wodehouse. I got into him in my twenties and, 40 years on, still love him. I'm in Canberra, Australia and most of our second-hand book fairs have a good supply of Wodehouse, particularly older Penguin versions.
I've been reading Wodehouse for many, many years and have a pretty large collection. Best start? Weekend Wodehouse covers the best. Don't miss out on the Oldest Member stories! Love those.
I recently bought several of these books at a charity shop here in London,can't wait to start reading
When the world is dark and my heart is heavy, I trundle out P. G. Wodehouse or James Thurber. Even after reading their works multiple times, I still find new things at which to giggle in the insane/absurd worlds of Wodehouse's Lord Emsworth or Jeeves, or Thurber's Barney Haller or his dogs. Books come and go on my bookshelves, but these two authors always have an honored place.
Yes, echo to that 👍
I found Wodehouse through the series "Jeeves and Wooster." My local library happened to have it on DVD and I tried it out on a lark. I watched the whole series through five times, beginning to end. Come to think of it, that was thirty years ago. I've been reading Wodehouse ever since.
I adore Wodehouse - loved this! Jeeves and Blandings are wonderful, but Mr. Mulliner & Psmith are my favorites. Leave It to Psmith is one of the funniest and best books of all time IMO. :)
Exactly! I don't get it when people say Psmith series is dull. I loved Psmith in the City. I haven't read Jeeves series though
Exactly, there’s a crossover between Psmith and Blandings and it’s the best I’ve ever come across
Bruh...I always found Smith annoying as heck. The Jeeves series is the best( his individual novels were good too)
If you listen to audiobook versions, especially Jeeves, get Jonathan Cecil’s reading
@@kieranpavlick3909 Isn't he wonderful? His voice IS Jeeves, IMO, but even his female voices are spot on. I listen to his audiobooks at night when I can't sleep. I end up laughing so much it doesn't help me sleep, but it does pass the time pleasantly.
Always pleased to learn of Wodehouse devotees from other countries
Laugh out loud funny books. Love the audiobooks with great accents. I like the Monty Bodkin character too.
I like audiobooks, I can listen to them while I’m doing jobs around the house, mowing the lawn or walking the dog. Picked up Stephen Fry’s readings of the Jeeves and then the Blandings collections on Audible (87 hours of Wodehouse for 2 credits seemed like a good deal) and now I am listening to Cecil, Jarvis, etc. on UA-cam.
You just know all the serious writers wish they could write like P.G. Wodehouse. Absolute legend!!
I started with the World of Psmith Omnibus book and absolutely fell in love with it and now I'm delving deep into the Jeevs books. Absolutely fantastic stuff.
Christopher Hitchens has an excellent essay on Wodehouse in his book 'Arguably'. "If a volume of collected Wodehouse could be assembled, and could include no more than two full-length novels ('The Code of the Woosters' and 'Right Ho, Jeeves'); perhaps a dozen or so finished Jeeves and Bertie short stories (to include 'The Great Sermon Handicap', 'Jeeves and the Old School Chum', and 'Jeeves and the Song of Songs'); and a selection of the Mulliner tales (both stories about the cat named Webster, the 'Buck-U-Uppo' reminiscences and the accounts of Archibald and Sacheverell), one would have a real corker that could never, ever die."
Even if you don't like his subject matter, and young people today seem to find it inaccessible, there is a lot to learn from his writing and how he constructed sentences and used language. He is one of those great writers who can sketch a vivid picture with few words.
Thanks for doing this video! So nice to see writers like Wodehouse on Booktube! He's one of my favorite authors!
It's amazing how overlooked he is by the wider population. Should be on the syllabus.
Jeeves is the place to begin. Read all the Jeeves novels .... then you'll be ready for the rest of P.G. Wodehouse writings.
Very nice and informative, thank you so much. My daughter got me started on a Blandings book, and as she knew, I really loved Wodehouse. Then I ran across Jeeves and Wooster and had to start reading the books as well, only to discover that I hear all the dialogue in the voices of Fry and Laurie. They really carry the subject quite well.
Only problem I discovered is that I purchased a couple of different compilations, only to discover that about half the stories were duplicated. Nice to read them again, but would have preferred not quite so soon. Someone needs to publish "The Complete Jeeves Compendium," or "The Collected Stories of Blandings Castle," and the like. Perhaps even "The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse," though I'm not certain how many of us could afford it, or find a place to store it.
Cheers!
Five mini-bookshelf tours sounds great to me! Can't wait for it.. You got me into reading classics (quite recently though, I've started with the picture of dorian gray and loving it so far!)
