Archive for p.g. wodehouse

Summer Reading: 2013

Posted in Books with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2013 by David McInerny

IMG_2350I know many of us are still looking at snow outside our windows, but it’s not too early to think about collecting a stack of books for a vacation on the beach, nights in a hotel, or just a quiet, warm evening on the back deck. Here are a few suggestions for 2013 summertime reading that have fascinated me:

1. Degas In New Orleans – Christopher Benfey (1997)

Edgar Degas, an important early Impressionist painter, spent time in New Orleans with American cousins during the late Reconstruction period. Benfey writes a thoroughly interesting documentary of Degas’ time there with contemporary local luminaries, while the painter captures this period in American Louisiana history with some of his most famous work.

2. Battleborn – Claire Vaye Watkins (2012)

With unusual skill for such a young talent, Watkins conjures a host of restless souls in this series of short stories based in the early boom time of post-wild west Nevada. Her style is reminiscent of John Updike’s short story linguistic magic.

3. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (1926)

Parisian nightlife, Spanish bullfights, afternoon fly-fishing and romantic, expatriate angst – Papa hit his creative stride with this quasi-autobiographical novel about the search for meaning within post WWI’s “lost generation.”

4. Stars In Their Courses – Shelby Foote (1997)

Adapted from Foote’s epic three-volume history of the Civil War, this is the definitive description of the three day Battle of Gettysburg. Shelby Foote humanizes the event like no other, and this book makes timely reading for the 150th anniversary of the battle on July 1,2,3 of this year.

5. Neither Here Nor There – Bill Bryson (1992)

Recreating his collegiate European travels two decades later, Bryson weaves hilarious tales that have the reader laughing from Amsterdam to Rome. If you can’t afford a European vacation this summer, this book is the next best thing.

6. Too Many Cooks – Rex Stout (1938)

The detective Nero Wolfe, Stout’s corpulent creation, along with his witty assistant, Archie Goodwin, are at their finest uncovering a murderer amidst an august gathering of gourmands. Fair warning – the Nero Wolfe mysteries are a classic series that will hook you for years.

7. The Marseille Caper – Peter Mayle (2012)

Peter Mayle has entranced readers with his autobiographical books on life as an Englishman in Provence, France. His newest book is another of his comic mysteries en par with the humor of P.G. Wodehouse.

8. An Eye For An Eye – Anthony Trollope (1879)

Downton Abbey fans, Trollope was the original master of serialized British drama and suspense. Long before TV, magazine readers waited for the latest installment of happenings among the aristocracy, and the regular folk who served them. This book about tragic love is set in Ireland, and reaches its climax on the cliffs of Moher.

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P.G. Wodehouse – The Golf Omnibus

Posted in Books with tags , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2012 by David McInerny

On the eve of the Ryder Cup, the emerging chaos of which I’ve just flown out of in Chicago, I’d like to recommend some between-match reading – The Golf Omnibus, by P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced woodhouse). Wodehouse was an uncommon talent in creating hysterical stories between a score of brilliantly conceived recurring characters, all set within – as my father described it – a late Victorian era that never really existed. Crumbling manors kept standing by the iron will of stately, if not somewhat dusty, elephantine dowagers, trembling servants, and scheming match-makers roam the pages from Wodehouse’s fertile, comic brain. The epitome of his creations are, of course, Bertie Wooster and his man-servant Jeeves, headliners in a series of books as well as the acclaimed PBS series featuring Stephen Fry as Jeeves, the gentleman’s gentleman, and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster (and, yes, more recently as House, M.D.).

However, for quick and clever belly laughs, Wodehouse’s golf stories are unequaled. Often set in the fictitious golf club at Wood Hills, under the watchful eye and wagging tongue of the Oldest Member, the witless are hooked, romances get shanked, and outrageous plots are driven straight into the rough. A fading, Victorian sense of propriety governs the proceedings, making the unlikely story lines even more uproarious. The shining example of Wodehouse’s brilliance on the links is The Clicking of Cuthbert, essential reading for anyone that has harbored illusions of golf greatness, or suffered the crime of unrequited love. Meaning all of us.

All these stories are collected in The Golf Omnibus, a timeless tome that would also make a great stocking stuffer for the aspiring golfer in your life. While you’re at it, order the complete Jeeves videos as well. The Wodehouse estate will thank you.

“I was never much of a golfer. Except for that glorious day at Aiken I was always one of the dregs, the sort of man whose tee shots, designed to go due north, invariably went nor-nor-east or in a westerly direction. But how I loved the game.”

– –  P.G. Wodehouse (aged 92), in the preface of The Golf Omnibus

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