The Uncollected Wodehouse

Some of the earlier bits were a little stiff for my ears, but they were written about 100 years ago (literally) so are allowed the formality of their time. I thought his article on mysteries, which was used to introduce his own mystery story in this book, was the best of the bunch - absolutely fantastic.

It's Wodehouse. How bad could it be?: These collected writings, of various sorts, while not the cream of the Wodehouse crop, are still Wodehouse. As such, they are still superior to roughly 95% of everything else written in a humorous vein. What's more, taken as a whole, they show the evolution of Wodehouse's writing from schoolboy days into his prime. And, some of them are, in fact, gems.Not, perhaps, the book with which to makes one's acquaintance with Wodehouse, but a worthy addition to the published Wodehouse collection.

This is a collection of early short stories, essays, and poems by P.G. Wodehouse (author of the Jeeves and Wooster books, among others. I wasn't expecting much considering that some of these pieces were written while Wodehouse was still in school, but I was pleasantly surprised. His skill with language and his sense of humor were evident even in his earliest writings. I would say this book is a must read for any serious fan of Wodehouse and would even be enjoyable for those who have never read his later novels.

Fourteen previously uncollected Wodehouse stories and 15 fugitive items from newspapers, including Wodehouse's first professional sale, first published short story, first butler story and only mystery. My review is at http://stromata.tripod.com/id91.htm.

Some fun odds and ends by Wodehouse.