Wodehouse said the reason that Bertie had aunts but no parents (this is from memory so approximate) was because if a parent did those kinds of things to a child it would be awful, not funny.
Interesting, but the absence of parents never seemed odd as the upper classes of the period believed in 'parenting at a distance'.
@@bhangrafan4480 I think there are some hints of a back story that his parents died when he was small. I think the Jeeves books and stories are the best by some margin, partly because of the narration by Bertie in his inimitable style full of half-recalled references to poetry, his foppish 1920s clubman slang etc. (Admittedly I have read only a single story of Mulliner or the Golf stories, so I cannot comment on these). Next for me would be the earlier Blandings stories (some of which are better than the very late Jeeves novels). "Leave it to Psmith" is very good (whereas I couldn't really get into Mike and Psmith, too culturally distant, i.e. too much early 1900s british public school and cricket) But I rather dislike Galahad, so the later Blandings are not favorites either. General rule, if Lord Emsworth and the pigs are in it, it's good. Of the standalones some are also up there (Luck of the Bodkins) but I think they can be left for later.
@@bartolo498 In one of the books Bertie mentioned that his father had died.
Hello dear Miss Rickman
I'm glad to meet you because
you're the first youtuber who comment about Wodehouse.
His comicalness gave me so much amusing yours.
I have a whole section in my library full of Wodehouse but I am so overwhelmed that I steer clear of it. Thank you for this video, I feel braver armed with some knowledge of where the heck to start xxxxx
He's such a great writer- sublime.
One reason is that he had a vocabulary. That is one thing I miss when I read more "modern" writers. His writing isn't "dumbed down." It is full of literary allusions and real words.
Carry on Jeeves was my introduction to Wodehouse - I've been hooked ever since. There is also a series made in the 70s called Wodehouse Playhouse - all the episodes are on youtube.
Thank you! I didn't know about Wodehouse Playhouse. I LOVE "Wooster and Jeeves", probably my favorite British TV show if I had to choose only one. His command of the English language is unparalleled.
@@LazyIRanch sadly it looks like the full episodes have been taken down, I can only find snippets now. It was good but the Stephen Fry/ Hugh Laurie series is the ultimate Wodehouse adaptation. I just love Wodehouse - no need for Prozac when you have him!
@@styxcreek Wodehouse Playhouse is available on DVD by Acorn in the US - I have it in England because I have a multi-region player. Amazon.com will ship to the UK.
Outside the series check out the short stories "Goodbye to All Cats" and the Uncle Fred stories. Sensationally good.
Also Galahad Threepwood.🍀
Thanks!
I love all of P.G. Wodehouse's works! I forget which one I read first, since that was around 1960, give or take a year or two! Anyway, I have read all that I can get my hands on, and after several years, I would re-read some of them between other books I happen to be reading. Although the T.V series deviate somewhat from the books or stories, I also find them enjoyable.
All in all, I'm a big Wodehouse fan!
This was helpful because I have a couple of P.G. Wodehouse books and I was never sure if I should start with a specific book :)
Think i started with Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves. I love them, they are hilarious. Need to try out the Blandings books at some point
Thank you for the recommendations Lesley! I've wanted to read books by this author but as you said there are so many choices that I couldn't decide. Think I will start with Jeeves.
The Mr. Mulliner stories are also a great introduction to Woodhouse. The Ukridge and golf stories are great too. All of the ones I've mentioned are short stories, except Love Among the Chickens which is a novel that features Ukridge. The Psmith novels are good too, but of course nothing compares to Jeeves and Wooster.
"I say, what?!" ~Freddie Threepwood
There is nothing quite like the exquisite pleasure of finding an unread Wodehouse. The feeling of privilege is sublime. Like a child encountering easter for the first time (much as the infant Samuel) . The mind boggles that anyone could have developed such a command of the language.
The infant Samuel (at prayer) is from the old testament. Therefore don't think he celebrated any easters.
I collect Wodehouse too. I have nine of the hard bound (every man) books (which I love) - I have seven of the paper back books Penguin) which I love. I have three paper back books of other editions .... which I love. It's nice to have different editions in my collection.
I particularly like the Mr Mulliner series of short stories. They are hilariously funny and always start in a pub called The Angler's Rest, where Mr Mulliner tells stories about his seemingly infinite supply of idiotic nephews and their attempts to win the hearts of the fairer sex. Incidently, a lot of them were turned into an on-going comedy series in the early 70's, starring John Alderton and Pauline Collins. Most of them are available on You Tube, if you type in Wodehouse Playhouse. They also include some of the Golf stories, as told by the Eldest Member.
Thank you so very much for your informative video as I just recently discovered P.G.Wodehouse. A few weeks ago I found some first editions in an antique store while in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for less than $10 each, I got excited!
