Whenever I open a Wodehouse book, I wonder why I have stayed away so long. The man is brilliant. It doesn't matter that most of Wodehouse's stories have the same plot, that Bertie becomes unwillingly engaged and unengaged to a most ridiculous number of females in his career, that the country-house setting rarely varies, or that he draws from a predictable stock of characters. None of that matters a smidgen when you open a Wodehouse book and fall into Bertie's hilarious narration. At that point your only goal is to get away somewhere private where you can guffaw heartily without provoking strange looks.

In this episode, Bertie is calmly eating his breakfast when his eyes light upon a most astonishing announcement in The Times. Apparently he is now engaged to his old flame Bobbie Wickham — and what a way for a fellow to find out, reading it in the paper! Jeeves is off on a vacation and so Bertie is left to deal with this most unwelcome news himself. He heads off to Brinkley Court to get to the bottom of it, and of course many complications ensue. Brain surgeons masquerading as butlers in order to discreetly spy upon Aunt Dahlia's guests, star-crossed lovers breaking off their engagements every couple of minutes, authors of scathing reviews suddenly meeting in person the writers they publicly derided — oh yes, all this and more. Even the eighteenth-century cow creamer has a cameo!

The only problem with Wodehouse is that he wrote so many books, and I read them so quickly that I have trouble remembering which bits belong to which titles. But if that means I must revisit them to get my titles straight, that's fine by me. This one wasn't the funniest of his that I've ever read, but it had me belly-laughing in a couple parts, and few books can do that. Good stuff. ( )

I love Bertie Wooster and this one is as much fun as the others I've read! ( )

Bertie Soldiers on During Jeeves's Vacation: Bertie Wooster is one of P.G. Wodehouse's greatest comic characters. He is normally balanced by the quick wit, aplomb and shimmering progress of Jeeves, his butler. But even butlers need a vacation. So Bertie bids good-bye to Jeeves for the year . . . and promptly faces all sorts of unexpected problems.

The troubles begin a most distraught telephone call to Bertie from Lady Wickham. She sobs between words as she demands to know if "this awful news is true." The awful news is in this morning's Times. When Bertie opens the Times, he finds an announcement of his engagement to Lady Wickham's daughter, Bobbie, a woman to whom he has tried to become engaged to in the past. Darned if Bertie can figure out what it's all about. Bobbie, although beautiful, is one of those women who want to improve their men, and Bertie isn't up for such improvements. The path to solving the challenge leads him to his aunt Dahlia's country home, Brinkley Court, to help her entertain Homer Cream, an American tycoon who is doing a deal with her husband, Tom, where Bobbie is also staying. Bertie's old headmaster is also in residence, which leaves Bertie quaking. But the lure of Anatole's delightful cooking draws Bertie to Brinkley.

Once there, events become ever wackier. Sir Roderick Glossop, who thinks Bertie is dotty, is posing as the butler to evaluate a fiancé.

As usual, romance, plots to gain funds, weird collections and mistaken identities quickly twist the story into unexpected complications and directions.

The pages are filled with original similes and metaphors that will delight any student of the English language. This story has great fun with the fish theme. Bertie's great friend Reginald Herring has the nickname of "Kipper." At one point, Bertie says coldly that "I have every right to goggle like a dead halibut . . . ." Elsewhere, Bobbie's motives are described as, "She wanted you to see the big fish . . . you must have been surprised to see Kipper . . . ." Cream and cream pitchers are also done well in this story.

But the best schemes of Bertie and Kipper come a cropper, and Jeeves has to be called back to make a miraculous recovery for the causes of love and the old feudal spirit.

Right ho!

Another fine Wooster adventure, although one in which Jeeves barely figures. Bertie finds himself engaged (again) to the silly girl Roberta Wickham who was supposed to marry Bertie's old school chum Kipper. In order to extricate himself from this mess, he travels to Brinkley Court, the home of his Aunt Dahlia, and there becomes even more hopelessly enmeshed. A reunion of some favorite old characters ensues. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/s... ( )