The Adventures of Sally

I cudgeled my brain to think of something nice to say about this book, but I was unable to. By standards of ordinary writers it may not be bad, but the standards of other PG Wodehouse books this stinks so bad, it could cause asphyxiation in readers. The story is a comic romance as are most of his books. The only problem is that as romances go it is bad as comedy goes it is worse.

Sally - Heroine. Came into some money when she turned 21. Used that to promote a play written by the man she thinks she loves. Two men love her.

Ginger Kemp - The first of the two admirer; impecunious but lovable loser. He invokes all of her maternal instinct. He also is a half-scrum at rugger and was almost an international.

Mr. Carmyle - The other admirer. Rich and obnoxious. He is also Ginger's cousin

Gerald Foster - Sally thinks she loves him but he is a worm. He uses her to get ahead, but dumps her when he no longer need her.

Elsa Doland - Seems a nice person and is a very good actress. She uses Gerald and Sally to get ahead, but dumps them both when she no longer need them.

Fillmore - The only good in him is that he is Sally's brother. Other wise he grovels and borrows when he is poor and is pompous and afraid of poor connections when he is rich.

Mabel Hobson - Cannot act at all but believe herself to be a star.

The Girl In Blue

Homer - Corporate lawyer extraordinaire and write poetry in free time

Mrs Clayborne - Homer's sister. Kleptomaniac. Homer plans on shipping her to the English country side to keep her away from temptation.

Jerry West - the hero, engaged to Vera but in love with Jane

Jane - The good girl

Vera Upshaw - So beautiful that she could easily be the star in a Sultan's harem, but a Gold Digger. Engaged to Jerry but has her eye on richer prize, Homer.

Dame Flora Faye - Mother of a Golder digger and in her heydays was known to be a very good gold digger herself.

Crispin Scrope - Owns a white elephant called Mellingham Hall. Reduced in life to letting out rooms for rent. Mrs. Clayborne is one of her lodger.

Willoughby Scrope - Younger brother of Crispin. Rich Lawyer. Addicted to collecting artifacts. Believes Mrs Clayborne stole his miniature painting. Ropes in several people in an attempt to steal it back.

Jerry West's wealth is locked up in a trust. W. Scrope is the trustee.

Vera wants Jerry to convince W. Scrope to break the trust so she can get her hands on the money.

W. Scrope wants Jerry to steal the painting in return for breaking the trust.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Galahad At Blandings

All Wodehouse stories are convoluted. Well this one has more knots than can be found in a seaman's repertoire.

Sam has bet that Tipton would marry Veronica, Galahad's niece.

Tipton is rich.

Veronica and, more importantly Veronica's mom, Lady Wedge, love money.

Tipton and Veronica are made for each other, having brains that would fit in an aspirin bottle.

Sam loves Sandy. Sam needs money to spruce up his barrack of a house so he can sell it to some rich man.

Sandy thought she loved Sam till he refused to listen to her. Sandy knows Tipton's for the butterfly he is; losing his heart every Sunday, to a different girl. So she wants Sam to take up the syndicate's offer to buy Sam out rather than go for broke.

Veronica's cousin is the pint sized Wilfred Alsop with a gallon sized heart that beats for

Monica Simmons

Although Monica looks like an All England wrestler, it is she who takes care of Empress of Blandings, Lord Emsworth prize winning pig.

Wilfred is scared to tell Monica he loves her.

Lord Emsworth after putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with the answer 22 believes that Tipton has lost all money and informs his sister Lady Wedge who promptly convinces her pea-brained daughter to break off the engagement via mail. She quickly realizes how unreliable Lord Emsworth is as a source of information and is now worried about losing all that money.

Only Gally can put all these sundered hearts together

Right Ho Jeeves

Jeeves - Valet, Uber Counsellor. Chock full of psychology.

Bertie Wooster - Our hero, or is he? He thinks he looks wonderful in a new jacket. Jeeves does not like it. He also believes that Jeeves is losing his touch and decides to help much to the consternation of those he wants to help.

Anotole - Highly temperamental, french cook exemplar. Men have weak knees just contemplating his creations. Threatens to quit when everyone passes on his creation one night at Bertie's suggestion.

Aunt Dahlia - Bertie's only nice aunt although she hides a iron fist in velvet gloves. She bars Bertie from her table if he fails to distribute the prize at a grammar school. She also lost a small fortune at the baccarat table in Cannes and is waiting for the right moment to tell her husband Tom that he needs to ante up.

Tom - One with the money.

Fink-Nottle - Knows everything about newts, and can talk about it for hours and he often does. He loves Madeline Bassett but does not have the nerve. Bertie ropes him into distributing prize.

Madeline Bassett - When Bertie tries to help Fink-Nottle by putting in a good word for his friend, she ends up believing Bertie loves her much to his dread.

Tuppy Glossop - Loves Anotole's cooking - but who doesn't. He loves Angela, Aunt Dahlia's daughter but talks flippantly about Angela's claim to fame; she thinks she survived a shark attack.

Angela - Breaks off her engagement with Tuppy over his attitude and accuses him to being insensitive.

Only Jeeves can save the situation. In the end he gets even with Bertie!!

PG Wodehouse

I was in 8th grade when I discovered Wodehouse. My first book was Right Ho Jeeves. I discovered Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Fink Nottle, Aunt Dahlia, Anotole the Chef, and whole slew of unforgettable characters. I still have fond memories of the chapter where a totally pie-eyed (Wodehouse-an for drunk) Fink-Nottle gives a speech at a local Grammer School.

Since then I have not looked back. I have probably read most of his books, many of them several times, and I probably own most of them.

Over the past 3 years I gravitated to more serious books and Wodehouse was relegated to the back row in my bookshelves. Luckily a casual conversation with some friends reminded me how much I used to enjoy them and I have decided to read them again with a twist.

This time I have decided to add some structure to my re-reading effort. So once I complete reading a book I have decided write a short comment on each of the Wodehouse. My next post will be my first one.