Something Fresh

Blandings Castle #1

by P.G. Wodehouse

Something New [with Biographical Introduction]

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Comedy, Audiobook, British Literature, Mystery

121 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1915

About the author

Sir 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).

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashe Marson is a writer but doesn't feel like one just before the start of the war in London no German bombs falling there yet they will, indiscriminately killing the unfortunate from airplanes or other flying crafts under the celestial sky... in World War 1. You would have the same sentiment if as the author of the adventures of Gridley Quayle every month a new installment appears, the preposterous stories with situations where the hero has no chance to escape the dastardly villains, still does...Ardent boys however are thrilled spending their pennies on. He meets a fellow traveler of the female persuasion Joan Valentine, Home Gossip the equally dreadful magazine tales she pens, living in the same dilapidated apartment building in the slums of the then largest city on the face of the Earth. Coincidences fill the room to the topmost level as both are Americans, and write for the same group The Mammoth Publishing Company at very low wages thus the inferior quality of life, their poverty. The first in the numerous Blandings Castle series less flippant than the others. Another pair of expatriates Americans in London dominate the comic novel, Aline Peters a fearsome millionaire 's daughter in love with George Emerson he reciprocates, but she's engaged to the honorable Freddie Threepwood the son of Lord Emsworh the two have a vacancy where the brain should be (no surprise he Freddie likes immensely Gridley Quayle ). To make possible for a smorgasbord of silly incidents, with the disappearance of an ancient Egyptian scarab an amulet, in the shape of a beetle stolen by the absent- minded Lord from Mr. J. Preston Peters an avid collector and the item taken was the most valuable, worth $5,000 dollars to the agitated rich man father of Aline. A plot unfolds to return it when the unhappy gang assembles in the castle for a lengthy house party. Various ways are attempted but unsuccessfully by people to get the scarab to the proper owner seeking a large reward and tumbling down the dark stairs trying to enter clandestinely the small museum in the citadel, the consequential results ; guests of the Lord enjoy the turmoil, the excitement breaks the tedium, a few bullet holes not would standing. The puzzled servants look around and can't comprehend...neither does anyone else . George constantly asks his beloved Aline Peters to marry him instead of the dull Freddie, he may be undistinguished without any coveted title or money nevertheless it won't be a tiresome union. The consistently wonderful Mr. P.G. ( Sir Pelham Grenville ) Wodehouse hilarious book a funny read, the whole world is full of kooks...Aren't we all...

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st Blandings Castle book.
Something fresh would probably feel fresher if Wodehouse's stories didn't all blend together for me.
I'm not complaining. Really. This is another excellent example of how witty escapism meets if it ain't broke don't fix it and they live Happily Ever After.



Freddie and his father, Lord Emsworth, are up to their respective shenanigans. Freddie ignorantly tromping through life, trying to tread the path of most fun & least resistance, and his father desperately trying to be rid of him.
And then a bunch of Wodehouseish stuff happens.



It seems that in every Wodehouse tale, something gets stolen or needs to be re-stolen for some ancient relative, there always seems to be an unsuitable fiancee, and someone always falls in love with the wrong person and eventually the correct person.
And of course, crazy hijinks always ensue.



And Something Fresh does not disappoint.
Recommended for the fans of this author.

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freddie Threepwood is going to marry the daughter of an American millionaire. But there are some things that could put the wedding in jeopardy. One of those things is his own father, Lord Emsworth, who absentmindedly put a precious scarab in his pocket when the millionaire showcased his collection.

Ashe and Joan are two struggling writers who want a new start in life. When they learn of the missing scarab, they both hatch a plan to retrieve it and claim the reward.


It’s a story with at its core an interesting bunch of good-natured but flawed characters. There is not much to say about the plot. There’s the premise, which is what brings all these characters together. And the character’s flaws form the foundations for a lot of silly moments and misunderstandings. That’s the glue that keeps this story together.


It’s an easy, lighthearted and amusing read. A relaxing book that can help slow you down, make you chuckle, and perhaps even soothe your soul if you’re a bit stressed. Big thank you goes out to Srivalli Rekha for recommending this to me.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blandings #1: The first installment of the now modern classic Blandings saga, introduces the Blandings' residents, the dotty Lord Emsworth, his irrepressible heir, Freddie Threepwood and the eccentric staff. Lord Emsworth absentmindedly pockets a rare valuable scarab, and as a result of this Wodehouse creates an OK farce, as all the parties involved spend a few weeks together at Blandings unaware that numerous individuals are now after the valuable scarab. An enjoyable read. A strong Two Star, 5 out of 12 for me.

2010 read

[Apatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Ashe's first impression of Beach, the butler, was one of tension. Other people, confronted for the first time with Beach, had felt the same. He had that strained air of being on the very point of bursting that one sees in bullfrogs and toy balloons. Nervous and imaginative men, meeting Beach, braced themselves involuntarily, stiffening their muscles for the explosion. Those who had the pleasure of more intimate acquaintance with him soon passed this stage, just as people whose homes are on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius become immune to fear of eruptions.”

Old Beach is alright but—dash it!—he’s not Jeeves you know. A chappie feels like an ass looking for Jeeves in a Blandings book, but I say—dash it!—you know, and all that rot, some fellows just can’t be replaced, don't you know.

