I'm a major fan and collector of P.G. Wodehouse (in my view the best writer of English prose of the 20th century). This clever edition of one of his funny cat stories is an excellent and unique addition to my PGW collection, and it's also a wonderful little literary gift and introduction to Wodehouse for the cat-fancier or fan of light humorous writing.

I first discovered the Travelman series of book pamphlets in a newsstand in London's Paddington Station...the size and shape of a paper road map, these are an ideal and absolutely unique format for reading while you commute on the subway, bus, or train. They're much easier to use (and more entertaining!) than any road map I've ever handled, however...they unfold easily bit-by-bit, never awkwardly, and each contains a classic short story.

The Travelman format is ideal for a half-hour commute and the unique concept will have your fellow travelers asking what you're reading and where you got that interesting looking mini-book. There are many more in the series available in the US, including stories by Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ruth Rendell, Ian Fleming, Dorothy Parker, Roald Dahl and Oscar Wilde. The format is fun, and they make great gifts.

If you do not know the Jeeves stories, you are in for a wonderful treat. If you do, your appreciation will grow with the witty reading in this unabridged audio cassette version.

This is a series of short stories that make for nice listening and are just the right length for short car trips. I found myself sitting in front of the store or in my garage several times laughing and smiling as a story wound to a close. I think you will, too.

Bertie Wooster is the narrator, and he is longer on connections and money than brains. Seldom out of bed before late morning, his idea of a busy afternoon is watching the cars go up and down Fifth Avenue from a window in his club. He is English, but is residing in the United States for many of these stories. These stories take place in the early part of the 20th century.

But the hero of every story is Jeeves, his man (valet and butler). Jeeves is one of those brainy chaps who can always find a way. He tries to save Bertie from himself (especially when it comes to unsuitable fiancees and clothes), and always succeeds. Sometimes Bertie feels rebellious and indulges himself anyway in his taste for "far out" clothes or even a mustache. That can put a dent in their relationship, but Bertie always repents and does it Jeeves' way in the end.

Bertie has two redeeming qualities. He loves to help his cronies, who are usually subsisting off some distant aunt or uncle or other. Disaster is always pending should such distant relative stop sending money or write the pal out of the will. In a flap, they come to Bertie for help. He summons Jeeves.

The resulting schemes are always full of hilarious plot complications. Bertie may be off pretending to be someone else while the crony is in jail. Or Bertie may be loaning Jeeves, his apartment, and his clothes to someone else while Bertie unhappily skulks in a hotel room. He does his best to entertain a lot of very conservative people, whom he mostly alienates.

Bertie's other redeeming quality is that he sincerely appreciates Jeeves. To which Jeeves replies, "Thank you, Sir."

This reading beautifully captures the flightiness of Bertie and the subtle nuances in Jeeves. You'll feel like you are in the room as unexpected events intervene, and you can't think of what to do any more than Bertie can. Thank God for Jeeves! The reading also makes wonderful use of the dated language and customs to give the listener a sense of a distance time. They become very charming in this context.

After you finish enjoying these droll tales of witty satire, I suggest you think about all of the places where working together can achieve more. You may not be able to find Jeeves, but you may be able to accomplish more by allying with others whose strengths complement yours and fill in for some of your weaknesses.

Top hole, old chap!

P.S. I was also glad that the recording included a little about P.G. Wodehouse's espousal of the Nazi regime around the time of World War II, for which he became quite unpopular in England. Wodehouse eventually became a naturalized American citizen. The stories do not allude to facist causes or ideas, but even when reading popular fiction it is good to know all about the author's background. Some may wish to boycott the stories on principle, and I can't say I blame anyone who does.

Wodehouse's famous Jeeves and Wooster series comes to life wonderfully in this reading of Jeeves Takes Charge. The reader gives character and adds humour to Bertie and Jeeves that makes an outstanding addition to this fabulous collection of stories. Wodehouse's parody is constantly hilarious and the hijinks and faux pas Bertie find himself in get funnier all the time. Highly recommended for both the J&W expert and novice.