One of my favourite writer
If you start reading The Inimitable Jeeves, you will find it hard going, but try the Chapter "The Great Sermon Handicap." This chapter has not been put on the television, so you will want to read it, and the chapters from there are not as hard going.
The one thing about P. G. Wodehouse, is that the bed is just a piece of furniture. Berty Wooster will be sleeping in it, Jeeves will serve him his morning tea, and maybe breakfast in the bed, they might sit on the bed, but it is never shared with another person.
When I want to start someone on Wodehouse, I first ask whether they prefer short stories or novles. If they say short stories, I start with Mr. Mulliner stories "The Smile that Wins" and "Strychnine in the Soup" and "The Nodder". Then the golf stories "The Heel of Achilles" and "The Magic Plus-Fours". Then "Ukridge's Accident Syndicate". And top it off with "Jeeves Takes Charge" and "Jeeves and the Impending Doom".
For novels, start with PGW's magnum opus RIGHT HO, JEEVES. Then, LEAVE IT TO PSMITH, because it's uniquely beautiful, as well as funny and well-plotted. The descriptions of Emsworth Castle and the gardens and environs are like a pastoral symphony. Then, SUMMER MOONSHINE, because it's also unique in several ways. Then UNCLE DYNAMITE, and THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS. And if the person I'm recommending to knows New York, PICCADILLY JIM.
Yay! So glad you did this. I have some public domain Wodehouse on my Kindle because I wasn't sure if I'd like his writing style. I wasn't sure where to start since there are several I could get in that format. If I love them I'll keep a lookout for pretty editions. Thanks so much!
Loved this commentary. Thank you.
Last year, I listened to Carry On, Jeeves and loved it. Also listened to Sebastian Faulks' Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. I thought he did a good job capturing the feel of it, with Jeeves being so wise and Bertie being such a twit. But I'd love to know your opinion, as you would know better than I.
Late to this video but agree with absolutely everything you say. Surprising how many Aussies have never heard of him. My absolute favourite author and I read my small collection over and over.
Yes...you really helped me with wodehouse!!!
A very lovely video. Well done! I love Wodehouse' books!
And if you're going to listen to audiobooks, look for Johnathan Cecil's readings.
I would recommend starting with some of his collections of short stories which introduce a range of his colourful characters like Bingo Little, Uckridge, and so on.
This is a great video intro to Wodehouse. Thank you very much!
Many of the PGW audiobooks are available free on YT. The ones read by Jonathan Cecil are my favorites. I'm always amazed how he manages to play all the characters in different voices. Most of the readers are good, except for the ones from Librivox. Those are read by Americans. They mispronounce so many words. Even being American, it just ruins it for me. Btw, If you're a Christie fan, Hugh Fraser does a fantastic job with those readings.
For those who enjoy audio books, English actor Johnathan Cecil and American voice actor/narrator B. J. Harrison have done some very fine audio adaptations of Wodehouse material. Many Jeeves and Wooster stories are also available as e-books.
7:45 Just a note, the original Everyman books (please note if you Google J.M. Dent, Everyman, T'interweb is 100% wrong, they say it first appeared 1960🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂) Back in the real world the Everyman books first appeared in 1904. For Bibliophiles they make an excellent series to collect, although I am not aware any original P.G. (Plum) Wodehouse books were produced, but if you want Virgil, Tacitus, or classics from the past, Everyman Books are worth looking at.
Also because they sold in vast numbers and were usually saved, for later reading, they are readily available at a price easy on the pocket.
Please note anyone who has seen Stephen Fry, in Jeeves and Wooster, or in Blackadder, should read the last piece, in Fry's voice, it is most pleasing🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
P.G.Wodehouse. In my opinion the word genius was coined by him. PG should be reqd. reading and on the curriculum of all schools. The World would be a happier place.
As someone who has read a good deal of Wodehouse but seldom has the opportunity to discuss him with another avid reader, I am surprised there was no mention of Psmith. In my experience I have come across many different titles with him as a central character and of the ones I've read I find him almost equally delightful and iconic as Jeaves. I am particularly fond of "Psmith in the City".
Whenever he says, "the 'p' is silent, as in pshrimp" I laugh. That line is quintessential Wodehouse. I will admit though that most of Psmith books get very deep into cricket and cricket terminology, often losing me as a reader. Hilarious nonetheless!
Thank you for this! I love the Fry and Laurie series and I have often thought about reading the books, but I really didn't know where to start. :)
The choice for a Wodehouse first read is of utmost importance.
Like gas/petrol they come in octane ratings, a sort of 'laughs per mile' indicator.