Actually, in attempting to channel Wodehouse in his “Freddie Threepwood” mode I suddenly miss Bertie Wooster too; they have a very similar manner of speaking, though Bertie seems to possess a few more brain cells than poor Freddie; probably more fish in his diet. The Blandings series is Wodehouse’s second most popular series. I don’t love it as much as his Jeeves & Wooster stuff but—in the absence of more J&W audiobooks on Librivox—it does brighten up commutes to work very pleasantly. Topping stuff!

Something New is the original title of what later became Something Fresh (US edition) with minor modifications. The story is set in the sprawling Blandings castle where the semi-senile Lord Emsworth lives with his family, with his secretary The Efficient Baxter running the place. The story takes place during a house party and features what seems to be Wodehouse’s favorite plot device of somebody trying to steal something that was taken by mistake but the rightful owner—for whatever reason—is too embarrassed to ask for the item back. It this case, it is an ancient Egyptian scarab that was unintentionally purloined by Lord Emsworth during one of his many absent-minded moments. The rightful owner American, millionaire J. Preston Peters, does not want to ask for its return because his daughter is engaged to, Lord Emswort’s vapid son, Freddie. This being the case Mr. Peters hires a young man, Ashe Marson, to steal the precious item back. A lot of skulking in the night, collisions, injuries and food spillage ensue.



While not as funny as the Jeeves books I have read, Something New did make me chuckle from time to time, causing my fellow bus passengers to give me funny looks and surreptitiously shift their backsides away. The characters are either charming or wonderfully ridiculous, Wodehouse’s prose and dialogue are the stuff of magic.

There is no real substance to the plot, which is the norm for Wodehouse books but does not leave me with much to put in the review. The pottering Lord Emsworth, the idiotic “Honourable Frederick Threepwood”, the always suspicious Baxter and the butler Beach, with his endless health complaints, and others are brilliant comic creations and I highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with them at your earliest convenience.
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Notes:
• Audiobook credit: Nicely read by Ms. Debra Lynn for Librivox (free audiobooks). She is an American lady and does not attempt any kind of British accent but she reads everything clearly with reasonable nuances. Imagine a nice American lady coming to read to you while you are ill, you are not going to insist that she does accents, are you?

• New to Wodehouse? This might help: The Best Books by P. G. Wodehouse You Should Read
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Quotes:
“Nothing is a greater breach of etiquette and worse form than to tap people unexpectedly on the shoulder. That, it was felt, should be left to those who are paid by the government to do it.”

“Whenever he really thought of it the prospect of getting married rather appalled him. A chappie looked such an ass getting married!”

“The heart does not stand still. Whatever the emotions of its owner, it goes on beating. It would be more accurate to say that Baxter felt like a man taking his first ride in an express elevator, who has outstripped his vital organs by several floors and sees no immediate prospect of their ever catching up with him again. There was a great cold void where the more intimate parts of his body should have been.”

“It was all very well to say that George Emerson had known Aline Peters since she was a child. If that was so, then in the opinion of the Efficient Baxter he had known her quite long enough and ought to start making the acquaintance of somebody else.”

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) A light, amusing snack between meatier meals, this is the first installment in Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle series and every bit as silly, witty and delightfully early 20th century (published in 1915) as the other books I’ve read by him (though I think I prefer Jeeves & Wooster).

The characters who people the Blandings series are the dotty Lord Emsworth, his no-good but basically harmless son, Freddie, an officious secretary, Baxter, and Beach the butler. However, the two main characters in this first one – who unfortunately then disappear out of sight after this installment – are Ashe Marson, a writer of detective novels, and Joan Valentine, a woman who lives in Ashe’s building and whom he meets when she laughs at him doing his ‘Larsen exercises’. They are both in need of money and adventure, and after a completely unlikely mix-up of a misplaced scarab, they find themselves at Blandings Castle pretending to be something they are not in order to retrieve said scarab. Misunderstandings ensue, crazy conversations follow and other silly characters enter the scene – in short Wodehouse’s trademark devices abound.

Some of the slapstick is a bit too silly for my taste; it’s the little asides that had me chuckling (‘he looked to the wallpaper for inspiration’), and chuckle I did once the whole cast had finally arrived at Blandings Castle. (Already in the preface, we know what we’re in for; here Wodehouse describes why his American editor wanted him to use his full name, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse: A writer in America at that time who went about without three names was practically going around naked.)

Evelyn Waugh (a devout fan of Wodehouse’s) had this to say about him and Blandings Castle:

'For Wodehouse there has been no fall of Man. The gardens of Blandings Castle are the original gardens of Eden from which we are all exiled.'

His stories may not be profound, but they are quirky, funny, utterly English (from a time gone by, alas), witty and heartwarming.

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reaches for PG Wodehouse as one reaches for a tonic – a balm to soothe the soul, a little fenced-off corner of Edwardian utopia into which you can retreat when times get tough. This first Blandings story, from 1915, is not quite the full flowering of mature Wodehouse, but it’s still an absolute delight to spend a couple of days here, in the little Shropshire village where ‘the church is Norman, and the intelligence of the majority of the natives palæozoic’.

The labyrinthine plot turns on an upcoming marriage and the theft of a priceless scarab. The cast are the usual assortment of aristocratic caricatures, a brash American millionaire, several people in disguise, and a plucky New Woman who proves a dab hand at cat-burglary.

