P.G. Wodehouse's audio books
P.G. Wodehouse's books are the perfect antidote for a bad day. Wodehouse's sprightly wit is even more bracing than the cure for a hangover created by the author's most memorable character, the brilliant "gentleman's gentleman," Jeeves. Unlike some other works, the roughly 40 short stories are just as delectable read with your ears as they are with your eyes, and are guaranteed to keep you laughing even in the midst of rush-hour traffic.
Titles available from (among other sources) the Enoch Pratt Free Library are Carry On Jeeves, Very Good Jeeves and The Code of the Woosters.
The stories almost all concern Jeeves' efforts to extract his employer, Bertie Wooster, from romantic entanglements and scrapes with the law. Bertie is a good-hearted, dim-witted member of the British idle class with a seemingly endless income, making him easy prey.
The delights of these audio books are threefold. Wodehouse is the kind of author who works extremely hard to make his prose slide down without apparent effort. A few choice examples:
"He was white and shaken, like a dry martini."
"Proceed, old gargoyle -- you have our ear."
"He had the look of an ostrich that had swallowed a door knob."
The second great pleasure of reading Wodehouse is of the frivolous world he creates of England in the Roaring Twenties. It is a world of maximum leisure and minimum responsibility, a world in which wearing a black tux to dinner instead of white tie and tails was considered dressing down. It's a world where fashionable young gentleman rarely stepped outside their front doors before noon, and where the ultimate hardship is holing up in a luxury hotel without the ministrations of one's personal valet.
Knowing what was coming -- i.e., World War II -- you might not want to live in that England. But it sure is fun to visit.
Many of the Jeeves books are narrated by Alexander Spencer, who, with his light, plummy voice and gift for understatement, makes an ideal Bertie.
What, ho.
Comments
I discovered Jeeves a few months ago and have been steadily making my way through many of the audio books ever since. I've had such fun reviewing them all on my blog! My favorite phrases are the ones Bertie uses to refer to his Aunt Agatha - "aged ancestor" is the mildest of the bunch. :)
Posted by: Heather J. | March 25, 2009 9:22 AM
Hi Heather!
Aunt Agatha is a great, great character. I also adore Aunt Dahlia's telegrams to Bertie, in which she addresses him as "treacherous, contemptible worm" but always signs "Love." Any non-Jeeves Wodehouse audio books you want to recommend?
Posted by: Mary McCauley | March 25, 2009 10:28 AM
Mary, I'm so glad you posted this. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never read P.G. Wodehouse. Now I see what I've missed. But I have a lot to look forward to!
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | March 25, 2009 6:05 PM
Gail, I'm so glad to hear that you are about to embark on your first Wodehouse adventure! After you've had a chance to read (or listen to) your first book, check back in and
let us know what you think.
Posted by: Mary McCauley | March 26, 2009 5:45 PM
I can't necessarily recommend any non-Jeeves Wodehouse books (I've read too many to keep them all straight), but I can definitely go for at least 3 non-Jeeves short stories: "Uncle Fred Flits By," the golf story "The Clicking of Cuthbert" (which gets a reference, without the title, in George Orwell's defense of Wodehouse) and the Mulliner story "The Reverent Wooing of Archibald," which throws in a nice dig at anti-Shakespeare 'scholarship.'
Posted by: greeneyeshade | March 29, 2009 11:13 PM
Oh yes, and another Mulliner story, possibly the first: "The Truth About George," in which a therapist compares the title character's stammer to "a soda-water siphon trying to recite 'Gunga Din.' "
Posted by: greeneyeshade | March 29, 2009 11:17 PM
Dear greeneyeshade, thanks for your suggestions. I'll absolutely have to find "George" -- that siphon analogy is priceless, if a bit cruel. But, those were less enlightened times.
Posted by: Mary McCauley | March 30, 2009 10:56 AM
If you're looking for non-Jeeves titles, I have to recommend "Three Men and a Maid" (also known as "The Girls on the Boat"). I just finished listening to the audiobook and I found it to be the funniest of any Wodehouse books I've heard yet. I also enjoyed "A Man of Means". I hope this helps.
Posted by: DrPepp4Greg | May 5, 2009 7:52 AM
Thanks, Dr.Pepp4Greg.
Where did you find these audio book titles? Do you subscribe to Books on Tape, or do you (as I do) check them out of the library? I wonder what the likelihood is of the Enoch Pratt getting its hands on "Three Men and a Maid." It sounds pretty irresistible. Does anyone else have an inexpensive source for audio books they'd like to recommend?
Posted by: Mary McCauley | May 6, 2009 12:55 PM
Libirvox has a decent catalog of free Wodehouse audio books. I recommend Right Ho, Jeeves, and for a shorter treat, enjoy The Secret Pleasures of Reginald form A Wodehouse Miscellany.
http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=wodehouse&status=all&action=Search
Posted by: Dan Hyllengren | May 14, 2009 8:14 AM
DrPepp4Greg,
I am listening to the Girl on the Boat narrated by Frederick Davidson. However I find his voice mildly annoying. (Jonathan Cecil is my favourite Wodehouse narrator.)
Who is the narrator for your version of "Three Men and a Maid"
Thanks,
Mika
Posted by: AnamikaDarwin | June 12, 2009 12:48 PM