Uncle Fred in the Springtime
by P.G. Wodehouse (Doubleday, Doran, 1939)
audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Audible, 2021) [as part of “The Blandings Collection”]
![Book cover: “Uncle Fred in the Springtime” by P.G. Wodehouse (Doubleday, Doran, 1939); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Audible, 2021) [as part of “The Blandings Collection”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Wodehouse_Uncle-Fred-in-the-Springtime.jpg)
Perhaps the most twisted and entwined plot that Wodehouse ever laid down. If anything, the Gordian Knot is perhaps too great, for the sheer effort of describing it leaves Wodehouse a bit short of his usual sparkle, the pitfalls not so precarious.
Sunset at Blandings
by P.G. Wodehouse (Chatto & Windus, 1977; revised Everyman’s Library, 2015)
The final, unfinished Wodehouse novel. Much like Pratchett’s ‘The Shepherd’s Crown’, the un-fleshed-out text stirs memories of what was, while throwing light on the authorial process. In this instance, Plum-worship has led to the adding of copious and mostly inconsequential third-party annotations.
Lord Emsworth and Others
by P. G. Wodehouse (Herbert Jenkins, 1937)
Nine short stories evincing Wodehouse’s usual joie de vivre and knack for comedic happenstance, yet, save for ‘The Crime Wave at Blandings’, lacking closure, giving instead the impression of half-conceptualised novels (or subplots thereof) cut down in the mid stages of drafting.
Blandings, Series 1
adapted by Guy Andrews (BBC, 2013)
Series One of Blandings, although adapted rather loosely from the P. G. Wodehouse books (and lacking their most memorable character, Gally Threepwood), nevertheless manages to conjure up a merriment not out of keeping with its source material. Well cast, fast-moving and frivolous.
A Pelican at Blandings
by P. G. Wodehouse (Barrie & Jenkins, 1969)
Though less satirically relevant nowadays, Wodehouse’s novels of the (farcically characterised) idle rich retain their charm, not least of all by way of a prose style that in tone both adopts and parodies the lifestyle, romping with indifference, self-indulgence and Machiavellian remove.