A man may be in sympathy with the modern movement for the emancipation of Woman, and yet feel aggrieved when a mere girl proves herself a more efficient thief than he. Woman is invading Man’s sphere more successfully every day, but there are still certain fields in which Man may consider that he is rightfully entitled to a monopoly, and the purloining of scarabs in the watches of the night is surely one of them.

The real joy, of course, is Wodehouse’s prose, a perfectly supple and bouncy manifestation of constantly unfolding wit. It’s a voice that has been inherited by pretty much every English writer of prose, humorous or otherwise, ever since.

This edition, despite being printed in Britain, for some reason uses the US text of the book, which gives all monetary values in London and the surrounding countryside in dollars, for the benefit of American readers unable to derive any meaning from the concept of other currencies.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the title and thought, "I've definitely read this one."

Then I started in and thought, "I've never read this one."

But then as the plot revealed itself I thought, "I've essentially read this one."

I'm not saying the plot of every PG Wodehouse novel is the same...just most of them. But since I love them, that's all right!

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

⤅ This is Wodehouse almost at his riotous best.

I've long since finished the Jeeves and Wooster series, and I know people speak highly of Blandings, so I thought I'd give this a go. It took a while for me to warm up to the characters - third person rather than first person threw me for a loop - but once I got into it, I got REALLY into it. Hijinks and escapades in the cream of pre-Great War society... excellent stuff.

Books like this make me mildly nostalgic for an era I didn't even live in, the era of country houses and butlers. Not that such things don't exist still - one only has to read Tatler to see that in general, the aristocracy is alive and well - but all the great manors are on loan to the public now and the servants' quarters are empty. It's possible, I think, to rejoice in the enhanced social mobility which means you're no longer destined to be the chambermaid of a countess, while simultaneously feeling wistful for the erosion of an entire way of life.

But anyway, I'm getting too philosophical for a Saturday morning. If you need a laugh, this is the book to pick up.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

from the cover of my edition: Wodehouse is the greatest comic writer ever. . I have no quarell with this Douglas Adams quote, it may set the stakes rather high, but the first book of the Blandings Castle Saga rises to the occasion and provided a jolly good time. Maybe not the best of the series, being one of the author's early books published first in 1915, but a solid introduction to the characters and the setting that would draw the author back for 10 more novels and 9 short stories. And what a lovely place this is:


Note: my review is for the Something New original text. I understand the only important difference to the Something Fresh revised edition is the American origin for some of the characters. Actually, this is what I would like to start with: the novel is built around two opposing world views, the dynamic, decisive and fresh cousins from across the ocean meeting the complacent, slightly clueless and decadent upper class from the home country.

The story doesn't actually get to Blandings Castle until quite late in the proceedings. The action starts in London, on a beautiful Spring morning, with the meeting between to young expats down on their luck: Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine, both writers of stories for popular magazines, after trying various other positions on the job market. The American contingent is completed by a friend of Joan, mild mannered Aline Peters, her millionaire father: J. Preston Peters, a collector of scarabs, and a childhood friend of Aline, Mr. George Emerson. Leading the British pack is Clarence, Lord Emsworth - 9th of the line, his younger son, the Honorable Freddie Threepwood, engaged to Aline and an ardent fan of the detective stories written by Ashe, numerous relatives and servants at the castle plus a shady Londoner that goes by the name of R. Jones.

The plot is the usual fare for a Wodehouse novel, involving a lavish country house, fake identities, engagements in danger of being broken, absent minded nobility and stern servants, hijinks in the middle of the night (best scene in the book by far) trying to steal a hilarious McGuffin in the form of an Egyptian scarab of the reign of Cheops of the Fourth Dynasty, and the inevitable blossoming of romance :

If girls realized their responsibilities they would be so careful when they smiled that they would probably abandon the practice altogether. There are moments in a man's life whe a girl's smile can have as important results as an explosion of dynamite.)

Wodehouse sense of timing is flawless as usual, coreographing the movements of each character up and down stairs, in and out of guestrooms and servants quarters, strolling around the park or dashing into the neighboring village, like a master puppeteer with ten hands instead of two. Of the Blandings Castle characters of note, the Efficient Baxter, secretary to Lord Emsworth (more interested in gardening and furniture painting than in his numerous guests), is the one who pushes the story forward, acts as a self appointed crime investigator and is the victim of most of the jokes and pranks, a role that would later be taken by various village policemen. Some of my favorite scenes from the novel describe the rigid pecking order among the serving staff led by Mr Beach, the head butler and Mrs Twemlow, the housekeeper. This is all a great puzzle for the libertarian Ashe, a sequence used by the author to ridicule the affectations of the English society. An apparent paradox, where the lower classes are adherring to the rules more strictly than the masters, seen also in the relations between Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. Speaking of Bertie, there's a guest at the castle that I'm curious about and would like to know more about: The Honorable Algernon Wooster. It's not only the coincidence of my Goodreads nickname (this comes from another book about a mouse), it's the question of his relation with the hero of the other major series by Wodehouse, and where else he makes an appearance. He plays quite a minor role here, but I would like to meet him again.

