I sat at my computer playing an online game, then I realized I could read a book.  Most of the books I’ve tried to read recently are from my father’s company (Baker) and are free to us.  They are probably good books, but most can’t hold my attention.  It is hard for me to stay focused on a book when my schedule is very busy.

So I decided to revisit the P.G. Wodehouse books I bought in middle school.  I remember bits and pieces of them all, but don’t have a clear memory of them as individual works.  So I chose Carry On, Jeeves to reread.  After the first chapter, I realized that I didn’t need to tell myself to stay focused or read the same paragraph five times as I often do at 12 am.  (The coffee at lunch must’ve helped.)

I thought I’d share a quote from the first chapter.

Context: Bertie Wooster’s mind is crossed with the fanciful idea to murder his bride-to-be’s little brother, Edwin, whose Boy Scout’s task of good deed-doing is getting in the way of Bertie’s attempt to destroy his Uncle’s memoir.  He wants it gone because his betrothed said that due to the scandalous nature of the book, she wouldn’t marry him if the manuscript wasn’t intercepted on the way to the publisher.

“Fellows who know all about that sort of thing – detectives, and so on – will tell you that the most difficult thing in the world is to get rid of the.  I remember, as a kid, having to learn by hear a poem about a bird by the name of Eugene Aram, who had the deuce of a job in this respect.  All I can recall of the actual poetry is the bit that goes:

‘Tum-tum, tum-tum, tum-tumty-tum,

I slew him, tum-tum tum!’ “

Happy Thanksgiving!

From a reading of Wodehouse on the topic of romance, one might believe that the ukulele player has an unfair advantage — but that would only be in the year 1919, when A Damsel in Distress first appeared.

Consider his [George's] position, you faint-hearted and self-pitying young men who think you have a tough row to hoe just because, when you pay your evening visit with the pound box of candy under your arm, you see the handsome sophomore from Yale sitting beside her on the porch, playing the ukulele. If ever the world has turned black to you in such a situation and the moon gone in behind a cloud, think of George Bevan and what he was up against. You are at least on the spot. You can at least put up a fight. If there are ukuleles in the world, there are also guitars, and tomorrow it may be you and not he who sits on the moonlit porch; it may be he and not you who arrives late. Who knows? Tomorrow he may not show up till you have finished the Bedouin’s Love Song and are annoying the local birds, roosting in the trees, with Poor Butterfly.

But if you read Thank you, Jeeves (1934), written by the same author, a different attitude to the ukulele (or its cousin, the Banjolele) might be detected.

Those who know Bertram Wooster best are aware that he is a man of sudden, strong enthusiasms and that, when in the grip of one of these, he becomes a remorseless machine — tense, absorbed, single-minded. It was so in the matter of this banjolele-playing of mine. Since that night at the Alhambra when the supreme virtuosity of Ben Bloom and his Sixteen Baltimore Buddies had fired me to take up the study of the instrument, not a day had passed without its couple of hours assiduous practice. And I was twanging the strings like one inspired when the door opened and Jeeves shovelled in the foul strait-waistcoat specialist… [Sir Roderick, who said:]

‘You’re a public menace. For weeks, it appears, you have been making life a hell for all your neighbours with some hideous musical instrument. I see you have it now. How dare you play that thing in a respectable block of flats? Infernal din!’

Some people have no heart.

Lots of good stuff going on this weekend, so I’ll try to contain my feverish excitement and space them out over a few posts.

First up is Plum Idol. Now it’s not an overstatement to say that P.G. Wodehouse is the greatest writer in the English language. Not just the best comic writer, but the best writer full stop. So here’s a chance to pick your favourite Plum quotes from a batch of 10.  In the process you can pick up prizes in the form of booze, books or lunch with Nicolas Soames (I’m not sure how desperate you are for lunch with Nicolas Soames, but it’s there if you want it).

I have to say I’m pretty surprised by the choices. Though crackers all, these aren’t the 10 I’d pick if I were offering the best of Wodehouse. I suppose there’s just so much good stuff out there we’re spoilt for choice.

Of those that escaped the list, this is my favourite from a quick google search: “She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing armchairs tight about the hips that season.” But I’m sure there are even better ones if I go back to the books. There’s a line about Gussie Fink-Nottle that once made me laugh so hard I had to lie down for 20 minutes. You don’t get that with Salman Rushdie.

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen

TYPE: Humour

RATING: 9/10

REVIEW:

As with all of the other Wodehouse books, this one didn’t fail to keep me laughing and at the edge of all the suspense. Bertram Wooster will remain his ever favorite character with Jeeves following in a close second.

The adventures of Bertie take him to Maiden Eggesford this time, ‘for a breath of fresh air’ as the doctor put it. This time, he has Aunt Dahlia for company, who recommended Maiden Eggesford in the first place. However, things take a turn when he finds that he also has company from Major Plank, a person he had tried to sell one of his Uncle Tom’s collectibles and had narrowly escaped by the ever-genius presence of Jeeves.

On the other hand, there seems to be another bit of trouble brewing up with respect to a special cat which a “rival” horse has seemed to start liking. Unfortunately, it is up to Bertie to separate the horse from the cat, at least till racing day. Since Bertie already seems to have made a nuisance of himself at the Cook house, this job gets difficult too and the plot thickens to something of a hilarious comedy.

A well written book as always; it takes your mind off the nasty stuff in life.

