P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975)

I understand this was the first of the Bertie & Jeeves "novels," actually a series of short stories stitched together through the expediency of recurring characters: Bingo Little (a chum from school), a cheating bookmaker named Steggles, a couple of rascally nephews (Eustace and Claude) and – of course – the omnipresent and eternally disapproving Aunt Agatha. The resulting product hits as episodic, but none the worse for it: the format provides ample scope for Wodehouse’s dazzling show more wordplay and appreciation for all things farcical and preposterous.

Bingo Little has never met a woman he wasn’t prepared to fall instantly in love with, but each romance (a waitress, a socialist agitator, the niece of a parson, and a romance authoress) somehow ends up requiring the involvement of Bertie. Perpetually in want of money to woo aforementioned ladies, Bingo's other schemes tend to involve unconventional wagers (on such things as the lengths of sermons and the sports at the local fete), which also tend to entangle Bertie in the sort of quandaries that only Jeeves can resolve ... usually in exchange for Bertie giving up some objectionable item of clothing (a gaudy scarlet cummerbund, an ill-advised set of Eton spats) that offends Jeeves’ sensibilities. Along the way, Aunt Agatha endeavors to maneuver her nephew into marriage with a lovely girl who, alas, turns out to be a con artist; Bertie endeavors to prevent an acquaintance from a disastrous turn on the stage; and aspersions are repeatedly cast on our genial protagonist’s native intelligence, work ethic, sanity, and fashion sense. A lovely introduction to Bertie, Jeeves, and the Wodehouse canon! show less

Wodehouse, P. G. Fore! The Best of Wodehouse on Golf. Mariner, 1999.
Next to Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves, my favorite Wodehouse character is “the oldest member” featured in the stories here, most of which were written in the 1920s. He is an old codger who used to play golf but now just hangs out at the bar looking out on the ninth green. Like the ancient mariner, he grabs passersby and regales them with advice and tales, whether they want to hear them or not. His stories always show more involve golf and usually involve golfers with romantic difficulties, which golf either helps them solve or makes them worse. I don’t play golf, but Herbert Warren Wind, the longtime golf columnist for the New Yorker magazine loved him and has written a book about him. If you are as ignorant about the history of golf as I am, you may want to look at Wikipedia’s obsolete golf clubs page—yes, there really is one. You do need to know the difference between a mashie and a niblick. These stories inspired two thoughts: wouldn’t it be fun to see modern golfers playing a links course with 1920s equipment, and did Wodehouse intend the anatomical innuendo in his character’s name? show less

This book is an omnibus of short stories describing the adventures of Bertie Wooster, an amiable but dim aristocrat in early 20th-century England, and Jeeves, the consummate gentleman’s gentleman. Bertie is a friendly soul who just wants to be left alone to enjoy himself. Unfortunately, he has plenty of friends and relatives who are continually making demands on him, both financially and emotionally. His terrifying Aunt Agatha holds him in contempt, yet she is constantly trying to show more “improve” him and set him up with equally terrifying young females. His friend Bingo Little is always falling desperately in love with some girl or other, and for some reason he always approaches Bertie for help. Though Bertie is not overburdened with brains, he has a generous heart and usually wants to help. Good thing he has Jeeves, whose gravity and intelligence always manage to get Bertie and his friends out of whatever scrapes they’re in.

What can I say about Jeeves and Wooster that the entire world hasn’t said already? Wodehouse has a very specific style and brand of humor, and literally nobody does it better than he does. Bertie’s narrative voice is an utter joy to read, showcasing his own lack of intelligence but also satirizing the pretentious language of some popular fiction at the time. Strangely enough, his friends and family all think of him as the village idiot, but he’s probably smarter than most of his friends — definitely wiser than poor Bingo, for example! And the interplay between Bertie and Jeeves is wonderful; Jeeves always appears completely respectful and subservient, yet he dominates Bertie mercilessly (for his own good, of course!). I definitely recommend the story “Bertie Changes His Mind,” which is narrated by Jeeves and demonstrates how skillfully he is able to manipulate his employer. My one caveat is that you should pace yourself while reading this book, because the stories are all very similar and could become tedious after a while. But I loved it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys British humor and wants a good belly laugh! show less

A troupe of upper class twits engage in an entirely avoidable scheme of imposture and misidentification in order to allow a pig to continue to be fattened up, to ingratiate a girl with a reluctant in-law by securing funding for an onion-soup bar on Piccadilly Circus, and to allow a gambling youngling to pay off his debts. A chaotic host of side characters serve to comically complicate matters.

Uncle Fred in the Springtime is very much a book of its time (1930s) and its subgenre: a show more pythonesque poking of fun at British upper class twits. Stereotypes and catch-phrases abound, with silliness, irresponsibility, witticisms and verbal humour aplenty. If that’s not your cup of tea, you probably won’t like this book. If it is, you’ll be delighted. At least, I was, for the prose positively hops and sparkles from joke to joke. I very much giggled my way through this book: it was fast-paced, read splendidly, and was regularly hilarious.

(As an aside, I was pleased to find out that the tag upper class twits existed on LT, and that it had been applied to a bunch of Wodehouse’s works. Bottom-up, people-powered tagging for the win!) show less