A second theme of ardent social actuality at the time and present in many Wodehouse novels, is the emancipation of women, a battle that was far from won in 1915. It is left to fiery, self-reliant Joan Valentine to carry the torch for womanhood and to cut young Ashe attempts at chivalry in the bud, demanding equal treatment and a share in all the excitement:

It won't do, Mr. Marson. You remind me of an old cat I once had. Whenever he killed a mouse he would bring it into the drawing-room and lay it affectionately at my feet. I would reject the corpse with horror and turn him out, but back he would come with his loathsome gift. I simply couldn't make him understand that he was not doing me a kindness. He thought highly of his mouse and it was beyond him to realize that I did not want it. You are just the same with your chivalry. It's very kind of you to keep offering me your dead mouse; but honestly, I have no use for it. I won't take favors just because I happen to be a female.

Beside the already mentioned timing, the author is renowned for his use of the English language. While I felt that Something Fresh had less of his signature intricate constructions and wild similes, there were many pages where I stopped to re-read and savour a particular turn of phrase like sipping a fine dram of old scotch. Here's one I selected for the closing of my remarks:

Among the compensations of advancing age is a wholesome pessimism, which, though it takes the fine edge off of whatever triumphs may come to us, has the admirable effect of preventing Fate from working off on us any of those gold bricks, coins with strings attached, and unhatched chickens, at which ardent youth snatches with such enthusiasm, to its subsequent disappointment. As we emerge from the twenties we grow into a habit of mind that looks askance at Fate bearing gifts. We miss, perhaps, the occasional prize, but we also avoid leaping light-heartedly into traps.

Hurray for the youthfull leaps I say. They make for great comedy.

[Keith Bruton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read. PG Wodehouse is a delight. His jazzy, playful language is stunning. There was times I had to stop reading and say, "This is just brilliant!" How did I not read him sooner?

If you like period dramas, Downton Abbey, the 1920s, you will love this. Well plotted and hilarious at times.

[Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Ashe and Joan Stars!!

Ashe and Joan, because they were my favorite characters in this book. This is my first PG Wodehouse book and it was so much better than I expected it to be!!

This book is about a gathering in Blanding Castle where three people are after a scarab for their own purposes. The owner of the scarab is a very absent minded person and does not really care about the scarab so it is only those three people who will be at loss if the scarab is stolen by a forth unknown person. The whole book is full of witticism and lots of puns :D

Ashe and Joan are the best elements of this book. Ashe, a handsome story writer happens to meet Joan, who is independent woman and together they try to steal the scarab for some money. They don't get the scarab but they surely get each other.

Overall, it was a wonderful read. Loved it a lot!
Recommended to everyone!

[Makrannd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a comic style of writing mixed up with a who-dun-it adventure !


Something Fresh is the first of PG Wodehouse'es from Blanding Castle series. This is quite a short and comic novel however I feel this one isn't the best of PGW's.

The reader is gradually introduced to a good amount of characters towards the start of the book and just when you start thinking where is this heading, comes Blanding Castle where the entire plot rests.

While the plot of Scarabs unveils, PGW gives us some jolly good fun moment's involving Baxter's midnight jumble in the dark and him being on the tail of a thief.

Baxter, Ashe, Joan and Mr. Peter's characters are interesting and so is Mr. Threepwood's. Rest are mere fillers. While the writing is definitely crisp, the plot is well placed too with an unpredictable mystery.

Apart from the pace being a bit slow since it catches up after around 60%, it's a Jolly good book however still not the best of PGW!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are times I think I should just read books by P.G. Wodehouse. And nothing else. ;)

I mean... this country of ours is such A HOT MESS these days. True, it's not as bad as when T---p was POTUS. But it's no overwhelming Heaven either just because there's a [D] POTUS now. The [D] Party, overall, is rather tone-deaf and embarrassingly privileged and too many of its members are showing themselves to be as duplicitous as [R]s. (They figure it's no longer shameful to be 'swinging on a fixed pole for' or 'giving lap dances to' corporate donors... as long as you claim to be "common sense members" of the Party.)

Wodehouse helps me forget about all of that for short periods of time. When I give in to heavier reading - well, sure I learn more about the human condition that way but (regardless of the time-frame of more serious stuff) I'm also reminded that these days are grey... and could just as easily turn black again (!).

Of course, Wodehouse isn't entirely fluff-stuff. His novels are rife with conflict. But the author turns darkness to friendly farce, madness becomes madcap, and he tends to sail along with an almost symphonic use and command of language. His prowess is such that, in many cases 100 years on, his work feels urgent. 'Something Fresh', for example, was first published in 1915 (!). Who would think that could be true unless he bothered to look it up?

In this novel, one of the two protagonists says:

"Do you ever get moods when life seems absolutely meaningless? It's like a badly-constructed story, with all sorts of characters moving in and out who have nothing to do with the plot. And, when somebody comes along who you think really has something to do with the plot, he suddenly drops out. After a while, you begin to wonder what the story is about, and you feel that it's about -- just a jumble."

That was a sentiment from 1915. It's much like a thought I had yesterday.

'Something Fresh' (Book One in the 'Blandings' series) isn't even among my favorite Wodehouse creations. The opening chapters feel a bit tentative (humor-wise) and, about 2/3-through, the snappy dialogue (P.G.'s calling card) begins to wane as witty repartee gives way to physical hijinks.

But it hardly matters. The larger portion of the novel is still very much a delight, I laughed a lot (always a plus) and my admiration for the writer remained intact. Some people seem to feel that, once you've read a couple of Wodehouse books, you've read them all. To a degree, I can understand that reaction; I just don't agree with it.

