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Week-End Wodehouse
This is a collection from P.G. Wodehouse including Drones Club tales, Mr. Mulliner stories, and stories of Jeeves, Lord Emsworth, and Ukridge. The selection also features extracts from Wodehouse's novels and non-fiction writings.
430 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
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About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,714 books7,009 followersSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
March 22, 2008
This is a good sampler version of PG Wodehouse's work. For me he's mind-blowing brilliant, but where does one start? Or when does one end? In a way he sort of reminds me of Peter Greenaway, in that there is always more to the work then one sees on the surface. The thing is Wodehouse is super enjoyable. It's like eating too much candy. You have to stop at a certain point before he takes over your life. An addiction in action! Dip into this pool of a book. Toes first and eventually your whole body will be under water.
September 10, 2014
I was once asked in an interview who my hero was, and was – for a few moments – flummoxed. I don’t really go in for heroes. I gave it a thought, though, trying to dredge up the names of people I truly admire, the people I would like to emulate. And there it was: PG Wodehouse. It takes a special talent, a very great genius, to be able to make people laugh the way Wodehouse could. His are the books I invariably turn to when I’m feeling blue. His are books I can read anytime. His are books I delight in reading again and again – even when I know what plot twist is coming next, what brilliant similes and completely Wodehousian turns of phrase lie around the corner.
So, yes; Wodehouse is my hero, and this superb collection of some of his finest work is the latest in a long line of Wodehouse’s books that I’ve read. Week-end Wodehouse packs into its pages a very varied sampling of Wodehouse, both fiction and non-fiction. There are short stories and excerpts of novels (the latter, where necessary, with a short introduction to provide background) featuring some of Wodehouse’s best-loved characters: the Blandings Castle lot, Jeeves and Wooster, Mr Mulliner, the Oldest Member and his golf stories, and Ukridge among them. There are excerpts long and short, all the way from a single sentence (“He looked like a bishop who had just discovered Schism and Doubt among the minor clergy”) to entire chapters out of A Damsel in Distress, Heavy Weather, Summer Lightning, etc.
There is non-fiction, too: Wodehouse’s introductions and prefaces to some of his own books; a couple of dedications (from Heart of a Goof, for instance: “To my daughter Leonora, without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time”), and more, all of them a brilliant showcase of this man’s inimitable sense of humour. The only section – just a page long – which I found puzzling was something entitled Good News from Denmark, which no matter how hard I tried to read it (even aloud, in the hope that it would sound like garbled English), made no sense to me – it seemed to be Danish, and with no translations provided, so I’m still pretty much in the dark.
But when a book is liberally studded with classic Wodehouse gems like “Then he uttered a hollow, mirthless laugh – a dreadful sound like the last gargle of a dying moose” or ”Even at the Drones Club, where the average of intellect is not high, it was often said of Archibald that, had his brain been constructed of silk, he would have been hard put to it to find sufficient material to make a canary a pair of cami-knickers”… ah, bliss. This is what makes for top-notch weekend reading.
So, yes; Wodehouse is my hero, and this superb collection of some of his finest work is the latest in a long line of Wodehouse’s books that I’ve read. Week-end Wodehouse packs into its pages a very varied sampling of Wodehouse, both fiction and non-fiction. There are short stories and excerpts of novels (the latter, where necessary, with a short introduction to provide background) featuring some of Wodehouse’s best-loved characters: the Blandings Castle lot, Jeeves and Wooster, Mr Mulliner, the Oldest Member and his golf stories, and Ukridge among them. There are excerpts long and short, all the way from a single sentence (“He looked like a bishop who had just discovered Schism and Doubt among the minor clergy”) to entire chapters out of A Damsel in Distress, Heavy Weather, Summer Lightning, etc.
There is non-fiction, too: Wodehouse’s introductions and prefaces to some of his own books; a couple of dedications (from Heart of a Goof, for instance: “To my daughter Leonora, without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time”), and more, all of them a brilliant showcase of this man’s inimitable sense of humour. The only section – just a page long – which I found puzzling was something entitled Good News from Denmark, which no matter how hard I tried to read it (even aloud, in the hope that it would sound like garbled English), made no sense to me – it seemed to be Danish, and with no translations provided, so I’m still pretty much in the dark.
But when a book is liberally studded with classic Wodehouse gems like “Then he uttered a hollow, mirthless laugh – a dreadful sound like the last gargle of a dying moose” or ”Even at the Drones Club, where the average of intellect is not high, it was often said of Archibald that, had his brain been constructed of silk, he would have been hard put to it to find sufficient material to make a canary a pair of cami-knickers”… ah, bliss. This is what makes for top-notch weekend reading.
August 5, 2016
My only gripe with this book was the large amount of golf talk. Multiple pages at a time describing games of golf was basically incomprehensible to me.
May 9, 2012
Warning: Don't read this without a dictionary handy. This is a very funny book based around the English upper classes. It's only downfall is that there were many short stories, but a lot of them were about the same thing despite the fact that there were different characters. But Sir P.G. Wodehouse was definitely aware of this flaw, because he wrote a short story entitled "The Defeat of a Critic" in which he stated:
"A certain critic - for such men, I regret to say, do exist - made a very nasty remark about my latest novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names'. He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against 'Summer Lightning'" (Wodehouse's latest novel at the time) "With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy."
