Lol

    "[...] Aunt calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps [...]"

    I've been reading The Inimitable Jeeves and laughing out loud. Trying to analyse PGW's brilliance, 'all' I can come up with is his perfect verbal timing and a gift for words which amounts to a personal thesaurus of beautifully expressive, inventive substitutes for the commonplace. As I said here, thank goodness for smiley people who write cheery books.

Comments

[Toffeeapple]

I have never, yet, read any PGW. I wonder if I shall manage to do so this year?

[Karen K.]

I am forever thankful for P.G. Wodehouse and also to Overlook Press for the beautiful reprints of all his books. Also thankful that there are SO MANY -- and who doesn't need a good laugh?

[Spade & Dagger]

I first discovered the whimsy of PGW listening to the Blandings pig stories on BBC Radio 4 & watching Fry & Laurie's TV version of Jeeves. However, I've not been able to gain the same enjoyment actually reading the books for myself - for some mysterious reason they seem too frivolous, whereas the dramatisations are amusing.

[Cornflower]

The stories are so well known through the various radio and television adaptations that it's almost not 'necessary' to read them, but the lines can be better savoured on the page.

[Cornflower]

I so agree!

[Toffeeapple]

I might give it a go then.

[Cornflower]

That's interesting. I loved the Fry and Laurie versions, and Martin Jarvis reading the stories is marvellous, too, but as I mentioned above I enjoyed being able to study the lines to try to see how PGW did what he did.