“There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, ‘Do trousers matter?’”
“The mood will pass, sir.” (from The Code of the Woosters)
Pre-Covid times.
It was one of those evenings when the heart is full of unexplained sorrow and the weight of woe sits heavy on the chest. The kind of days where you look around and hear someone singing “God’s in His Heaven, all’s right with the world”, you shake your head slightly; a sad smile on your lips. Robert Browning must have been in a genial mood when he made Pippa sing these lines in his famous poem but at that moment, all I could do was say a little prayer and whisper RIP Pippa.
It was by pure coincidence then, or perhaps divine intervention that the same evening, as I stepped into a bookstore and found myself casually strolling to the Classics section, I spotted a number of books by PG Wodehouse. I stopped and picked one up. Somehow, I hadn’t read any of his books before. A quick google Gearch told me that Wodehouse was “one of the greatest, if not the greatest humorists of the twentieth century”; his prose one of the finest and with Evelyn Waugh declaring him “the greatest living writer of the English language, the head of my profession”.
“Hah!” I thought to myself, it seemed to be exactly what I needed and I randomly bought two books. I thought of buying more, but I could always come back and get more if I liked them, I reasoned. Not too wise a decision in the larger scheme of things, with Covid happening and everything shutting down, including bookstores!
But one good thing that happened with being at home was that there was a better chance to read; without the everyday chaos of travelling and just life in general, one had more time to connect with books and to engage with them! I picked up the first one, and before I knew it, I was obsessed. The books were funny, witty and compact, just about 250 pages long. They were also pure escapist fiction; and who wouldn’t have wanted an escape then? And in someways, with the way the world is, who wouldn’t want an escape now?
Wodehouse or Plum, as he was called by his friends, was a prolific writer; he wrote more than 90 books and many more short stories, often working on more than one book at a time, meticulously creating the plot and dialogues. So in a way, choosing his top seven books is a blasphemy; all of his books are perfection personified. But in honour of his birthday (October 15), here’s sharing a list of seven books that I feel, everyone should read.
1. Something Fresh (1915)
The first in the Blandings Castle series that gave us some of the most delightful Wodehouse characters like the oblivious and slightly dotty Lord Emsworth and his long suffering secretary The Efficient Baxter, Beach the butler and Hon. Freddie Threepwood, the second son of Lord Emsworth. Wodehouse received more money for this book than any of his previous, and Something Fresh is a delightful caricature of the British aristocracy and its ways. As we later learn, no Blandings Castle plot is complete without the intrusion of imposters. And in the first book, there are two! The story deals with Freddie Threepwood’s engagement to Aline Peters, an American heiress and the theft of a priceless Egyptian scarab. A bone tickling book with ample confusion and intrigue to keep you glued, Something Fresh was the start of a saga.
2. Piccadilly Jim (1918)
Piccadilly Jim doesn’t have any of the usual beloved Wodehouse characters. It instead features Jimmy Crocker, a playboy who falls in love with Ann Chester, a headstrong Wodehouse heroine and decides to reform himself. But reformation isn’t easy, Ann hates Jimmy because he had written a scathing review of a book of poetry she had published a few years ago and so he introduces himself as Algernon Bayliss, his father’s butler son! An intricate plot follows with more impersonating and there is also kidnapping of an obnoxious teenager that fails miserably. Piccadilly Jim truly cemented Wodehouse’s reputation as a master storyteller, with the book being one of his first real hits amongst the public.
3. Summer Lightning (1933)
Third part of the Blandings Castle series, this book deals with Hon. Galahad Threepwood, younger brother of Lord Emsworth, writing the scandalous memoirs of his life. When the news spreads, it creates panic among the upper echelons of British aristocracy, some secrets may be revealed and reputations may be destroyed. And when, the Empress of Blandings, Lord Emsworth’s all consuming passion of a pig is kidnapped, the suspects are many. And top it all with two couples madly in love and an ex-secretary bent on exposing the truth, you get a laugh riot and a timeless classic that many consider their favourite Wodehouse.
4. Thank You, Jeeves (1934)
The first full length novel featuring the comic duo Bertram Wooster and his valet Jeeves, Wodehouse reached new levels of humour with this book. The story starts with Jeeves quitting Wooster’s service because of his unholy obsession with playing the banjolele, and then moves to Chuffnell Hall, a fictional and dilapidated country house owned by Lord Chuffy Chuffnell, a friend of Wooster’s who falls in love with Pauline Stoker, his former fiancée. Dire complications arise and our protagonist gets in unforeseen trouble and it isn’t long before he needs Jeeves’ help to get him out of the situation.
Crafted like a classic romance, Thank You Jeeves is a fun filled story of Britain’s iconic duo’s separation and reconciliation.
5. The Code of the Woosters (1938)
Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman Jeeves, appear again in this laugh riot of a book, famed for its description of the “amateur dictator” and the leader of the Black Shorts, Sir Roderick Spode. “It was as if Nature had intended to make a gorilla, and had changed its mind at the last moment”, is how Wooster first described him.
When Aunt Dahlia asks Wooster to steal an 18th-century cow-creamer from Sir Watkyn Bassett, the owner of a country house called Totleigh Towers, Wooster has a lot to lose. Not only does Sir Bassett thinks that Wooster is a compulsive thief and takes an immense dislike to him, there is also a chance that if nothing goes well, he might get engaged to his friend’s fiancé, the simpering Madeline Bassett. And if that happens, only Jeeves’ sheer brains can save him.
6. Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939)
The fifth Earl of Ickenham, Uncle Fred, aims to “to spread sweetness and light” wherever he goes. And in his first full length novel; he made his first appearance in the short story, “Uncle Fred Flits By”, he has a hard task ahead. Alaric, the Duke of Dunstable, is determined to reduce the enormity of the Empress of Blandings and make her fit enough to run races. And when Lord Emsworth pleads for help, Uncle Fred magically appears, disguising himself (Is it even a Blandings Castle story without disguises?) and not only rescues the Empress but also brings happiness by reuniting a young couple.
7. Joy in the Morning (1947)
“The supreme Jeeves novel of all time”, was what Wodehouse wrote of Joy in the Morning.
“The Steeple Bumpleigh Horror” was how Wooster described this adventure in his memoirs. When Wooster is forced to visit his Aunt Agatha at her place, Steeple Bumpleigh, he is not in the best of spirits. And knowing that his former fiancée, the intellectual Lady Florence Craye and her current fiancé are both in attendance there, he knows he needs to be extra careful. But extra careful he might be, he soon lands in one unfortunate situation after the other and soon enough, like always, only Jeeves can save him.
Written as a sort of homage to the Pre War life, this novel has Wodehouse working at his creative best, a masterpiece. He was working on this book, in his house in France, when he was taken by the German army to be interned. A ill judged and disastrous but politically naïve radio broadcasts from Berlin followed which led to him being condemned and criticised after his release from captivity.
And Joy in the Morning was his attempt to bravely ride out the controversy.
The author is an Assistant Professor (English) at JC Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA.
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