This is just some of the great laughs in the book. One of my favourites has to be "Goodbye to all Cats".
"A certain critic - for such men, I regret to say, do exist - made a very nasty remark about my latest novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names'. He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against 'Summer Lightning'" (Wodehouse's latest novel at the time) "With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy."
This is just some of the great laughs in the book. One of my favourites has to be "Goodbye to all Cats".
June 28, 2013
It definitely takes a while to get used to how this book is arranged--not only are there short stories, but also prefaces and introductions (for books by other authors), small snippets of stories and even some random sentences that were written by Wodehouse. Therefore, it is understandable that this compilation may be deemed confusing. However, it is a lovely collection because of its thoughtfully chosen works by Wodehouse that truly showcase the talent, nay, the comic genius of this writer. Those who are already acquainted with Wodehouse's style will appreciate how this collection shows off Wodehouse's inherently humorous writing style so well (because, after all, his style is why we've always loved him). Those who've never read a work by him will appreciate this because it points them in the right direction in appreciating the brilliance that is P. G. Wodehouse.
October 2, 2011
First publishedi n 1939, the only thing which distinguishes it from later Wodehouse books is the reference to telegraphs and a couple of early automobile comments. He had nailed his style by then, and this collection of early shorts (and snippets from longer works) is as solid as any of his later stories.
March 9, 2016
powerhouse wodehouse.even a single isolated sentence from some of his works fills the reader with a sense of warmth and well being.
July 23, 2016
The blackface and casual racism of the last story was a sour note to end on, but overall this was a fun, lighthearted read- classic Wodehouse.
May 13, 2014
Lovely , droll, dry English wit..great eccentric characters...some classic pieces from the Jeeves books as well as other stories.my favorite being "Goodbye to All Cats", in which a love-smitten swain spends a weekend at his animal-loving girlfriend's family home,veritably teeming with critters, and manages to accidentally offend,injure,insult or rile every four-footer in the house,thereby ensuing the demise of his romance...a hoot!
October 19, 2007
Originally put out in the early 1940's, this is still the single best Wodehouse I've run into. A variety of short stories about Jeeves & Wooster, the Drones, and seemingly the whole of eccentric idle England, novelettes, excerpts, and all masterfully assembled to what may be the greatest humor collection going.
March 18, 2012
Hilarious. It's a sampler of Wodehouse's various comic novels, a lot of fun to dip into. I now wish to read all the Jeeves stories (most of which I must know by heart now, thanks to the stupendous "Jeeves and Wooster" series with Fry and Lauries in the very early nineties!), and the Blandings stuff looks very funny too.
February 23, 2014
Although This book introduced me to the wonderful world of Wodehouse, I wish it wasn't structured in such a way. Only a part of the book contains short stories by Wodehouse and rest are filled with excerpts which are gibberish to a first time reader. Other that this what mildly turned me off was how Wodehouse uses love as a very reccurent theme.
August 10, 2018
Wodehouse is always a delight. This one was too, especially since I took up a Wodehouse after a long time. I will recommend this to be the first Wodehouse anyone reads because otherwise, some or most of the stories will be repetitive. It is basically a compilation of few funnier stories from Wodehouse's other works. A lot of golf here. But all in all, it did get few chuckles from me.
May 1, 2012
I am a great fan of Wodehouse's Jeeves, but I confess this rather jumbled selection of extracts and short stories, as well as book dedications, left me cold. I should probably make do with the Jeeves omnibuses instead!
tried-but-lost-hope
December 30, 2010Thank you to Andrew for passing this along...
March 10, 2011
Short vignettes, very diverting for graduate students. I can almost smell the kippers and hair oil.
September 3, 2011
So funny.
January 21, 2013
A hilarious Wodehouse collection with a bit of everything.
March 7, 2016
Wodehouse is an addiction... :)
May 31, 2014
Loved, loved, loved it. Laughed out loud on buses. Husband reading it and making him read out all the bits he laughs out loud at which his annoying him loads, but that's my job.
July 26, 2014
When a fan compiles the best parts of prose across time and characters, the outcome is a hilarious time over a weekend. Just awesome
March 18, 2015
A compilation from some of PG Wodehouse's best works ( short stories, novels and nonfiction writing ). Must read for every PGW fan.
October 4, 2015
Need one say anything about this therapeutic wonder?
June 4, 2016
A great bedside book.
