Wednesday 16 April 2008

Hallo, Hallo, Hallo, What?

Sir Pelham Wodehouse, KBE, or P G Wodehouse, as he was more popularly known, was, indeed, a prolific writer. When I was at school one of my pals read his books; I bought one and tried to read it - couldn't fathom it at all! I suppose Wodehouse has a certain style of writing, and it's an old-fashioned style at that; some of the archaic words and phrases he uses take time to appreciate.

I rediscovered P G Wodehouse or, to be more accurate, the Jeeves and Wooster sagas recently and I have acquired most of the Jeeves series - I suppose there must be approximately sixteen of them although that depends on whether several books, which have only one or two Jeeves stories therein, are counted. The first book was published in 1917 and the final one in 1974.

I have thirteen of them, acquired mostly by browsing in second-hand bookshops; and on the internet auction site, Ebay too. I'm presently seeking the remaining three books: Jeeves And The Feudal Spirit; My Man Jeeves; and The Man With Two Left Feet.

I'm keeping an eagle-eye on Ebay presently; must pay a visit to Stacks in Dundonald shortly, and there's another good second-hand bookshop in North Street, Belfast, where the bird (a Wodehouse term to keep you on your toes!) has a habit of addressing his callers as "my good man".

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