Blandings/Emsworth/Psmith are low octane.
Going up we have the Oldest member/ Mr Mulliner books.
More combustible are the Jeeves/Wooster stories.
But, on a par with pure NitroGlycerine are the tales featuring
'Stanley Featherstonehalgh Ukridge, that impecunious man of wrath'.
Many find him the funniest literary creation ever, and Wodehouse's personal favourite.
He features in a novel entitled 'Love among the chickens' and a series of short stories in a volume called 'Ukridge'.
Nobody ever talks about the Oldest Member golf stories, they’re hilarious. There’s also a brilliant set of BBC dramatisations which if you’re quick, the Beeb keeps taking them down, are currently on UA-cam.
Thank you for this posting...love me some Pelham G.Wodehouse
this really caught my interest. ..great video again :))xx
I feel that regards to BW, you need to read the Reggie Pepper stories, the prototype for Bertie. Then read Jeeves Takes Over, which introduces us to
Jeeves.
I would introduce a newbie to Wodehouse through the golf stories collected in "Heart of a Goof." The BBC did a great audio version of them a few years ago. I wish someone would post it on UA-cam.
The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, I see. Wonderful book and a real eyeopener. However, nothing compares to Wodehouse, of course.
I think the Everyman series came closer than any other to publishing all of the books. (I _think_ I have all of those.) I'd say some of his later books (mid-sixties onwards) are not quite as good. But if you're holding a Wodehouse in your hand in a bookshop and it was first published between 1930 and 1960 then buy it.
I've been collecting the 1940s (or so) hardcover editions with the red covers. I wonder if that was some standard format because I have them from multiple publishers. Printing is fairly bad, but that's part of the charm.
Jeeves is a gentleman's PERSONAL gentleman.
doesn't he somewhere described as a "personal gentleman's gentleman"? Wodehouse sometimes has these constructs that feel strange to me, and I can't make up my mind if they are just idiosyncratic, or whether they are the correct English of the time.
It annoys me when he is described as a butler. Even on Jeopardy they'll occasionally have a question about Jeeves and get it wrong and call him a butler. Although, as many Wodehouse fans know, Jeeves may not be a butler but in a pinch he can butle with the best of them.
Thanks for this! Wodehouse is the BEST!
Nicely put Les!
Good overview of Woodhouse
I just discovered Wodehouse last year, i just didnt have an overview of his work. If I ever needed to buy a book, i would love to have your advice, thank you for the video
Please, can you talk about his 'Damsel in Distress'? Thank.
What I find strange is that many British people I have talked to have not heard of their genius PG Wodehouse
wodehouse rocks! thanks for this.
I see you didn't mention Wodehouse's prolific career in stage and film scripting and lyrics, which were the source of a large portion of his not inconsiderable income. The production "Showboat" features a song "Bill" of whose lyrics Wodehouse remarked "The royalties are enough to keep me in whiskey and tobacco for the rest of my life"
I am personally not a fan of works by other authors based on the original but in this case will make an exception...
Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman(1979) by Cecil Northcote Parkinson is a good read, right up there with Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie's "Jeeves & Wooster" TV series in capturing the essence of Wodehouse.
His (too few) stories with a golfing theme ("The heart of a Goof" and others) were of great comfort to me on the day I "broke 90" on a nine hole course and realised that that's as good as it was going to get for me.
I have about 40 Wodehouse books of all sorts in all sorts of condition.
If you enjoy Wodehouse, you might also enjoy the "William" series by Richmal Crompton, written over a similar period.
Leslie, in this instance I think we were telepathically linked because I just recently decided to start the Jeeves series (I own the first 4). Then today, I was watching Blandings series 1 while researching to see which Jeeves and Blandings books my library had and when you posted this video, I was watching some of your old videos to see if you
reviewed any Wodehouse lol. I think I am going to read one from each and kind of read the series in chronological order, parallel to each other (unless you think it is better to read them one series at a time?). My library had nearly all of Jeeves (but 2 are very hard to find so I may skip them). However, they only had one Landings and I only own 1 so I'll probably get the Norton editions from my bookstore. One question I have is how to pronounce Wodehouse's name? I've heard both WODEhouse and WOODhouse and while I think WOODhouse is easier to say idk which is correct. Thanks for the video, it was perfect timing :)
Blandings*
You can’t speak of Clarence, the Ninth Earl without including the Empress of Blandings as a major character.
I think the everyman editions have all of wodehouse
PGW is the dog's!
Best wordsmith ever.
Probably the most self-effacing, too!
I really hope they make more of the Blandings Castle series!