DESCRIPTION:

The Curious Case of the Maiden Eggesford Horror

When the doctor advises Bertie to live the quiet life, he and Jeeves head for the pure air and peace of Maiden Eggesford. However, they had not reckoned on Bertie’s irrepressible but decidely scheming Aunt Dahlia, around whom an imbroglio of impressive proportions develops involving The Cat Which Kept Popping Up When Least Expected. As Bertie observes, whatever aunts are, they are not gentlemen.

Sublime comic genius. — Ben Elton

55 years ago today, Hurricane Hazel roared ashore right around Topsail Beach, North Carolina, where I have spent at least part of the month of August since I was 8 years old.  A Category 4 hurricane, coinciding with the highest lunar tide of the year, it caused an 18-foot storm surge.  You can read that as BAD.  Legend has it that the house next door to “our” beach house, which is oceanfront, was picked up off its pilings, and dropped by the sound, 4 blocks away, completely intact.  They just had to pick it up and put it back on its stilts.  They say that there are no cemetaries on the island anymore because when Hazel came, all the bodies in the cemetary in Surf City were washed above ground, creating a gruesome clean-up process, and making it difficult in some cases to tell fresh corpses from better-seasoned corpses.  Ew.

Hazel’s unusual pattern had her pass through Durham as a Category 3 hurricane, which I don’t believe has happened since (and hadn’t happened before).  My father told me tales of watching from his office window as huge old trees just flew across West Campus.  I wonder if he walked to work that day?

Here’s an image of the storm’s aftermath – a shame about that lovely car …

On a much more pleasant note, today is my favorite author’s birthday!  He’s dead, or else I’d send him a card.  Yes, it’s P.G. Wodehouse, early 20th century British author best known for his humorous books featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.  How did a small-town North Carolina girl fall into a passionate literary love affair with an aged English author and suspected German collaborator known as “Plum”?  Well, it all started on a bright December day on Markham Avenue.  I just happened to use my friend Tom Beckett’s bathroom and there was this book.  As one does when one can during private moments, I read a few pages, and found it hysterical.  When I emerged, I asked Tom about it. “Oh, that’s James’ bathroom book,” he replied.  His roommate always had a book that was solely and exclusively read in the bathroom.  Don’t think about the germs, okay?

Well, I was captivated, but, being me, came back to Colorado and promptly forgot about it, until the following March, when I became very, very, very ill – and my boyfriend broke up with me.  Nice, huh?  Anyway, I needed some serious cheering up, so I dragged myself to the toy store and bought myself a teddy bear, and to the bookstore and bought the book “Life With Jeeves”, a compilation of three Jeeves novels.  I was too sick to go to school or to work, so I just stayed in the clawfoot tub of my exceptionally funky apartment and laughed myself well.

After that, it was a game for me to try to find Wodehouse’s books, as he was not exactly well-known in my generation, and Amazon.com didn’t exist yet.  I found around 40 of them to purchase, and more in the library, and I know there are still some out there that I haven’t read – I’ll find them someday.  They are, to this day, like comfort food for me.  When I get really down, or really sick, I start re-reading them, and must have re-read all of them ten times. 

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlestuffedbull.)

Wodehouse died at the age of 93 on Valentine’s Day after finally becoming a knight of the realm.  I hate it when my favorite authors die.  It means they will never write anything new for me to read. 

For more contemporary folks, you may be interested to know that the BBC produced a few television versions of some of Wodehouse’s Bertie and Jeeves stories, with the part of Bertie Wooster being played by none other than the actor who currently portrays Dr. House.  Quite a grand canyon between those two roles.

Today is also the birthday of Isabella Bird, one of the world’s foremost early female travellers and a personal inspiration for me, as she just went, on her own, and explored.  I love her attitude.

As a final parting thought, today is National Grouch Day.  Indulge your negativity if you want to – I’m afraid I am negative enough off and on right now without needing a special day for it.

Just an excuse to use this quote which I nicked from here:

“Rugby football is a game I can’t claim absolutely to understand in all its niceties, if you know what I mean. I can follow the broad, general principles, of course. I mean to say, I know that the main scheme is to work the ball down the field somehow and deposit it over the line at the other end and that, in order to squalch this programme, each side is allowed to put in a certain amount of assault and battery and do things to its fellow man which, if done elsewhere, would result in 14 days without the option, coupled with some strong remarks from the Bench.” – P. G. Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves (1930)

Wodehouse might have fainted at the prospect of ladies playing but here’s a set from my 20 minutes of watching Chesham play Camberley in the RFUW NC South East 1. The other sport from this weekend was Aylesbury FC’s edging out of Chesham United in the FA Cup.

Of course we all know that when referring to rugby that there’s a superior thirteen-a-side game whose only downside is that its supporters get nosebleeds when faced with the prospect of playing south of Sheffield. A view of the differences between the codes can be seen here – I couldn’t possibly comment. See here for my cheeky set from the 2008 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

See the ladies in action here.

EDIT (15 October 2009)
Apparently it was a friendly not an official match as Camberley didn’t have enough players. Chesham won the friendly 48-0.

Happiness.

The world wants it.

You say you want it.

But do you? Do you really?

Do you dare?

Are you willing to do what must be done to win the glittering prize of happiness?

Undergo any trial? Endure any sacrifice. Pay any price?

Wow! You mean it? Man, not me! Why go to a lot of trouble when the secret to perfect bliss is as close as your nearest bookmonger? I refer to any of the dozens of gladness-inducing works of P. G. Wodehouse. His Wooster and Jeeves stuff is the best, in my considered opinion, but anything by Wodehouse — whom jokester Evelyn Waugh himself called “The Master” — will do.