Previous: Joy in the Morning (Jeeves in the Morning)

This is the classic volume in which Bertie finds himself at a place called Deverill Hall pretending to be Gussie Fink-Nottle, and Gussie Fink-Nottle shows up pretending to be Bertie. Bertie must do all he can to keep the Fink-Nottle/Bassett romance intact (for we know the fate that awaits Bertram otherwise), and this, complete with two other rocky romances, keeps Bertie on his toes throughout this hilarious book. Jeeves is absent for much of this book, and thus it is short on the interaction between the two that makes the books so charming, but he shows up to save the day when the time is right. Notable in this story is the oppressed Esmond Haddock who cowers under his five aunts, the relationship between Bertie's old chum Catsmeat and a parlormaid named Queenie which nearly ends in very foreseeable disaster, and the presence of Jeeves's Uncle Charlie.

I must add that this is the book I read on the plane when I had to fly home for a sudden funeral, and in the midst of the somberness of the occasion, this book was a tangible ray of sunlight. Although I will probably always remember it within that rather unfortunate context, perhaps that is not a bad thing. It worked its magic, and kept me laughing.

Next: Bertie Wooser Sees it Through (Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit)

It is a novel characteristic of Wodehouse. The plot is very complicated and filled with unlikely events. The main characters are Bertie and Jeeves. Other characters: Gussie, Corky, Catsmeat, Madeline Bassett, Esmond Haddock and many-many aunts. The novel is very good and among the funniest that I've ever listened to. The vocabulary is tremendous and very funny.

P.G. Wodehouse wrote yet another delightful tangled tale in this addition to the Blandings Castle saga. As usual, he weaves a celtic knot of plot in and around Blandings Castle, this time involving Lord Ickenham (a.k.a. Uncle Fred) and his young friend Bill Bailey (who of course comes under another name); Myra Schoonmaker and her father, James Schoonmaker; the Duke of Dunstable and his nephew, Archie Gilpin; Lavender Briggs, Lord Emsworth's new secretary; and the usual Blandings cast including Lord Emsworth, Lady Constance, and Beach. Two love stories interweave as well as once again a plot against Lord Emsworth's thrice-prize-winning pig, Empress of Blandings. Great fun!

Blandings Castle, Shropshire, England, is the setting for many of Wodehouse's comic extravaganzas. Accommodated in many of its 52 bedrooms is a varied collection of dotty relatives of Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth. Clarence himself, dottier than any of them, dotes on the Empress of Blandings, an enormous prize-winning sow, and is usually to be seen, day or night, leaning over the wall of her sty. Nagged by his sister Connie, bewildered by his many American visitors and in-laws, and dazed by the complicated comings and goings of the many moon-faced young men and dizzy young damsels whom he encounters in the castle and its grounds, he is steered safely through life by a dedicated butler.

Of course it all means nothing at all, and the characters are no more than comic cartoon figures, but the quality of the writing is superb. Metaphors, similes, classical allusions, sparkling dialogue - you'll find every component of stylish writing on display here.

If you are lucky enough to be able to buy, beg, borrow or download Nigel Lambert's reading of the text in audio book form, you'll find every component of the art of book reading on display also. All this makes an ideal entrée into the world of P G Wodehouse, in particular to many entertaining hours at Blandings Castle.

I don't think that Wodehouse wrote a book that I would not give a 10 to. Certainly none set at Blandings Castle. Blandings is the ancestral home of Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, a scatterbrained man whose only true interest is his prize pig, the Empress of Blandings. The Pelican of the title is Galahad Threepwood, Lord Emsworth's younger brother and a former member of the Pelican Club. The Efficient Baxter does not appear in this particular book, but it does feature several impostors (which are common at Blandings), Lady Constance, the Earl's imperious sister, and two enormously complicated love affairs. Although that is more or less a description of any of Wodehouse's books (some have three or four love affairs) it doesn't make any of them less worth reading. He writes with wonderful humor and doesn't bother you with anything like social commentary.

This is a simply delightful read. I laughed out loud at the silliness. Packy's never ending exploits are addicting! This is a sheer delight to read. Wodehouse has a wonderful command of the language.

One of the best... Completely whacky & Wodehousian. Jane Opal is one of my favorite PGW girls.

It seems impossible, but here is Jeeves serving the young lord and master, and .... it's not Bertie Wooster! Instead it's Lord Rowcester -- Jeeves has been lent out while Bertie is off to school learning to be more self reliant.