Moreover (and as Wikipedia tells us), Wodehouse "was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing more than ninety books, forty plays, two hundred short stories and other writings between 1902 and 1974." I've still just scratched the surface of his output. Where I'm concerned, he still has countless opportunities to buffer harsh reality. I couldn't be more grateful!

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something New (1915) is the first installment of P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories. This story follows Ashe Marson into the drafty halls of Blandings Castle, where he will try to make "something new" of his life by purloining a rare Egyptian scarab — all for the best motives, of course.

Ashe Marson is a hack writer who churns out pulp detective stories which involve The Adventures of Gridley Quayle. Tired of this life, but not quite knowing what to do about it, he makes the acquaintance of his upstairs neighbor Joan Valentine. She prompts him to action: "Read the papers. Read the advertisement columns. I'm sure you will find something sooner or later. Don't get into a groove. Be an adventurer. Snatch at the next chance, whatever it is." And he does. After reading and answering the following want ad:

Wanted--Young Man of Good Appearance who is poor and reckless, to undertake delicate and dangerous enterprise. Good pay for the right man.

he finds himself in the employ of J. Preston Peters. He will appear as this American millionaire's valet on a trip to Blandings Castle, but his real mission will be to steal back a priceless scarab which has made its way into Lord Emsworth's collection through a series of misadventures. What follows is a delightful romp through the halls of the English country home...it seems everyone in the Castle has a reason to be roaming about at night and what should be a very simple little matter of picking up the scarab (it's not even in a locked case) and stowing it away in a handy pocket becomes a veritable circus of unlikely events. Who knew so many people would be interested in the scarab?

This may be early Wodehouse, but he is already on the top of his game with ready wit and impossible situations. I found myself chuckling throughout the entire piece. The night-time adventure involving Baxter (Lord Emsworth's impeccable secretary), a bottle of wine, a bit of cold tongue and various bits of crockery and furniture is the highlight of the adventure. I look forward to future adventures at Blandings Castle as I make my way through the remainder of my Wodehouse Challenge books. Four stars.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first of the Blanding Castle series. I am hooked. The absent minded Earl, Freddie the second son and a complete sap. Throw in an American millionaire with bad digestion, a daughter betrothed to Freddie and you have a great farce. We have engagements that may be broken, aristocracy bordering on comic imbecility, servants staid but loyal and the wonderful setting of Blanding Castle.

The two worlds of the upstairs and downstairs are hilarious with both having that crazy British class distinction. The setting of Blanding castle and the scarab farce is hilarious. The confusion of the Americans and the family tension between Connie and Clarence.

I enjoyed how Ashe wooed Joan and I look forward to reading the next installment. Wodehouse is excellent in his witty, funny and farcical novels about quintessential England.

[Pseudonymous d'Elder · Rating 3 out of 5]

__________________________
“I could see that if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” –The Code of the Woosters

Well, I’m about as gruntled as a Hampshire Boar with laryngitis. I paid good money for Something Fresh –49₵, I believe it was-- and for 49₵, an aesthetic and cognoscente in good standing like me should at least be able to brag that he got his two bits worth. I didn’t though. Instead of something fresh, I got some green-tinged hardtack that had been ageing in a prehistoric midden for many millennia.

Oh, I’m aware that Wodehouse only has a meager library of plots to pull from. Microsoft AI Copilot tells me that 5 of the 11 Jeeves novels involve some polite thievery among the upper crust toffs, as do 6 of the 11 Blanding Castle novels. This is one of them. Now, I don’t mind that so much. The book was written over a hundred years ago, before real plots were invented.

However, I don’t read Wodehouse for the plots. I read them for his sparkling and witty dialogue. I highlight each waggish remark on my Kindle so I can savor it again and again. I normally end up with a credenza full of such remarks for each book, but I just checked my Kindle Notes for Something Fresh and I feel like Ol’ Mamma Hubbard. My Kindle’s clipped quip and wit cupboard is bare, and the poor little dog is peeing on my couch.

There is not so much as a hardy titter or giggle in the entire book. Well, I thought I espied a small teehee cringing in the corner of my quip cupboard, but it was just a dust bunny.

🌟🌟 Stars. Should you read Something Fresh?
"I always advise people never to give advice." —P.G. Wodehouse

Here’s some advice. When I bought my copy of Something Fresh from Amazon, I was on a Wodehouse binge and decided to buy Wodehouse’s Something New as well. It was more costly, and I had to paid 99 cents for it, so I expected it to be twice as good. It is very similar to Something Fresh, in fact every word in Something New, with the exception of the word "New" is the same as in Something Fresh. It turns out that when Something Fresh was published in the U.S., its title was changed to Something New, probably because the flirtatious connotations of the word “Fresh” was too sexually charged for Puritan America. Other books in the Blanding’s Castle series were also published with dual titles. Summer Lightning and Fish Provided are the same book, and Galahad at Blandings and The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood are the same.

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun and a perfect mid-winter cheering potion. This (I am delighted to say) is the first of a whole series of satiric novels set at Blandings Castle and featuring the absent-minded Lord Emsworth and his clueless son Freddie. If British upper class really was this dumb, and I suspect great swaths of it might have been, it's a wonder the country survived and no wonder at all the the Empire was lost.

