Product Description

Published to mark the 25th anniversary of PG Wodehouse's death, this is the first major new selection of his work to be published for a generation. This anthology of stories, novel-extracts, working drafts, articles, letters and poems gives a fresh angle on the twentieth century's greatest humourist. In his introduction, Stephen Fry writes: "What a very, very lucky person you are. Spread out before you are the finest and funniest words from the finest and funniest writer the past century ever knew...Without Wodehouse I am not sure that I would be a tenth of what I am today...He taught me something about good nature. It IS enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375038 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

About the Author
PG Wodehouse was the author of almost a hundred books.

Customer Reviews

Huge fun for new or Wodehouse seasoned readers
Steven Fry's touching introduction to this excellent collection is worth the price alone. As seasoned readers will agree gategorising or even explaining Wodehouse is impossible. All I can say is that like for many of the very best things in life, I almost envy those who have never experienced Wodehouse for the pleasure they have ahead. I am a relatively old hand, so for me his writing is like womb music - no matter how bad things get I can always take pleasure and relaxation from the writing, the charm and the great good humour of these innocent stories. They penetrate the human condition in a way that simply makes me feel better.

If you have not read Wodehouse before you may as well start here and save money and time by buying the hardback - you will need to replace soft backs at least once every couple of years.

Enjoy

The dazzling tip of a 24-carat iceberg
The only complaint that I have of this book is that it isn't long enough. Simply marvellous from beginning to end, focussing on all of Plum's characters from Psmith to Jeeves. The selection of letters and unfinished notes for novels (does anyone else really want to read "Help Yourself"?) provide a fascinating insight into the mind of Wodehouse, and the introduction by Stephen Fry is a charming tribute from one comic genius to another. Oh, and the short story "Uncle Fred Flits By" is not to be missed. Buy it

Good old-fashioned humour
This book was the first introduction I ever had to P.G. Wodehouse's writing; I by chance took a glance at it during a holiday in a moment of boredom, and was laughing myself stupid by the second paragraph. I am not a very easy person to please when it comes to comedic writing, but this is simply class, Wodehouse manages to create humour out of virtually nothing.
I for one adore this book in particular, because it is a concentration of excerpts of the author's best stories, so, rather than dragging on for ages and boring the reader - something impossible with Wodehouse anyway - each new chapter brings with it fresh, incredibly funny antics of the equally incredible characters.