#59 Jeeves in the Offing, by PG Wodehouse (Arrow Books)

One of the main themes of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series is the astute acumen and advice of butler Jeeves. So, married as I am to a ginger goddess, it was slightly concerning to read of Jeeves' views regarding red-haired women early on in Jeeves in the Offing.

"I would always hesitate to recommend as a life partner a young lady with quite a vivid shade of red hair," says the butler. Oh? Bugger...

After two wonderful Wodehouse books, I was slightly (and only slightly) disappointed by Jeeves in the Offing. It was good, of course. It was warm and witty, full of bon mots and fun frolics concerning an 18th century silver cow creamer, kleptomaniacs, misguided romances and more.

But I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous two.

So, rating time:

#59 Jeeves in the Offing, by PF Wodehouse (Arrow Books) - 8/10

Next up: Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn (Methuen)

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#43 Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, by PG Wodehouse (Penguin Books)

Another novelist I'd never read before was PG Wodehouse, and it's taken me around four years to take the advice of TC (who also recommended Paul Auster, by the way), although I overlooked his suggestion that I begin with the classic Jeeves and Wooster series. After completing the book, the main question I was wondering was ‘why had it taken me so long’?

I read Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin while stuck at an airport for around five hours waiting for the plane upon which I was due to fly to be fixed, and I can honestly say that this book was the only reason I managed to maintain my patience.

Thoroughly enjoyable, with lots of neat post-modern asides from the writer to the reader, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin is not only funny, its chaotic and convoluted plot meanders this way and that as the reader sympathises with the main character and his efforts to first prove himself worthy of marriage and then try to escape from his engagement – with added criminals, movie moguls, private detectives, nightclubs and the obligatory (in a Wodehouse novel, apparently) large country house.

Set in a world in which butlers and the like are the norm, I have to admit I was thoroughly charmed.

So, rating time:

#43 Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, by PG Wodehouse (Penguin Books) - 9/10

Next up: Occupied City, by David Peace (Faber and Faber Limited)

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