Plenty of sharply humorous elbow digs at upstart Americans, the hack publishing industry, overzealous staff, etc. Wodehouse fans will revel in his trademark witty dialog and madcap plotting and will find this one all the more endearing thanks to a charming couple of young people who are clearly meant for each other right from their very first, very funny meeting. You'll be rooting for them, too.

Content: G with some ethically questionable goings on surrounding a missing scarab.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always a pleasure to dip back into the world of P.G. Wodehouse

Something Fresh (1915) is the very first in the wonderful Blandings Castle series and certain of our favourite tropes and characters had not been established yet. For example there's no sign of the Empress or indeed Lord Emsworth's pig obsession, nor indeed of his wonderful sister Constance. It is interesting though to go back to the start of the series to observe the evolution of characters from their earliest days.

I'm pleased to report that the Efficient Baxter is in situ as he is usually at the heart of some of the best comedic setpieces and so it proves here. He's involved in another incident in the dead of night that made me laugh out loud and which, not for the last time, left the other guests questioning Baxter's sanity.

There are also some interesting insights into the world below stairs in this book.

The story is predictably Wodehousian: unresolved love affairs, theft, an American millionaire, misunderstandings, and all delivered with PGW's customary flair, wit and sparkling prose. Life is undeniably better in PGW's world and I will be back there soon.

4/5






This is the first Blandings novel, In which P.G. Wodehouse intruduces us to the delightfully dotty Lord Emsworth, his bone-headed younger son, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, his log-suffering secretary, the Efficient Baxter, and Beach the Blandings butler.

As Wodehouse wrote, "without at least one imposter on the premises, Blandings Castle is never itself". In Something Fresh there are two, each with an eye on a valuable Egytian amulet which Lord Emsworth has acquired without quite realizing how it came into his pocket. But of course things get a lot more complicated than this...

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something Fresh, first instalment of the Blandings series, is a brilliant comedy. Once again, Wodehouse succeeds in juggling with several convoluted plot threads to great entertainment. It is truly amazing how he doesn't get entangled!! 

Lord Emsworth, the forgetful and kleptomaniac earl of Blandings Castle, has appropriated himself of the prized possession of a wealthy American collector, who happens to be the father of his youngest son's fiancee. One can only imagine the ire of the hypochondriac magnate who will do anything to get his scarab back, even to the extend of employing someone to steal it back. Add to this a romance or two, blackmailing, a detective writer, a secretary with bulldog tendencies, and a butler with a troubled stomach. Life is anything but quiet at Blandings, especially in the middle of the night!!!

Although this novel was published in 1915 and shows a social world that doesn't exist anymore, Wodehouse is still a brilliant read today due to his colourful characters (all larger than life and yet believable), witty dialogue, and scene staging. The resulting book is not only extremely entertaining but also very cinematographic. I often had the impression of seeing a film while reading it :0)

[Girish · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Trouble, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder"

My first Blandings castle book and it was a mixed bag for me. Blandings castle had a cacophony of characters - the important and side characters yet to be indexed - I was finding myself backing the wrong character(s).

Intoxicated on Jeeves series, I was shocked the butler had nothing to do in the book and having so many ethiquette challenged impostors entering the castle at one go! So, the English aristocracy is torn to smittens.

We meet Ash Madison (writer of detective novels and comic exerciser) and Joan Valentine (almost feminist) in the first chapter nowhere near the castle. Their chemistry is spontaneous and you know they are the right people to back. Loved their equality squabble.

Then you meet a host of characters including the absent minded Lord Emsworth and his secretary Baxter, his son Freddy and his fiance Aline and her father Mr.Peters from America along with their own set of friends/social circle. At the center of the plot is also a prize scarab and a lot of confusion.

The comical elements preserved, there are the usual elements like theft attempts, matters of heart, engagement. Too chaotic in comparison with other PGW.

A comfort read.

[carol.]

Rec'd by Sarah Crustacean

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve said before, and I suspect I will continue to say, that when I’m feeling down, or when world is upside down and doesn’t make sense, all I have to do is read Wodehouse and all seems right again.

Something Fresh is the first book in the Blandings Castle series. The thing is, basically, if you’ve read one Wodehouse novel, as far as plot is concerned, you’ve read ’em all; however, this in no way lessens my enjoyment.

Wodehouse’s greatness - genius, really - was his use of the English language. Pick up any of his books, open to any page, and if you’re a lover of words, I’ll guarantee you will find a sentence or a passage that will grab your attention, perhaps make you nod your head, or even read it out loud. For example: “Cold is the ogre which drives all beautiful things into hiding.” This is the opening sentence to a really hilarious passage, but isn’t that a terrific metaphor?

In another passage, Wodehouse repeats a list of items a total of four times to great comical effect: “a tongue, some bread, a knife, a fork, salt, a corkscrew and a small bottle of white wine.” I was laughing helplessly by the fourth time, and my husband asked, “Is it really that funny?”

Yes. Yes, it is.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friends and relatives of the Earl of Elmsworth gather at Blandings Castle to celebrate the betrothal of Freddie, his worthless younger son, to Alina Peters, daughter of an American millionaire. A few weeks earlier, while visiting the Peters' home, the absentminded Earl had unknowingly absconded with a valuable antique scarab from the highly prized collection of Mr. Peters. Peters believes the Earl has stolen the item to add to his own collection, and he is determined to get it back without causing a scandal or jeopardizing the engagement.

