Pelham Grenville ("P. G.") Wodehouse is the master of comic fiction. He wrote close to a hundred novels and books of short stories, as well as plays, essays, letters, and other works.
Wodehouse was born in England in 1881 and published his first book in 1902. He spent the years of World War I in New York, mostly writing Broadway plays, and went back and forth between America and England after the war. This created tax problems which he resolved, but then tried to avoid by moving to France in 1934.
When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Wodehouse was taken prisoner at Le Touquet and interned for nearly a year. After his release he made five broadcasts from German radio in Berlin to his fans in the US, which had not yet entered the war. The talks were meandering "whimsy and hokum," but his broadcasting over enemy radio prompted outrage in Britain and a threat of prosecution.
Wodehouse never returned to England. After the war, he moved permanently to the US and took dual British-American citizenship in 1955. He died in 1975, at the age of 93, in Southampton, New York.
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.
I would like to read all of his books if I can find them. I particularly enjoy reading Wodehouse with my ears because audio book editions make the comic language come alive. There is a free Wodehouse Omnibus of 36 of his earlier books available on Kindle that I downloaded to the Kindle App on my phone. I read those when I need an emergency book.
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)
NOTES
Many of the early novels and short stories are available in free Kindle editions, either separately or in omnibus editions, like this one. I keep an omnibus on the Kindle app on my phone so I always have a book in case of emergency.
If you are reading Wodehouse's books, please leave comments with Wodehouse-related links and I will add them here.
OTHER WODEHOUSE FANS
If you are reading Wodehouse's books, please leave comments with Wodehouse-related links and I will add them here.
I've always been curious about Wodehouse, but - as with all authors that have HUGE backlists - I never got around to reading any of his work because I just didn't know where to start! This is a great little intro guide, thank you so much!
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