Pelham Grenville ("P. G.") Wodehouse wrote some -- most? -- of the funniest books in the English language. Over his long career, he wrote close to a hundred novels and books of short stories, essays, letters, and other works. He was born in England in 1881, lived in France and America, became an American citizen in 1955, and died in New York in 1975.
He is best known for his Jeeves/Bertie Wooster and Blandings Castle series of novels and stories. But he has many stand alone books and several other minor series.
He is a big favorite of mine, so I would like to read all of his books if I can find them. I am gathering the new "Collector's Wodehouse" editions because the covers are pretty cool.
Those I have read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue.
The Pothunters (1902) (reviewed here)
A Prefect's Uncle (1903)
Tales of St. Austin's (1903) (short stories)
The Gold Bat (1904)
William Tell Told Again (1904)
The Head of Kays (1905)
Love Among the Chickens (1906)
The White Feather (1907)
Not George Washington (1907)
The Globe 'By the Way' Book (1908) (essays, out of print)
The Swoop (1909)
Mike (1909)
Gentleman of Leisure (1910) (US: The Intrusion of Jimmy 1909 serialized edition, The Gem Collector)
Psmith in the City (1910)
The Prince and Betty (1912)
The Little Nugget (1913)
The Man Upstairs (1914) (short stories)
Psmith Journalist (2015)
Something Fresh (1915) (US: Something New)
Uneasy Money (1916)
The Man With Two Left Feet (1917) (short stories)
Piccadilly Jim (1918)
My Man Jeeves (1919) (short stories)
A Damsel in Distress (1919)
The Coming of Bill (or The White Hope, 1920) (US: Their Mutual Child, 1919)
Jill the Reckless (1921) (US: The Little Warrior, 1920)
Indiscretions of Archie (1921)
The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922) (US: Golf Without Tears, 1924) (short stories)
The Girl on the Boat (1922) (US: Three Men and a Maid)
The Adventures of Sally (1922) (US: Mostly Sally, 1923)
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) (US: Jeeves)
Leave It to Psmith (1923)
Ukridge (1924) (US: He Rather Enjoyed It, 1925) (short stories)
Bill the Conqueror (1924)
Carry On, Jeeves (1925) (short stories)
Sam the Sudden (1925) (US: Sam in the Suburbs)
The Heart of a Goof (1926) (US: Divots, 1927) (short stories)
The Small Bachelor (1927)
Meet Mr. Mulliner (1927) (short stories)
Money for Nothing (1928)
Mr. Mulliner Speaking (1929) (short stories)
Summer Lightning (1929) (US: Fish Preferred)
Very Good, Jeeves (1930) (short stories)
Big Money (1931)
If I Were You (1931)
Louder and Funnier (1932) (essays)
Doctor Sally (1932)
Hot Water (1932)
Mulliner Nights (1933) (short stories)
Heavy Weather (1933)
Thank You, Jeeves (1934)
Right Ho, Jeeves (1934) (US: Brinkley Manor)
Enter Psmith (1935)
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) (US: Blandings Castle) (short stories)
The Luck of the Bodkins (1935)
Young Men in Spats (1936) (short stories)
Laughing Gas (1936)
Lord Emsworth and Others (1937) (US: The Crime Wave at Blandings) (short stories)
Summer Moonshine (1937)
The Code of the Woosters (1938)
Uncle Fred in Springtime (1939)
Eggs, Beans and Crumpets (1940) (short stories)
Quick Service (1940)
Money in the Bank (1942)
Joy in the Morning (1946) (US: Jeeves in the Morning)
Full Moon (1947)
Spring Fever (1948)
Uncle Dynamite (1948)
The Mating Season (1949)
Nothing Serious (1949) (short stories)
The Old Reliable (1951)
Barmy in Wonderland (1952) (US: Angel Cake)
Pigs Have Wings (1952)
Ring for Jeeves (1953) (US: The Return of Jeeves)
Performing Flea (1953) (US: Author Author, 1962) (letters)
Bring on the Girls (1954) (autobiography, with Guy Bolton)
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954) (US: Bertie Wooster Sees It Through, 1955)
French Leave (1956)
Over Seventy (1957) (US: America I Like You, 1956) (essays)
Something Fishy (1957) (US: The Butler Did It)
Cocktail Time (1958)
A Few Quick Ones (1959) (short stories)
Jeeves in the Offing(1960) (US: How Right You Are Jeeves)
Ice in the Bedroom (1961)
Service With a Smile (1961)
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963)
Frozen Assets (1964) (US: Biffen's Millions)
Galahad at Blandings (1964) (US: The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood)
Plum Pie (1966) (short stories, poems, essays)
Company for Henry (1967) (US: The Purloined Paperweight)
Do Butlers Burgle Banks? (1968)
A Pelican at Blandings (1969) (US: No Nudes Is Good Nudes, 1970)
The Girl in Blue (1970)
Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971) (US: Jeeves and the Tie that Binds)
Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (1972) (US: The Plot that Thickened, 1973)
Bachelors Anonymous (1973)
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974) (US: The Cat-Nappers, 1975)
The Uncollected Wodehouse (1976) (short stories, essays)
Sunset at Blandings (1977) (unfinished)
OTHER WODEHOUSE FANS
If you are reading Wodehouse's books, please leave comments with Wodehouse-related links and I will add them here.
NOTES
Updated August 11, 2019.
Where would you suggest starting with Wodehouse?
ReplyDeleteWodehouse! Thanks for featuring this great author. I wish I had read more of him. So far, I've read Carry On Jeeves and Do Butlers Burgle Banks? On the TBR list (and owned)...Full Moon and Leave It to Psmith.
ReplyDeleteSo I was going to ask, what would you suggest as good starter Wodehouse?
ReplyDeleteAh, I love Wodehouse. He is my comfort read. I love Jeeves and Wooster and my favourite that's not part of a series is The Luck of The Bodkins. Hilarious! I reviewed it a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteCharley and Michael -- Even though Wodehouse wrote "series" like Jeeves and Blandings Castle, I don't think it matters what order you read them in. The plots are all similar -- people get engaged, usually to the wrong person, and hilarity ensues when the couples realign.
ReplyDeleteI happened to start with Love Among the Chickens because I found the audiobook at my library. After laughing out loud through the whole thing, I got all the other audiobooks my library had to offer, which meant that I listened in no particular order. Although I am usually diligent about reading any series in order, a random approach didn't seem to matter with the Wodehouse books.
I haven't read all that many, given the length of the list, so I can only generalize about where to start. But I will say that I thought Doctor Sally was thin gruel compared to the others and Laughing Gas was odd.
Bev -- I have several more book books (as compared to audiobooks) on my TBR shelf, but I have none of the Psmith books yet. I want to get to those soon.
Mrs. B. -- I have mostly read the Jeeves books, but I want to branch out. I'll come find your Luck of the Bodkins review. Thanks!
I just posted a link today on my blog for a BBC archive that includes an interview with Wodehouse.
ReplyDeletehttp://myporchblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/god-bless-bbc.html
Thanks to the introduction. I just look at one of my libraries and saw that they have a bunch of his books. I will have to try one.
ReplyDeleteLove Among the Chickens it is!
ReplyDelete