Jeeves & Wooster - The Inimitable Jeeves

Just finished the 11 short stories which comprise The Inimitable Jeeves. These stories were originally published between 1921 and 1923 with the novel form coming out in 1923. The heart of the book; or at least the recurring theme is that Bingo Little falls in love and needs to get back into good graces with his uncle who provides Bingo with a monthly allowance.

Finally in the end Bingo marries the actual Rosie M. Banks (unbeknownst to Bingo) whose latest novel about love conquering class was  The Woman Who Braved All. Bertie is persuaded to pretend again to Bingo;s uncle that he is the author using the Nome d'plume Rosie M. Banks. Then Rosie finds out that they've been lying and Bingo's uncle calls her an impostor  and things get topsy turvy. To make it better, all the embarrassing things that occurred in the 11 stories are brought up as evidence to make people think

Bertie is a loonie so everyone else can live happily ever after. Poor Bertie, he gets the short end of the stick time and time again. He's a little wacky but not as wacky as his friends and relatives think. He's a victim of his own good nature.

Okay, I just re-read and rewrote the summary 3 times and it's still confusing. That's how good P.G. Wodehouse is; you just have to read the whole story and laugh along the way.

All in all I think if you are interested in reading Jeeves and Wooster stories, I'd start with one of the early true novels and give the short stories a miss.

My current plan is to take a brief intermission from Jeeves and Wooster and read some history of the 30's, 40's and 50's. First up is David Kennedy's Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and  War, 1929-1945 

Then David Halberstam's The Fifties

That's the plan anyway; things may change but that's part of the fun.