With a Bertie Wooster novel (or story collection) in hand, a plump pillow at neck, and trained cats at your beck and call, the world is your oyster. The Bluebird of Happiness has settled in for a longish visit.

Leave it to others to climb the Himalayas for guroid advice. You, scrunch down with Right Ho, Jeeves or Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit and read your way to a good night’s sleep, untroubled dreams, a fresh mind upon waking, confidence in you capabilities, a spring in your step, a gleam in your eyes (and teeth), a mien bordering on arrogance, an insouciant barking laugh, an impregnable optimism, a cheerful tune on your lips, and pocketsful of coin to spend as your warbling heart desires. This I guarantee.

If you don’t believe me, take the 7 day challenge: Begin by self-administering the Beck Depression Inventory test. During the week immediately following the BDI, read Wodehouse for one half hour nightly before retiring. Finally, re-adminster the Beck Depression Inventory. If your score hasn’t plummeted to the single digits — or even mere fractions of one — well, sorry: you are doomed: Study Kierkegaard. Read Epictetus. Take in a nice Igmar Bergman movie. Pout. Moan. Kvetch. Mewl.

But even now all is not necessarily lost. In the unlikely case Wodehouse fails to cheer, try the backup author: Waugh. Read Scoop and call me in the morning

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit
by P. G. Wodehouse
(Overlook Press, Hardcover, 231pp.)

Right Ho, Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
(Penguin Books, Paperback, 256pp.)

Scoop
by Evelyn Waugh
(Back Bay Books, Paperback, 336pp.)

This is a really good thing to do if you haven’t got any idea in your head still wanna write a post . I got this Idea of a post from BMK’s blog. List down all your crazy questions answered and let us know. Do let me know too when anyone of you try a similar post.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:

Lying on my computer table is “the World of Jeeves” by Wodehouse and the 18 page’s 4^th line says… lemme see “…smoking one of his special cigars in the stables. He got after me…”

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?

The wall shared by my bathroom and my bedroom I’m sittin in.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Australia vs England, Champions League semi final

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is:

12: 15 AM

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

12:21 AM

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

The fan and brother washing his ass with the muslim shower in the bath J

7. When did you last step outside? what were you doing?

Last stepped outside for school. Been inside ever since…

8. Before you came to this website, what did you look at?

Nothing. Just came straight to my blog.

9. What are you wearing?

Yellow Hugo Boss half sleeves T shirt, grey faded jeans by some gumnaam brand( recovery the tag says. Any one heard it before? I guess not…) and black slippers.

10. Did you dream last night?

Nah.

11. When did you last laugh?

I’m always laughing you see, but the last time I laughed was just now, when I was writing the answer to quetion number six.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

White painted walls. One cupboard, One Fabregas poster and a split AC as well as a calender saying “ wanted for life” and a man stretching out his hand towards a glass of water in a dessert

13. Seen anything weird lately?

I don’t think so.

14. Last movie you saw?

Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp.

15. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol. I know that sounds funny cuz my bro just said Oye! As he was readin what I just typed but that doesn’t mean I can’t buy other things later on. So Danny first.

16. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.

Something you don’t know about me is “ME”.

17. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

I would like to have some peace, please…

18. Do you like to dance?

YEAH! I can do fancy moves and shake butt and stuff at which my pals and gals can laugh at. No seriously, they admire my break dance. Or is it just that they like to laugh at me while I shake my ass like crazy…?

19. Zardari: is he a power-crazy nutcase or someone who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years?

Mr Smiling is surely a nut case. Who the hell smiles that way at everyone. Maybe he liked that quote by Wodehouse

“Cheer up, Crips, and keep smiling.  That’s the thing to do.  If you go through life with a smile on your face, you’ll be amazed how many people will come up to you and say ‘What the hell are you grinning about?  What’s so funny?’  Make you a lot of new friends.” — P. G. Wodehouse

20. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Dunno. Sa_a? Sa_a? Sa_a? Fill in the blanks by r,n or b.

21. [Same question for a boy]

Ahmad.

22. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Yeah, of course!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ik ben een groot liefhebber van Engelse humor. Van de absurdistische grappen van Monty Python tot en met de verfijnde grappen van PG Wodehouse in zijn Jeeves boeken.

Eén van mijn absolute favorieten is Stephen Fry. Deze man heeft (als zoveel komische acteurs) het vermogen overdreven droog te reageren op de situatie waar hij in terecht komt. Begon ooit met Hugh Laurie (nu onder andere in House) de avondshow Fry and Laurie, maar was ook te zien in de TV serie ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ en Blackadder.

Als gezegd, één van mijn favorieten.

Twee weken terug was hij te gast in het programma Top Gear (over favorieten gesproken). Ik zeg nu wel twee weken terug, maar het is natuurlijk de uitzending van twee weken geleden, die in werkelijkheid ergens in maart al in de UK is uitgezonden.

Voordat hij zijn rondje als ‘star in the reasonably priced car’ ging maken sprak Jeremy Clarkson met hem over Twitter. Fry twittert en fanatiek, Heeft inmiddels 500.000 mensen die hem volgen!

Weer één over Twitter! Wat is dat toch met dat Twitter!

Een tijdje terug hoorde ik dat jongeren Twitter vooral iets zagen voor ‘ouderen’ die toch hip willen doen. Ikzelf heb nooit de toegevoegde waarde gezien, maar nu (door Fry) was ik echt nieuwsgierig geworden.

Toch maar even een blik werpen.

Voor mensen die echt niet weten wat het is, met Twitter worden korte berichten de wereld ingestuurd, die weer te volgen zijn via mobiele telefoon, internet en ga zo maar door. Waar je dan aan moet denken?

‘Naar de opera. Wordt een lange avond’, of ‘Indisch eten niet goed gevallen, stuur een bericht na iedere scheet’. Absoluut geen interessante informatie als ik het stuur, maar Stephen Fry!

Van Stephen wil je alles weten. Dat hij kwijlend met zijn nieuwe iPod Nano aan het spelen is, dat hij naar een uitvoering van de Messias van Händel gaat, dat hij 2 uur vast zit bij Kings Cross. Alles wil je weten, echt geloof me.

Inmiddels raakte ik over het toppunt van mijn verslaving heen. Na een dikke week op ieder bericht gewacht te hebben, merkte ik dat ik wat meer ontspannen werd tussen de berichten in.

Toen ontdekte ik, dat je ook kan reageren op berichten. Je gaat natuurlijk niet op alles reageren, maar voor de lol stuurde ik op een Tweet van Stephen (ben eigenlijk de inhoud van het bericht al weer kwijt) de reply dat Jeeves dit ook zou doen (uiteraard in het Engels). Op het moment dat ik de boel verstuurde kreeg ik zo’n lekker belangrijk gevoel over me heen. Alsof iemand met zoveel volgers ieder bericht zou lezen. Stel nu dat 1 promille van de mensen een reply stuurt, krijg je er toch 500 binnen. Als ik per dag 500 e-mails krijg, ga ik ze echt niet allemaal lezen, maar Stephen wel.

Tot mijn stomme verbazing kreeg ik een reactie terug dat ‘Jeeves wel lang geleden was’ en hij eindigde met ‘cheerio and tada’.

Vooral dat laatste is mooi hè!

Ik ben echt betwittered………

Tags van Technorati: Stephen Fry,Twitter,Wodehouse,Monty Python,Blackadder

September 1, 1944

Wodehouse Says His Broadcasts ‘Terrible Mistake’

London, Sept. 1—AP—P.G. Wodehouse, British humorist whose butler “Jeeves” is known to millions of readers, was quoted in a Paris dispatch today as saying he made a “terrible mistake” in broadcasting over the German radio during his internment.

His five broadcasts aroused considerable criticism in Britain and the United States.

In an interview with a London Daily Sketch correspondent in Paris, Wodehouse, now 63, said he meant no wrong, and that he had merely wanted to answer a number of letters he had received by telling how he got along in camp.

The Germans caught the author at his villa in France in May, 1940.  He spent several months in prison and internment camps.  In 1941 he was given a limited amount of freedom.  A year ago, he said, he was transferred from Berlin to Paris at his own request.

The Evening Independent

I never thought that there’ll be a time in my already sordid life when I’ll be forced to stay away from the internet for so long. 16 Days! Seems like ages to me. Maybe that’s because I’m wont to surf the net at least 3 hours a day. Not to mention the five minutes inbox and my blog’s comment checking every now and then…

And that’s the reason my dear readers (If I have any) that I haven’t been replying to your comments (If there were any) and haven’t been posting a new post. The dilemma was that my adult brother and parents had my cable-net connection disconnected and all my impotent attempts to conquer their Great-Wall-of-China-esque determinations were useless. So the connection was cut and my connection with all of you was cut.I asked dad to do something about the net and get me a new one but he said are your computer assignments complete? I replied in positive. “Then I guess you don’t need a connection until the school starts and you get more projects.” After pleading a bit further he said he’ll get me a hundred Rs card of PTCL V wireless when I finish my homework. I finished it. Asked again. Refused. Asked Again. Refused. Displayed the whole of the homework with all he assignments complete in front of my parents like in a boutique sale at Saleem Fabrics. Access granted to a hundred rupees at last.

So I got the card at last. Asked my brother to install the V wireless software-thingy in the PC and get the lousiest connection under the sun running for me but he said he was busy as his college has reopened. So the next day arrived. I got up for Sehri went to the mosque for Fajar Prayers and found my brother replete of Dahi and parathaa fast asleep. I wanted to ask him about the installing CD cuz I wanted to post somefin on this blog of mine. So tried something. I opened new message and typed a message which asked him to wake me up when the alarm rang for his school and tell me wher had he kept the card how to install and stuff and left it open and put it beside his face, which was very much wet with drooling saliva. All was useless.

So when I got up again, at 2:10 today I had the sudden urge to try installing the  net myself and that’s when I found, to my surprise, the ol’ net running! How?! I had asked them cut the connection and I thought they had done so for 16 days! I checked it myself a couple of times but…

It was there all the time and I remained in misery for 16 dashed days!

And I wasn’t even there for my blog on it’s first birthday. Happy Birthday! Don’t worry, ma blog, I’ll do a special about your Birthday but let me continue with this post first…

Anyways what have I been up to lately? I took some time for the errand to the place ******** (Name protected due to secrecy) with the soul intention of finding some Plums (PG Wodehouse books). I got my grubby hands on 4 ofem.

• World of Jeeves ( an omnibus containg 34 short stories from difffernet Jeevs books and compiled by Wodehouse himself.
• Leave it To Psmith
• Laughing Gas
• Ukridge

These I bought I bought after consulting my cousin Musab who has promised that he’ll burn me a CD of that “Jeeves and Wooster” series episodes based on Wodehouse’s famous characters. Just finished reading Adventures of Sally by Wodehouse and gonna start any one of the above. What would you suggest I should start with?

And then I’ll like to say Ramzan Mubarak to all my Muslim friends here or over the seas and the relatives.  I’ve fasted all the rozas until now and Insha’Allah will fast all ofem. I wouldn’t say much her because I’d like to save this topic of Ramzan for another post I have in mind. Do keep an eye out for it.