August 25, 2022
an absolute perfect sampling; if it really was a classic (to be read and giggled at) during highfalughtin' dinner parties in the '20s, i can hardly blame them, and i'd say: a classic it remains, as well as the best intro i can imagine to the greatest humourist ever, as well as one of the few writers who achieved (rather often, actually) what we in the business of enjoying it call 'perfect prose'.
so throw away all fifty-eight of the wodehouse anthologies published since then... or don't, as i imagine they can't help but contain excellence also, not to mention almost certainly writings post-1939... but...
there is something to Weekend Wodehouse. 4 or 5-hundred pages, illustrations by one 'Kerr' peppered enticingly about, an introduction by Hilaire Belloc, and a text covering virtually all his major characters/series (such things are so often the same with Wodehouse): Jeeves & Wooster, of course, Blandings of course, as well as Ukridge, Wodehouse's great antihero, the Oldest Member, who tells stories about golfers but which you need no appreciation of golf to enjoy, as well as some autobiographical bits & bobs, and several novel extracts (which I normally disapprove of, but certain scenes of Wodehouse's novels are similar to short stories anyway, and shall still provide a good time).
one of those anthologies which, despite perhaps being surpassed in completeness is, due to its selection, sequencing and artwork, itself a classic.
If you need a perk up, pick it up. If you're new to Wodehouse, pick it up. The point is: pick it up.
so throw away all fifty-eight of the wodehouse anthologies published since then... or don't, as i imagine they can't help but contain excellence also, not to mention almost certainly writings post-1939... but...
there is something to Weekend Wodehouse. 4 or 5-hundred pages, illustrations by one 'Kerr' peppered enticingly about, an introduction by Hilaire Belloc, and a text covering virtually all his major characters/series (such things are so often the same with Wodehouse): Jeeves & Wooster, of course, Blandings of course, as well as Ukridge, Wodehouse's great antihero, the Oldest Member, who tells stories about golfers but which you need no appreciation of golf to enjoy, as well as some autobiographical bits & bobs, and several novel extracts (which I normally disapprove of, but certain scenes of Wodehouse's novels are similar to short stories anyway, and shall still provide a good time).
one of those anthologies which, despite perhaps being surpassed in completeness is, due to its selection, sequencing and artwork, itself a classic.
If you need a perk up, pick it up. If you're new to Wodehouse, pick it up. The point is: pick it up.
January 13, 2022
Reading this book gave me the same feeling as drinking hot chocolate after shoveling the snow off of a Minnesotan driveway did in my formative years.
Good books are those that entice strong emotion, whether sadness or happiness, and this book not only meets this criterion but, through effortlessly accomplishing it, again and again, far exceeds it to the point where calling this book "good" would be an understatement. Although describing myself as having a stoic nature wouldn't be inaccurate, this book had me throwing my head back and giving one of those hearty laughs that one expects to hear less from a reader of Marcus Aurelius and more from the local Mall Santa. As Wodehouse puts it, a man that would call this book "good" would call the Taj Mahal a "pretty nifty tomb". Great is perhaps a more fitting adjective.
Truly lives up to the title of Master of the English Language.
One of the best books I have ever read.
Good books are those that entice strong emotion, whether sadness or happiness, and this book not only meets this criterion but, through effortlessly accomplishing it, again and again, far exceeds it to the point where calling this book "good" would be an understatement. Although describing myself as having a stoic nature wouldn't be inaccurate, this book had me throwing my head back and giving one of those hearty laughs that one expects to hear less from a reader of Marcus Aurelius and more from the local Mall Santa. As Wodehouse puts it, a man that would call this book "good" would call the Taj Mahal a "pretty nifty tomb". Great is perhaps a more fitting adjective.
Truly lives up to the title of Master of the English Language.
One of the best books I have ever read.
July 1, 2023
I love Wodehouse— in fact, he’s probably my favorite author— but this is one collection I wouldn’t especially recommend. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that, in addition to a few complete stories, this anthology also includes a lot of snippets, excerpts, random quotations, and prologues from previous anthologies— all of which bear witness to Wodehouse’s facility with language but not necessarily his storytelling ability, nor the full gift of his comedic rhythms. Two. A couple of these stories dip into blackface comedy and racial epithets— not common to Wodehouse’s work, and disheartening here. Start with any good Jeeves anthology instead.
April 19, 2021
I read a Wodehouse book after many many years, so I took my time to savor the language, description and the jokes.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself. This is a book containing short stories or snippets from his other books. Whether you read them before or not is not the point. Reading them again is like a long overdue visit from a favourite friend who always did his / her best to make you laugh.
Super way to put yourself in a more pleasant mood.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself. This is a book containing short stories or snippets from his other books. Whether you read them before or not is not the point. Reading them again is like a long overdue visit from a favourite friend who always did his / her best to make you laugh.
Super way to put yourself in a more pleasant mood.
July 5, 2017
Ironic that I finished a British work on Independence Day. Just goes to show there's no hard feelings, I guess.
This is not a good introduction to Wodehouse, but if you've read enough of his stuff to be familiar with his regular characters, this is an amusing compilation. For the uninitiated, Wodehouse is a lighthearted comedic/satirical author from the 1930s and 40s.
This is not a good introduction to Wodehouse, but if you've read enough of his stuff to be familiar with his regular characters, this is an amusing compilation. For the uninitiated, Wodehouse is a lighthearted comedic/satirical author from the 1930s and 40s.
August 4, 2020
4.2 out of 5. I love PG Wodehouse - he’s an antidote to the grind of everyday life, and has a turn of phrase that makes me snort with laughter. “He looked like a dictator on the point of starting a purge” and other gems are scattered liberally through the text. This is an anthology of the best bits and is a wonderful introduction to this writer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews