Those new to PGW can find the going tough; you literally can't see the forest for the trees (well not literally). This brief (159 page)oversize intro in the Thames and Hudson Literary Lives series is drenched in beautiful b&w illustrations and peppered with lively prose. The best part, though, is the brief bibliography, which enables one to wade through the various editions and cross reference English and American titles, so you don't buy the same book under two different names. Rather than bog down his biography, Connolly has kept just the good bits in this once over lightly tour of PGW's life and letters, which surely numbers among the best of the books on PGW.

If you do not know the Jeeves stories, you are in for a wonderful treat. If you do, your appreciation will grow with this witty reading by the marvelous Alexander Spencer of the unabridged audio cassette version of five superb short stories. P.G. Wodehouse conceived of these stories as being in the musical comedy style, and as such they work better when read aloud. Alexander Spencer is the best reader that I have heard of the Jeeves stories.

These stories always make for lots of laughter, and are just the right length for short car trips. Take them along to cut the tedium of traffic during your next day of driving chores.

Bertram (Bertie) Wooster is the narrator in all five stories. Bertie is longer on connections and money than brains. Seldom out of bed before late morning, his idea of a busy day is planning where to take his next vacation. He is an English gentleman, and strives to play the part with the least effort on his part.

But the thinker in every story is Jeeves, his gentleman's gentleman (a combination of 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. In these stories, Jeeves has to extend his reach to bail out Bertie's friends and relatives. And he earns some extra green in the process. Sometimes Bertie wants to make a statement, and indulges himself anyway by creating his own "solutions" and by wearing "far out" clothes. 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 and family, who are a disaster at romance and handling family stress. How will the species ever be propagated? In a funk, they come to Bertie for help. He usually summons Jeeves.

The resulting schemes are always full of hilarious plot complications. In this case, the complications exceed the normal level in a Jeeves story. Bertie may be trying to convince a friend's wife to get rid of an unsuitable friend. He may be breaking into hotel rooms to rescue his Aunt Agatha's dog. Or he may be pretending to be the cause of an automobile accident caused by his fiancee. In another case, he's trying to bring out the worst in young men. In every other moment, he does his best to entertain a lot of very conservative relatives and other people, whom he mostly alienates. Even his favorite aunt calls him insulting names. What's worse, when he comes up with an idea that may work, everyone assumes that it comes from Jeeves. Bertie just doesn't get any respect except from Jeeves. In these stories, Jeeves' reserve seems to slip more often than usual, so Bertie really feels down.

In each of these stories, Bertie is called upon to execute some very difficult maneuvers without having Jeeves there to buck him up. Now, that's really humbling! The stories have more complications than a Shakespearean romance, as a result.

Bertie's other redeeming quality is that he sincerely appreciates Jeeves in the end. To which Jeeves always replies, "Thank you, Sir." Jeeves has to put up with a lot in these stories before he gets to say his closing line, and you'll appreciate his stiff upper lip. No one else could cosset Bertie and like it the way Jeeves does.

This reading beautifully captures the flightiness of Bertie and the subtle maneuvering and 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 distant time. These quaint anachronisms become quite charming in this context.

After you finish enjoying these droll tales of human fallibility, I suggest you think about all of the ways that trying to help others can land you in the soup. Learn from this to look for potential problems before you launch into action. You'll come up with better plans than Bertie does if you do.

Avoid all those rummy spots!

...This book has nothing to do with nudity. The gist of the story is actually about a statue that is lost, and so the way the title can be interpreted is No Nudes is Good News. The content of the book tops all the funny books. The book is hysterical in its own way; the story is very satirical and has many twists and turns. Any one who reads it will enjoy it. :)

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 by the marvelous Alexander Spencer in this unabridged audio cassette version of four wonderful short stories. P.G. Wodehouse conceived of these stories as being in the musical comedy style, and as such they work better when read aloud.

These stories make for hilarious listening and are just the right length for short car trips. Take them along to cut the tedium of traffic during your next "rush" hour crawl.

Bertram (Bertie) Wooster is the narrator in three of the four stories. Bertie is longer on connections and money than brains. Seldom out of bed before late morning, his idea of a busy day is rallying around to his club to see if anyone wants to tour the nightclubs. He is an English gentleman, and strives to play the part in a languid way that doesn't require too much effort on his part.

But the brains of every story is Jeeves, his gentleman's gentleman (a combination of 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. 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 a disaster at romance. How will the species be propogated? In a funk, they come to Bertie for help. He usually summons Jeeves.

