"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Friday, April 11, 2025

The Inimitable Jeeves (P.G. Wodehouse, 1923)

(225 pages)

I really want to like Wodehouse's books.  He has such a funny way of writing (always coming up with a phrase or word that I wouldn't expect); I think the books are considered to have aged well; I want to keep trying; but I usually end up wondering why I'm spending any time reading them.  Hmm.

My last Wodehouse attempt was 10 years ago.

This is the first volume in what became a lengthy series of books centered around the unflappable problem-solving butler, Jeeves. He is employed by Bertie Wooster - a youngish gentleman who is independently wealthy. In this volume, Bertie is beset by Aunt Agatha; deals with multiple romances experienced by his friend Bingo; deals with two miscreant cousins (Claude and Eustace).

With Jeeves around, everything turns out well.  

OK I will try the next Jeeves volume before deciding on whether to give up.

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