And I’ll be doin another post about the school re-opening this 31^st of August. Describing all the teachers and the first day would be fun…

And then there is clash between Manu and Arsenal tonight which I’m dying to watch. Arsenal will win surely, cuz they’re in great form which Manu is recently defeated by Burnley! hehe…

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to reach you people because this connection is like a guest, in a great hurry, and no how genial a host I be, I’ll still have to bid it farewell sooner or later…

A couple of weeks ago, after a jaunt to Knee Deep Vintage, I wandered for the first time into a new store across the street, Vintage Pilsen.  I walked into the store, and almost immediately spotted something on a rack near the door…something harlequin printed!  Of course, I made a beeline straight towards it, and pulling it off the rack, I found an amazing full 1950s set of pedal pushers, over skirt, and sleeveless top all in the same harlequin pattern!  I have yet to photograph the entire outfit, of which I am now the proud owner, but I wore the pedal pushers on their own with a cami today and got Dan to snap a few photos with his phone, so here’s a shot:

I’ll definitely post a photo of the entire ensemble soon!

If you’d like to see more photos of the pedal pushers, there are a few more in my flickr feed at right.  Also worth mentioning, Vintage Pilsen actually specializes in buying estates, so it wasn’t just clothing, but also furniture, books, random knick-knacks and other junque. I ended up also buying a book from 1948 called “Prematurely Gay”,  by Jack Iams.  The inside jacket hailed Iams as the American Wodehouse, so of course I had to buy it.  When I opened it at home, I discovered someone had taped a review of the book from a newspaper into the back cover (and the back of the review contains snippets of an opinion piece of some sort on WWII).  While skeptical, I did like the book, which was funny and in many ways similar to Wodehouse (the review says, “This is good American Wodehouse…a little rougher on gentility, a little softer on love, a good deal sexier all around”), but as a diehard Wodehouse lover I of course prefer the original.

Pentru mine, umorul in literatura are ca extreme pe Wodehouse si Jerome K. Jerome, pe de o parte, si Chuck Palahniuk, pe de alta. Primii sunt exponentii umorului englezesc, fin si sec, celalalt e un american deprimant, acid si spumos.

Cand l-am descoperit pe Tom Sharpe, recomandarile de pe coperta il dadeau ca revendicand-se din traditia englezilor mai sus amintiti. Inceputul romanului Alternativa Wilt mi-a intarit aceasta impresie, smulgandu-mi cateva zambete, nu mai mult, dar, pe parcurs, lucrurile iau o intorsatura neasteptata si cat se poate de placuta.

Din a doua jumatate a cartii, gagurile se inmultesc, situatiile absurde, dar cu un haz nebun, iau amploare, iar hohotele mele de ras, avand in vedere ca mai am obiceiul sa citesc in aer liber si in locuri publice, au atras atentia unor destui trecatori, care, in sinea lor, mi-au pus diagnostice psihiatrice deloc magulitoare.

Daca asteptati sa aflati intriga acestei carti, asteptati degeaba. Am mai multe motive sa fiu atat de ciufut: unu la mana – e al doilea roman dintr-o serie si are personaje care deja erau introduse, deci si eu am avut dificultati in privinta asta; doi la mana – trama narativa e o ploaie de situatii care se succed cu o viteza ametitoare si m-as incurca si pe mine si pe voi; trei la mana – v-as strica toata placerea, singuri trebuie sa descoperiti si sa ii gustati savoarea.

La final, Tom Sharpe se deplasase dinspre confratii englezi pana la jumatatea drumului cu Palahniuk. E greu sa gasesti un mix bun, dar Alternativa Wilt e o super exceptie.

Asa ca, ori mergeti pe incredere si o cititi, ori veti pierdeti o distractie pe cinste. Alegerea va apartine !

The Batwolf is not a pedant.

But it’s okay by him if we are. And I feel duty bound to point out that the poem in To Batwolf contains a misquotation.

First, the boring bit. The third line, “God’s in his heaven, and all’s right with the world” might be said to misquote from Robert Browning’s Pippa Passes, published in 1841 (if Wikipedia is to be believed). And, no, I didn’t know that (either). I did know that my wording was incorrect, though. To save you clicking through to the Wikipedia article, the correct form is:

God’s in His heaven -
All’s right with the world!

(For the true pedants, I must apologise for not being able to assert with any confidence that Browning capitalized “His” but not “heaven”; my capitalization is taken from the 1906 Heinemann Classics edition.)

Secondly, the slightly less boring bit. The lines appear in several of P. G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves” stories, notably in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves. I say “notably”, for this is what Wodehouse wrote:

God, as I once heard Jeeves put it, was in His heaven and all right with the world. (He added, I remember, some guff about larks and snails, but that is a side issue and need not detain us.)

Wodehouse, you see, also deals with the pedants, making it clear that he knows the source (as does Jeeves), whereas Wooster does not.

Thirdly, and perhaps more interestingly, there is what was going on in my mind when, if you like, I followed in Wodehouse’s footsteps and re-wrote the lines. For reasons prosodic, I deliberately expanded the contraction “God’s” and inserted both the caesural comma and the “and”; for reasons secular, I eschewed capitalization in “his heaven”; for reasons pedantic, I avoided quotation marks; and for reasons aesthetic, I omitted attribution.

Finally, and most interestingly: for those more familiar with Wodehouse than batwolves, or vice versa, Bertie Wooster is a batwolf. Wodehouse indicates this most subtly, of course, through the character’s initials.

