Ukridge by P.G. Wodehouse, 255 pagesunread authors; decades: 1920s
While more famous for his Jeeves and Bertie characters, Ukridge is another of Wodehouse's humorous characters cavorting in the early part of the 20th century in England. I picked this one solely to complete the decades challenge; I hated the thought of only missing the 1920s to get 8 in a row and complete the challenge. I put this on order at the library and they had to bring it up form the basement storage. Turns out to be probably from the 1920s itself, if I judge by the dates stamped in the back of this book on the old fashioned card, beginning in 1938.
Ukridge appears to be a series of short stories put together into his adventures in money making. Ever the optimist, Ukridge rolls around town looking to make easy money and instead, getting himself and his friends into scrapes. Nothing ever works out the way he hopes, but to his friend, the narrator, maddeningly, Ukridge usually ends up smelling like a rose.
Amusing little read but not my particular brand of laugh out loud funny. I recognize the classicness of the stories, and fans of British humor and P.G. Wodehouse will be delighted. And I finished the last challenge of 2008 that I hoped to.
It breaks my reader's heart that a Wodehouse book, even a lesser one, should have to be brought up from "basement storage," while so much tripe is on the more visible shelves just because it is new. I think the job of a good library is to be sure borrowers know of the great old stuff, not just the hot-off-the-presses writing. Not to say old is good and new is bad, but geez there should be a balance. If I ran the library system, I would have a table called old treasures or something like that and feature books from long ago.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever read a Wodehouse book before but I'm glad you finished your challenge!
ReplyDeleteOoh I like Nan's idea about the treasures!
Wow, I've never even heard of this. I feel like I read a biography of PG Wodehouse at some point, and you'd think some of his book titles would have stuck.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read the Psmith ones by him? I find them a lot funnier than Jeeves and Wooster.
looking at the books you have read you would probably love haruki murakami. start with A Wild Sheep Chase. And I have to agree with the last comment - Psmith is the best wodehouse (the p is silent :-)
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