The plot is typical Wodehouse, fast and convoluted, but it's the wonderful reading by Nigel Lambert that prompts me to write this review. I consider myself a most excellent reader, but now I know I'm not worthy to fill the great man's water glass. He is superb! I didn't realize anyone could 'voice' characters that way, even the female ones! Nigel makes the book come alive, and I suspect, though I'm loathe to admit it, that it's better having Nigel read a book to you than to read it for yourself.

I would never have the audacity to reveal the inticate plot of "Cocktail Time," (or any other Wodehouse novel, for that matter.) Suffice it to say that "Cocktail Time" is vintage Wodehouse. The novel contains a variety of familiar Wodehouse characters such as Lord Ickenham (the Uncle Fred of several novels and short stories), Beefy Bastable, and Cosmo Wisdom, a typical Wodehousian "black sheep" of the family. The novel is also filled with eccentric British peers, American con artists, and incompetent law enforcement agents. It even has a scene at the notorious Drones Club, so beloved by Bertie Wooster in the Jeeve's series. It's all very much fun. Wodehouse once described his novels as "musical comedy without music, ignoring life altogether." "Cocktail Time" is indeed reminiscent of a 1920's musical comedy without the music in which Wodhouse skillfully juggles a variety of characters and situations, and creates a satirical and humorous novel that is immensely enjoyable. The novel also ignores the realities of life, a quality that can make it infinitely enjoyable to any reader desiring to escape the crudities of early twenty-first century life.

I highly recommend this book. It is very good and entertaining. It's very funny too. Any fan of P.G. Wodehouse's work will really enjoy it.

I see that my fellow reviewers of this tasty comic novel are willing to weigh in at only four of the possible five stars. I dissent vigorously and award the full five. Nothing less than five will do for a storyline so perfectly convoluted, language and syntax so recklessly heedless of anything real or centered. The characters are familiar Wodehouse types: quaintly erratic and utterly dependable for their supply of humor. Feydeau never plotted anything as neat and door-bangingly twisted, and the master Wodehouse provides page after page of crackpot ways to describe all of the door-slamming action.

The course of true love never did run smooth with the "Damsel in Distress", naturally. Love may not care if time totters, light droops, and all measures bend. The problem, of course, in this boy loves girl and vice versa romance, the respective love-light is shining at the wrong object d'amour. This merry mix-up is further complicated by the differences in class ("blood").

In this delightful comic tale, Wodehouse reminds us once again the universal truth mused by e.e. cummings: love's function is to fabricate unknownness. That known is being wishless, but love, is all of wishing.

Wodehouse's "Damsel in Distress", like all his other works, is framed in the Edwardian Era. In contrast to the acme of vulgarity of this prosaic age, no one could write like he did, nor would want to. His large collection of works is held like an extinct specimen in the amber of the moment - capturing the bubbling gaiety and the insouciance of the Gilded Age.

Life does move on. Once a while though, it's pleasing and reassuring to hold and peer with appreciation inside the polished resin that was Wodehouse - knowing that the English language is still at its zenith, and few has mastered it.

George Bevan, burgeoning young american musical composer, fancies himself a knight-in-shining-armor when in the middle of Piccadily Circus a fair maiden flings herself into his cab to escape the obese pursuit of the dragon - her brother Percy, heir to the family title and vigilant protector of the family name. Our hero's fair lady Maud does indeed live trapped within the tower of Castle Belpher to which he repairs in swift pursuit of happiness.

George will face grim prospects in scheming servants, an evil aunt, a kindly but aunt-dominated Lord Marshmoreton and worst of all the fact that Maud is in love with another. The whole setting has obvious similarities to Blandings for those familiar with the Lord Emsworth stories. I wasn't roaring with laughter, but I was attached to the characters and couldn't put the book down. It is hard to say which book is a good introduction to Wodehouse because they are all so good!

This was my first Wodehouse and one of my absolute favourite books. A dream of wonderfully comic characters, from the preoccupied Earl of Marshmoreton, sulky Lord Belpher, radiant Lady Patricia (aka Maud) and all-round good guy George Bevan, as well as a bevy of funny support characters (like the house staff who make bets on the romantic attachments of the inhabitants). Utterly delightful, with laugh-out funny scenes throughout. If you haven't read this, you're missing out!