Jeeves, I will take my Fancy Feast in the solarium

Warning:  Strong language, dammit.

I came to Jeeves and Wooster late.  I first discovered Wodehouse in 1993, at the tender age of 13, with Right Ho, Jeeves.  I was smitten.  My school library had a great deal of the books, and I read every one; and when I ran out, I went to the local library and read all their stock.  I’ve never forgotten how wonderful it was, the first experience of reading Wodehouse; I was immediately, and passionately, drawn in.  Jeeves and Wooster was then very popular and I watched one episode, but was so outraged at the liberties taken that I swore I would have nothing to do with it.

And I did have nothing more to do with it until much later – 2007 – when I caught a few episodes on a BBC freeview channel and greatly enjoyed them.  “My,” I thought, “what a sanctimonious little prig I was at thirteen.  How could anyone fail to enjoy this adaptation?”  It was not until just recently, when I finally bought the entire run on DVD (along with Citizen Smith) that I realised that it wasn’t that simple.  Series 1-3 are indeed an enjoyable and sensitive adaptation.  Series 4 is awful.  And it happened that tuning in as I did for the first time in 1993, I ran smack into Series 4.

Here’s the thing, you see: the first three series of Jeeves and Wooster are a truly good and enjoyable adaptation, insofar as any adaptation of Wodehouse can do the trick.  Not just because of Fry and Laurie, although they are the best Jeeves and Wooster (respectively) I could imagine.  In fact, I think there is a particular strength in the fact that they are visibly contemporaries; while Jeeves traditionally been imagined as an older man (think Michael Hordern) there is something very appealing and very logical about seeing him as a man in perhaps his thirties.  After all, the gap between him and his master is not so much in age as in maturity.  Stephen Fry’s deadpan delivery is absolutely perfect in combination with Hugh Laurie’s exuberant, optimistic portrayal of Bertie.  Their rendition of Minnie the Moocher must be one of the greatest musical comedy moments ever.  (Ho de ho de ho, sir.)

Combine this with Mary Wimbush’s imposing turn as Aunt Agatha, the genius of Robert Dawes as Hildebrand “Tuppy” Glossop, the outright, brilliant awfulness of Elizabeth Kettle’s Honoria Glossop and the utter suitability of John Turner – who has somehow managed to portray the aristocratic fascist Sir Roderick Spode exactly as I saw and heard him in my mind – and you have a winning cast, even if they never did find the right Aunt Dahlia (four Dahlias over four series and not one of them with the appropriate presence).  Better yet, the writers manage to adapt Wodehouse without departing too far from the letter and spirit of the stories; a nerd like me could certainly spot the modifications, but it would take an effort to get worked up about them.  On the whole, chronology and geography are respected, characters stay true to themselves and the wonderful Wodehouse language is beautifully represented. While no adaptation can be perfect, this one is very very very good indeed.

Which makes me wonder what on earth motivated Clive Exton and the other nice people responsible for Jeeves and Wooster to say to themselves something along the lines of:

“Well, we’ve had three seasons of staying reasonably true to Wodehouse and it’s been great.  Now let’s randomly fuck with the geography of the stories and substitute characters for other characters in such a way that the continuity is seriously disturbed.  We need more of a cheesy music hall feel – after all, what Wodehouse really lacks is men in drag and completely ridiculous time-lapse gags involving desert islands – but above all, what we really need to do is depart completely from Wodehouse.  I mean, he only left us, what, 59 years’ worth of material.  No, what we should do is be totally original.  And we should cap it all off by concocting some absolutely stupid storyline involving sewage, Roderick Spode and a kangaroo.  That’s what Wodehouse would have wanted.  I mean, admit it, the only reason he didn’t include that is that he didn’t happen to think of it himself.  Heirs, that’s what we are, comedy heirs.”

????????

Yeah.

You could reasonably wonder whether my objections to Series 4 are entirely based on the departures from Wodehouse, and whether it might stand alone as a piece of comic writing regardless of whether or not it is a good adaptation.  I’d be the first to admit that I am none too merciful with bad adaptations of beloved writers.  However, I suspect that Wodehouse’s comic talent is so rich that to extemporise not only makes for a bad adaptation, but for a weaker vein of comedy.  Series 4 simply does not – even when I try my utmost to disregard the glaring issues of continuity and verisimilitude – hang together as well as the previous three.  Due to the departures from the original, the dialogue is often necessarily derivative of Wodehouse rather than derived from him, the jokes seem cheaper and the means by which the writers reconcile their changes to the stories often seem contrived.  Witness the first episode where the protagonists of three completely unrelated stories – two of which if I recall correctly were relocated from London to New York, and all three of which were severely modified – end up all together on an ocean liner… and that’s not the worst of it.  Just wait until you see the resolution, which is farcical.  Or rather, is far removed from the farce of Wodehouse, who has an extraordinarily delicate touch with physical comedy; no, this stuff is hackneyed.

My suspicions are confirmed at least a little because I watched the entire run with my SO, who wouldn’t know Wodehouse from a carrier pigeon, but who had the impression that Series 4 lacked continuity and that the humour was “silly” rather than anything.  “It just wasn’t the same,” he said.  And for all that I could write many thousands more words on the ways in which Series 4 sacrificed storylines, character and integrity for a few cheap laughs, I think it really all boils down to that.

There is a bookshelf nestled in a neat parallel to my bedroom. It has been there since we moved into this house, nine-and-a-half years ago, and I have a feeling it will be there until my restless parents finally move out.