Towards that end, he employs struggling writer Ashe Marson to play the part of his valet and promises a handsome reward upon his retrieving the scarab. Unfortunately for Ashe, several other parties have gotten wind of the reward resulting in intrigue, mistaken identities, and much hilarious skulking about the castle at night.

Written in 1915, this is one of P.G. Wodehouse's earlier novels, a humorous and well-plotted farce with great characters, although it features neither Bertie nor Jeeves. Fans of Wodehouse will enjoy this something that seems both fresh and familiar.

[david · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the best. The absolute equal in literature of the 'Marx Brothers' in film. But more prolific.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine Oscar Wilde-lite and you've got P.G. Wodehouse.

Wodehouse isn't as political as Wilde, he isn't quite as scathing in his criticism of society, and he isn't as bitingly funny, but that makes him no less entertaining.

Wodehouse is a master of bright and breezy. Stephen Fry says that Wodehouse is "sunlit perfection," and I couldn't agree more. The first of the Blanding books, Something Fresh, fits this description like the dot on a lower case i.

Something Fresh is light without being lightweight. It is silly without being stupid. It is comic without being comical. It is ingenious without being genius. It is good without being great. In other words, it is a perfect read when you're stuck between a massive work like Gravity's Rainbow and a pulpy mess like The DaVinci Code.

My only regret at the end of Something Fresh is that we won't see more of Ashe Marsen or Joan Valentine or Mr. Peters (who could easily have starred in their own comedy/mystery television show in the eighties). They are off to America. Instead, we'll be stuck with old-lolly Emsworth and the Honourable Freddie. But that's okay. The bumbling pair will undoubtedly give me plenty to smile about in Leave it to Psmith.

And there's no hurry to get there. Wodehouse doesn't inspire hurry. He inspires comfortable languor. Blandings will be there when I need it, and I will be comforted when I move into that strange castle once again.

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first in the Blandings Castle series.

This takes a little bit of time to get going but the reason for this is that a significant number of people have to be at Blandings for this story to work and all these characters have to be given a backstory.

The plot is a bit complicated and I don't want to spoil the plot by saying who ends up with whom, but suffice to say a love is lost and a love is found, and another love is lost and found, and one of these loves relates to a scarab beetle.

In this book, the characters aren't quite as well defined as they are in later books. The Earl is a bit one-dimensional but that might be because there's no Empress of Blandings in this book, the Earl needs his pig to bring some passion into his character's life. Freddie Threepwood just comes over as a clueless drip in this book and there's more to him than that in later books. There's no Connie either, a character who makes the life of her brother, the Earl, an absolute misery.

[Vimal Thiagarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book that marked the transformation of Wodehouse from a good writer to a phenomenon.Its an amazing experience to see him effortlessly driving into every turn in the language and painting every shade of humour that can ever occur to the human mind.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty damn perfect

[Antonomasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

[4.5] Truly delightful.
Most other people must be experiencing something like this when they read Wodehouse. My opinions of twenty-odd years ago aren't much changed, it seems: repeating myself, but I'd read part of a Jeeves book in the public library and didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about, yet a while later borrowed Service With A Smile and loved it. Just took me an inordinately long time to get round to more. So it's not that I can't quite warm to Wodehouse, it's that I can't quite warm to J&W, but I do like Blandings. Given how many friends like Wodehouse, it's nice to feel clubbable in one sense rather than the other. Somewhere or other, there will still be people I'd generally like saying "I wouldn't trust anyone who didn't love Jeeves and Wooster" (and it does seem, in England at least, like a significant marker of character) but as GR has reminded me repeatedly, even with those who most closely share our tastes, there are always major differences of opinion over a handful of favourites.

It's something to do with trust: a J&W book isn't cosy to me, because I wouldn't trust the Machiavellian Jeeves as far as I could throw him (and if imagining him the size of Fry, that means not at all, even back at the time when I could bench very nearly my own weight...) I find the relationship between him & Bertie - whom he manipulates, albeit usually in a benign way - too psychologically heavy and complex for the relaxing reading millions of others use the books for, and not all that amusing. The nearest thing to a Jeeves figure in Something Fresh is The Efficient Baxter, who is more or less the adversary of our heroes, and he, unlike Bertie's butler, succumbs to normal human frailties; the Nietzschean concept of the Superman is alluded to more than once around a minor character, Emerson - but no-one is, in the end, shown to be one in the colloquial sense. All are fallible and the more likeable for it.

The audience identification character is a widely derided creation among my friends, but regardless there are two wonderful examples here, low-earning, plucky young people of middle-class upbringing whose unorthodox attempts to earn money land them in an adventure pretending to be a valet and maid visiting Blandings. (If only the ending had been tweaked a little, and there were more books about adventuress-on-a-budget Joan Valentine, I would love to read them...) She and Ashe Marson - as well as plenty of page time given to the servants, and a surprising wisdom about the difficulties of the non-rich make this book more inclusive than Wodehouse's reputation for writing about aristocrats might suggest. He has a good natured way of acknowledging that bigger problems than those of his characters exist in the world, and that his books are escapism.
He was as completely happy as only a fluffy-minded old man with excellent health and a large income can be. Other people worried about all sorts of things – strikes, wars, suffragettes, diminishing birth-rates, the growing materialism of the age, and a score of similar subjects. Worrying, indeed, seemed to be the twentieth century’s specialty. Lord Emsworth never worried. Nature had equipped him with a mind so admirably constructed for withstanding the disagreeablenesses of life that, if an unpleasant thought entered it, it passed out again a moment later... His name, when he died, would not live for ever in England’s annals; he was spared the pain of worrying about this by the fact that he had no desire to live for ever in England’s annals. He was possibly as nearly contented as a human being can be in this century of alarms and excursions. [Essentially, if one is intelligent and/or has a good memory, it may be inevitable to be concerned about the state of the world.]