All Psmith books are great, especially "Leave It to Psmith"
Bertie Wooster is a knucklehead, but he doesn't think so. That is the central issue with a lot of PGW's Jeeves novels. Bertie gets himself into a jam with his cunning plans, and Jeeves gets him out.
Gotta give a shout out to Galahad if you're talking Blandings!
I love the idea of filming your book collection by bookcase. It makes it easier to watch too! :) I had kind of a funny question that I would love your opinion on How do you feel about buying local vs buying through Amazon or big bookstores. I wondered because I love buying from locally own businesses but sometimes the prices are so much higher. I've been eyeing a certain book and on Amazon its $15 cheaper. I really want to buy local but that's quite a price difference. Any thoughts? :)
Very helpful.. Thanks!
Where to begin? Look no further than 'Right Ho, Jeeves'. An inebriated Gussie Fink-Nottle presenting the prizes at the local grammar school is the greatest comic fiction ever written.
Tbh in general I don't like bookshelf videos as they are soooooooo long. Showing a shelf a wk might be nice and for you too.
Wodehouse is the Don of English!
Great video!
Young remind me of a young Aunt Dahlia
Ah, I see you are a Chappie of culture as well.
Carry on Jeeves is the perfect setup that portrays women in powerful household positions.
Come back!!!!
I thought Bertie had only 2 aunts, Dahlia and Agatha. Who are the others, pray tell?
How can anybody NOT like PGW??? Well, actually, we did read Code of the Woosters in my book club, and one chick hated it. It totally offended her. She was a lit professor, and said it was misogynistic. LOLOLLL
The bird must be stark raving mad. Was she the kind that thought stars were gods daisy chains?
If I'd been one of her unfortunate students, I would have felt the urgent need to leave, permanently.
If necessary, by incurring yet another dead grandma.. whose funeral was to be held in Australia at the soonest..
What an old trout to not love PG..
I'm appalled.
...
Sigh
@@criticuttam Oh, Madeline! Yes, and she probably thinks Bertie would be madly in love with her! I would make a special point of calling her, "Old Thing", frequently.
Wodehouse has the best vocabulary of any author, past or present, that I can think of, and he does a great job of distributing same among his characters, especially Jeeves. He employs the PERFECT word every time. To read him is to laugh out loud--literally, no exaggeration--about once per page minimum. You owe it to yourself to give him a whirl. It's pointless to recommend a particular book; they're all great.
Where's S.F. Ukridge? I'd start with the short stories of this great character. If Arthur Daley and Del boy Trotter shared a common grandfather he would be Ukridge. Laugh out loud funny.
It was a long time pleas comback
Something Fresh (new) Omnibus.
Wodehouse maintained a high quality of writing across a broad spectrum. The Jeeves-Wooster series, the Blandings castle one, the standalone novels, the short stories--there are excellent specimens from all of them. The J-W series is my favorite because of Bertie. His narration is inimitable, and he's a character you grow to love. The first four novels are out of this world good. Blandings' best are Leave It To Psmith, Summer Lightning, Heavy Weather. Then there's the Uncle Fred series, two of which take place at Blandings. Of the standlones, try Sam the Sudeen or Summer Moonshine. Monty Bodkins appears in Heavy Weather and reappers in the best shipboard farce ever, The Luck of the Bodkins. (Pearls, Girls & MB is not so good.)
I got addicted to the TV show and want to try the books because the show is so fun . Jeeves is always the perfect wing-man and I wish I had him for advice !
After watching this I bought to PG Wodehouse books and hired Jeevs and Wooster lol
Best to stretch out these little sugar hits of comedy, or it's like a DVD season of Only Fools and Horses, Seinfeld and/or Fawlty Towers, for example, that you watch episode, end-on-end, and get so sick of it before it ends, that you never want to think of it again :-)
TV ADAPTATIONS - The Fry & Laurie 1990s "Jeeves & Wooster" was wonderful. I would say it is far and away the best TV adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse. I cannot share any enthusiasm for the more recent adaptation of "Castle Blandings". It was obvious that the producers and directors had no understanding of the material at all. I think it was appalling. The casting was not good for most parts, and many of the actors clowned, breaking the rule that if you want laughs play it straight. Timothy Spall tried his best but was mis-cast. Peter O'Toole had been a much better choice in the earlier adaptation of "Heavy Weather" featuring Roy Hudd as Beech the butler, and Richard Briers as Sir Galahad. I highly recommend this earlier one off novel adaptation which shows exactly where the later one went wrong. Jennifer Saunders gave by far and away the best performance in the latest version, and played it straight.
Oh, the ubiquitous 'Hi Guys' the Americans are so fond of! Please could you open your remarks by a simple 'Hello'? Thank you.