I have never looked at the books on this bookshelf. I don’t know why. When I was younger, I had examined them out of curiosity, and they had all seemed so very dusty and unpleasant and adult, so I had quickly replaced them and promptly forgot all about them.

Tonight, I looked at the bookshelf, and found a treasure trove of literature, including the following:

• The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
• The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels by Henry James
• Life With Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
• The Great American Novel by Philip Roth
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

and that isn’t even all of it. Oh my gosh, it is impossible to express in words how excited I am by this find. And to think, it had been right across the hall for practically half of my life!

Sorry for the delay in posts…I knew you were traveling sans Ship so I decided to take a little break as well…but now this book is a priority.  More specifically finishing and moving on (not unlike a ship on the ocean..filled with fools) is a priority.  I shall move through the many (many, many, many) plots like a schooner through a squall (is that fast?  I don’t really know anything about boats).

First a quotation:

“Love,” she remarked, shrivelling her nose, “this ship is simmering with it.  I’m sure it’s all Real Love.  I must fly,” she said, “Elsa’s in love, too, and I promised to help her fix her hair in a new way.”

This is irony, right?  I’ve never been strong on irony (I always ask myself “Is it like rain (or ray-ee-ain) on your wedding day?” (check) or “A death row pardon three seconds too late?”(check again–yep, irony))…but this has to be it.  Or I’m stupid.  Because I’m seeing zero love on this boat.  None.  Not a drop. Oh how I long for there to be love on this boat (or really anything other than boring-ness).  And what’s with that random capitalization?

That second half about Elsa ties in nicely with quotation number two:

“I give you until tomorrow,” said her mother firmly, “until tomorrow to be in better spirits, and then I shall give you a good purge.”

Child Rearing 101 from Mrs. Lutz…no problem is too big that can’t be solved by a good poop.  How many less problems would we have today if the soapy water enema hadn’t gone out of vogue in child rearing?

And in a slightly unrelated topic…I’m reading a second book that takes place on a ship!  I guess its feast or famine with me and maritime novels.  I have read nary a single sea-travelling page in years and now I’m reading two tomes simultaneously.  The other title is Three Men and A Maid by P.G. Wodehouse (I’m reading it on my iPhone–thanks Stanza!).  It also includes a sea sick dog, but that’s really where the similarities end (because the Wodehouse is interesting and fun to read).

But I’m not giving up on our classic!  I’m back on board!

Jon

说是格拉汉姆·格林（Graham Greene，1904-1991）的最新作品，是因为这是最近才被发掘出来的一部未完成的作品；又加个引号呢是因为这是格林先生很早以前的作品鸟。是的，就是这样。这部题为《空椅子》（The Empty Chair），讲述了一个有关凶杀的悬疑故事目前正在《海岸线》（The Strand）杂志上连载。杂志方目前正着手寻找合适的人选来把这个故事写完。格林先生早在1926年就开始撰写这部作品了。但是不知出于何种原因，他放弃了这部小说。当时22岁的格林刚刚皈依了罗马天主教，在《伦敦泰晤士报》处理有关案件的报道。这部手写的草稿是去年由德克萨斯大学的法国学者弗朗索瓦·加列克斯（François Gallix）在兰登中心（Ransom Center）的格林档案里找到的。

去年12月，《伦敦泰晤士报》刊载了这部作品的第一章作为一道文学知识测试题，要求读者猜出作者是谁。《空椅子》讲述的是一个发生在乡村别墅的神秘故事。《海岸线》的编辑安德鲁·古力（Andrew Gulli）表示，这部作品和盛名时期的格林作品不同，和处于创作力高峰期的格林作品不同。但是你还是可以看到格林的影子。

以刊载名家们未曾发表过的作品为特色的《海岸线》其实本身也是重现生机的杂志。它的前生是在1890-1950年间非常受欢迎的一本伦敦的著名杂志。目前它的总部设在密歇根州的伯明翰市。上一期，《海岸线》还发表了一篇最新发现的马克·吐温（Mark Twain）的短篇小说，以及一篇由P·G·沃德豪斯（P. G. Wodehouse）创作的、丢失已久的短篇小说。

【信息来源：纽约时报】

Eep, I guess I haven’t updated Free Read Friday in a while! So here are a few of my suggestions:

My first Free Read Friday is actually DailyLit’s July Big Read – HELL-HEAVEN, a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri, excerpted from her book UNACCUSTOMED EARTH.

The acclaimed collection explores the secrets at the heart of family life. It enters the worlds of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. Rich with the signature gifts that have established Jhumpa Lahiri as one of our most essential writers, it exquisitely renders the most intricate workings of the heart and mind.

This short story is available completely free (duh) and comes in only 10 installments – that’s only two weeks of reading! If you’re skeptical about the DailyLit format, give this short one a try and see how you like it.

And can I just say that this story is great? I haven’t read Jhumpa Lahiri before (I know, last person under the sun), and I absolutely loved it. She’s a wonderful, engaging writer, and I wasn’t able to stop reading. Even though I read it while I was working on coding it for the site and therefore didn’t have it in email, I’m sure that if I had gotten the installments I would’ve just rushed through to learn what happened.

If you enjoy stories about family relationships and integration of cultures, then you’ll like this story. It’s very touching and rather sad, but at the same time I felt like it was strong enough to make me keep going – I wasn’t so sad that I couldn’t read further.

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My second Free Read Friday is another one of our new additions, PARANOIA by Joe Finder. Now, I hadn’t heard of Joe Finder before I started coding this book, but apparently he’s kind of a big deal in the thriller genre, especially “business” thrillers (whatever that means – sorry, business thriller readers).