I had not expected, though, to find a character like this in Wodehouse: There was in [her eyes] a little of November’s cold glitter, too, for Joan had been through much in the last few years, and experience, even if it does not harden, erects a defensive barrier between its children and the world. Her eyes were eyes that looked straight and challenged... It is the compensation which Life gives to those whom it has handled roughly that they shall be able to regard with a certain contempt the small troubles of the sheltered... Life, at that moment, had seemed to stretch before her like a dusty, weary road, without hope. She was sick of fighting. She wanted money and ease and a surcease from this perpetual race with the weekly bills.
If you ever had days of scraping around taking a motley variety of jobs, and meeting interesting flotsam and jetsam of humanity along the way, Joan and Ashe will surely make you strangely nostalgic for them. There have always been some people like this (I love the phrasethere is a Free Masonry among those who live in large cities on small earnings - I know the sort of people he means, and - with a handful of notable exceptions - they are usually more interesting than those who went into Proper Jobs straight out of university or school and stayed in them for years.) These pre-1920s twentysomethings seem closer to the typical circumstances of post-crash millenials than to the post-war job for life generation. The plot became easy to imagine transposed to modern London - where Joan and Ashe would presumably be doing irregular IT & web work rather than writing pulp fiction - and mildly dodgy business in which an oligarch needs young native English speakers for some social scheme, for which they will be rewarded with enough money to buy a very nice house for themselves. (I discovered this calculator - warning; Daily Mail owned site - for values of money in every year since 1900, which gives an idea of just what a big deal £500 or £1000 was; prices of goods that long ago aren't shown but you may have some idea of those anyway.)

A handful of other points I found fascinating: "to medicine" isn't just 60s slag after all... it's here.

I don't think I'm as absent-minded as Emsworth today*, but I cannot recall a female character who's aged as well as Joan. I couldn't believe she wasn't written at least 50 years later than she was, probably more. These editions haven't been edited, have they? She isn't even presented as an exception the way a lot of historical novelists would: the only time that idea comes up is in passing thoughts of a male character, which the author doesn't approve of: Joan, in Ashe’s opinion, should have played a meeker and less active part. These unworthy emotions did not last long. Whatever his other shortcomings, Ashe possessed a just mind.
(Feminism in Wodehouse - not something I've heard spoken of as a topic, but which a) probably exists somewhere as an academic paper, and b) is partly responsible for his enduring popularity.)

I never laughed this much reading Jeeves & Wooster. It was with the phrase "a scooper-up of random scarabs" that I first felt the writing was getting into its stride and becoming Wodehouse as I hear him spoken of, and that this was going to be an excellent book. Sure enough, plenty similar followed, as well as some wonderful farce that, for me at least, was all fun and no cringing. (I sometimes have too much sympathy for characters one isn't meant to, which makes it too intense and not funny enough - I've always had this problem with Fawlty Towers.) The usage of words like 'fluffy' and 'random' also made it feel oddly contemporary. The benignity of the authorial voice is just perfect: characters' judgements of each other are clearly laid out, but the narrative has empathy for everyone somewhere, and it's very delicately done, e.g. each, in fact, was to the other a perpetual freak-show with no charge for admission... but they aren't to us because we hear how they feel inside.
[Reading some background, including about an eccentric who was born in the real-life Blandings, whilst I can take or leave some of the antics, also uncovered the - to me - inexplicably hilarious idea of "Prepare to meet thy God" painted inside a wardrobe. I can just imagine opening one having arrived somewhere, seeing that and bursting into fits of giggles.]

Very interesting to have read this, coincidentally, only a couple of days after watching an old documentary about another aristocratic father and wayward son. Though Blandford was more serious a potential problem than Hon Freddie, as he was the eldest, not a younger son. The series showed that a Duke or Earl today essentially needs to be CEO of a tourism and events business - which Emsworth wouldn't have been able to do, yet whilst Blandings is not open to the public Baxter is a sort of regent, handling complex matters in his stead; there was still a fair bit to do, though not as much. Things have changed, yet not.


(Curious about the lowish review numbers for even the most popular Wodehouses on Goodreads, as compared with other books which far fewer people I know off this site have read I had a look at Amazon (uk) sales rankings for a few PGWs, which it turns out - as I suspected - are far higher than those for plenty of works that get lots of attention on Goodreads. There are particular types of big-on-Goodreads book across various genres and reader constituencies; likewise others which are quite popular in countries outside the US and which have very few posts on here. Wodehouse appears to be one of those authors who's still very widely read, yet proportionally less catalogued and reviewed on GR, albeit not so much as is the case for newer fictional and factual works with local [non-US] popularity.)


* Or two days later: having left this post as unfinished a couple of days ago, I now can't remember what else I meant to add - other than bits and pieces which have worked their way into posts about books 2 and 3. It is a jumble, but I find myself not caring.