The resulting schemes are always full of hilarious plot complications. Bertie may be trying to convince a fiancee's father that his friend is crazy. He may be inadvertently kidnapping children to help attract the girl for a friend. Or he may be in the middle of explaining all about men's fashion and helping pals avoid their wives embarrassing them in public. He does his best to entertain a lot of very conservative relatives and other people, whom he mostly alienates. Even his favorite aunt calls him a "fathead."

In these four stories, Bertie shows unexpected independence. Annoyed by his friends' preference for Jeeves' ideas, Bertie decides that he will cook up the solutions instead. This leads to no end of additional complications beyond the normal Jeeves stories.

To me, the height of all of the short stories I have read that contain Bertie and Jeeves comes in the fourth story of this group, Bertie Changes His Mind. Jeeves is the narrator for a change, and we get his perceptions of Bertie in undiulated fashion. If you like the Jeeves stories, you've missed an enormous treat until you read or hear this one!

Bertie's other redeeming quality is that he sincerely appreciates Jeeves in the end. To which Jeeves always replies, "Thank you, Sir." Jeeves has to put up with a lot in these stories before he gets to say his closing line, and you'll appreciate his stiff upper lip.

This reading beautifully captures the flightiness of Bertie and the subtle maneuvering and 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 distant time. These quaint anachronisms become quite charming in this context.

After you finish enjoying these droll tales of human fallibility, I suggest you think about all of the places where seeking advice before going ahead can help you achieve more. You may not be able to find Jeeves, but you may be able to eliminate some of your own mistakes this way.

Now, be a good chum and follow this advice!

Written in P.G.W's inimitable style, Spring Fever has as its principle characters a young man who looks like a greek god and has brains too ( Note: Brains preferring to ignore gentlemen with drop-dead-handsome good looks), a girl with equally good looks but not so sharp a brain, another young man with neither the looks mentioned above nor the brains, also mentioned above, and a Lord, given to uttering sudden exclamations, and not so given to contributing intelligent ideas to any conversation involving himself. Add to this lot of players a daughter hell-bent on keeping her father, the afore mentioned Lord, in proper discipline, a dashing butler with a cunning mind, and a stamp collector husband and you get a simply riotous tale. This tale, as every Wodehouse tale, has his usual ingredients - engagements between 'ladies' and 'gentlemen' being solemnised in every other chapter and broken in the very next, an amazing array of problems being solved equally amazingly as yet another amazin array of P. comes up. Simply lovely. Wodehouse ranks right up there with the best.

Ukridge is P G Wodehouse's greatest creation. Unfairly eclipsed in the public imagination by Jeeves&Wooster, for the simple reason that like Psmith Wodehouse didn't write that much for the character. But what there is, is pure gold and 'Ukridge' is no exception. No one story stands out as they're all mini-masterpieces. Get hold of it as soon as you can, old horse!

This is the first non Jeeves and Wooster book of Wodehouses's that I've read, and I'm pleased to report that the adventures and exploits of Uncle Fred (aka Lord Ickenham) are just as madcap and droll as those of his more renown duo. As with many of the Jeeves and Wooster stories, the plot revolves around (mis)engagements, misunderstandings, country houses, bonny baby contests, blustering pompous old men, duck ponds, and a constable. However, the difference here is that instead of an idiot (Bertie) getting into sticky situations and being rescued by a genius (Jeeves), we have Uncle Fred, who seems to relish creating havoc and then sorting it all out through a variety of impersonations, good natured lies and blackmail, with general irreverence for one and all. The matchmaking leads to all manner of wacky hi-jinks, and as per usual, Wodehouse's comic timing is impeccable. Of course, the real treat is the language, which sparkles as it amuses. The names are especially good in this one, with Pongo, Bill Oakshot, and Sally Potter leading the way. (Coincidentally, two characters share the names of prominent characters from the Harry Potter saga: constable Harold Potter and Hermonie Bostock.) Uncle Fred is the equal of any Wodehouse character, and look forward to tracking down the rest of his tales.

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!

One of Wodehouse's earliest efforts, this is a must-own for any Wodehouse fan. Still written in the days when the master was doing school tales, one can see precusors of that incredible ability that Wodehouse had, to take the English language to places few others could have imagined it could go to. A simple tale of good triumphing over evil - it is one of those rare Wodehouses (probably the only one) in which a character dies. In his later & much more celebrated efforts, one got the feeling that all his characters were ageless & immortal.

I got this book from a friend with whom I share a love of P.G. Wodehouse's writing, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am (like many, I imagine) most familiar with Bertie and Jeeves, but this excellent collection of hilarious stories about the doings of the animal kingdom's most entertaining denizens introduced me to a host of other appealing characters, about whom I now want to read a lot more! BUY THIS BOOK!