This book was made free by its publisher, Macmillan, for which we’re ever so grateful. Here’s a quick blurb:

It was only a prank: diverting cash from Wyatt Telecom’s executive slush fund to throw a retirement bash for a member of the loading dock crew. But when corporate security catches up with Adam Cassidy, a low ambition junior staffer at the high-tech behemoth, they call it something else: embezzlement, to the tune of nearly $80 grand.

Ruthless CEO Nick Wyatt is impressed by Adam’s scheming, and offers him one way out-take on the role of a rising corporate hotshot and infiltrate Wyatt’s rival, Trion Systems. His mission is to get close to Trion’s legendary founder Jock Goddard, and his ultra-secret “Project Aurora,” and report back to Wyatt.

With Wyatt pulling the strings and a dramatically improved identity, Adam is set up as Trion’s new boy genius. Suddenly, he’s got a sweet new Porsche, a closet full of $1,500 suits, and even a lovely lady who thinks he’s a dream. But it’s all just a mirage, because Adam is about to learn that nothing is what it seems and that it isn’t paranoia…everyone is out to get him…

Honestly, this isn’t the type of book I’m into. Usually I scorn things like this because I think they’re kind of silly. But I actually really enjoyed reading this book as I coded it (talk about speed reading). I definitely recommend it! And it has 170 installments, so it’ll keep you occupied for a few months – or not if you’re like me and have to speed through it!

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My third Free Read Friday holds a special place in my heart: CLASSIC SHORTS: EIGHT STORIES FOR SUMMER, chosen and compiled by Poets & Writers magazine. Why is this so special? Well, this was the first book I worked on when I came to work for DailyLit. So I can personally guarantee that all the stories here are fantastic.

What’s in this collection of greatness, you ask?

A Doctor’s Visit by Anton Chekhov
A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin
The Jelly-Bean by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
Ivan the Fool by Leo Tolstoy
Author! by P. G. Wodehouse

My favorite is probably THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, but to friends that’s old news. I really enjoyed THE JELLY-BEAN, as well.

With 62 installments, this is the perfect way to round out your summer – it’ll only take you two months to finish, and since these are short stories, I bet you’ll be clicking ahead before you know it.

DVF Gaia caftan, $450.

Woo! This is a busy caftan. I’ve been periodically peeping this one since it came out in April or so. She really nailed it this year; I’m sort of resentful give the current stay-tus of my accounts. Whatevs.

It’s sort of sheer and everywhere is showing it with a bikini underneath but sorry, kiddies, you won’t catch me getting a damp suit anywhere near a $450 caftan. Ludicrous! But indulgent… yes, how indulgent. Instead, I’d throw on a white catsuit underneath with leggings to the high calf, backless, like the radical one I’m wearing today!!! Keeps the breezes from tickling the fan fan, too.

All it does is rain here. Illuminating my daily fantasties is the following: my parents are toodling over to the Vineyard in a week or so and looking at this caftan makes me think I should throw all caution to the wind (and all decency, when I think about it) and order it, pack it, and show up unannounced on the Jewett’s front door step to surprise my parentals and their lovely friends. Notice I made no mention of Rob here; but, he’ll be fine tending to Eli and one party crasher is probably easier to stomach than two. I’ll bring an array of giant, crystalline bottles of fine booze and pull them out of my Bean bag upon arrival.

Two fists of vodka and a smile? They won’t be able to turn me away.

[Photo from Flickr courtesy cdevers.]

Reading PG Wodehouse is a pleasure and watching the television series starring Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as a fabulous Jeeves is an enchanting treat. The British Library has the entire collection and while I have watched most of the episodes earlier, its been a long time since. Recently I managed to find episodes 4-6 of Series 2 and Series 4 at the library and, as expected, they were brilliant.

The fabulous duo

The series is a little altered here and there and I think they have even merged a couple of stories in some episodes. But the cast is what makes the series work. Stephen Fry is the best Jeeves they could have got, right from delivering the dialogues in that quaint English, with that slightly superior “gentleman” air to his suitably twisted nose. Hugh Laurie makes a great Bertie, quirky and sometimes frivolous. Aunt Agatha is that exceptional fat lady who’s name I don’t remember. Aunt Dahlia is a slight let down because she’s neither red faced nor loud. But on the whole the series is well directed and very enjoyable to watch.

Being based on a Wodehouse masterpiece, adapting the same on screen must have been a stupendous task. Its awfully difficult to bring out Wodehousean humor when you actually act it out. Reading his lines is one thing and in your mind, its easy to find the humor. But there is a risk of the dialogues losing charm if not delivered perfectly. That, the actors have very skillfully avoided and they perform most satisfactorily.

I have been wasting my time for the last 2 weeks waiting for the dratted exam results to come. Watching this must have been the most worthwhile thing I have been doing at home. Though it is surprising that many of my friends who also love Jeeves & Wooster and Wodehouse in general haven’t even heard of the television series. 

And other than this I have been reading a couple of Jeffrey Archers. His books never appealed to me but I read one in the holidays that two aunts of mine nicked from a library when they were teenagers in the 70s. “First Among Equals” was a good read. Then I read “A Prisoner of Birth” which was also readable, though very Bollywood-like in its story and narrative. “Paths of Glory” was highly readable but not great. “Kane and Abel” was the best and so in order of preference its K&A, FAE, PoG and aPoB. I also read “A Twist in the Tale” which is short stories. Somehow I have never liked short stories and so although I completed the whole book, I didn’t find anything special.