Delightful Reading We're Having

Next up is an author that is both familiar and new (how confuciusdic, no? :)) - I haven't yet reviewed a P.G. Wodehouse but I've definitely mentioned him as one of my favorite funny authors (see this post).  How unoriginal, you say? Well yes, but he is a master.  It's fun to wax rhapsodic about an author whose acknowledged as one of the good ones... so you see I do enjoy good literature :) Well seriously though, his writing is just so much fun to read - it has this delicately ironic tone that's really easy on the ear but full of subtle jokes.  And besides, it's exclusively English.  Well not exclusively, but even the Americans are English :) P.G. Wodehouse is similar to Georgette Heyer in that they both create worlds that may somewhat resemble an actual history on the surface, but are complete fantasy in their attitudes and every day events.  And what fun fantasy it is! The upper class British country life must be the most idyllic one ever imagined.  These people do nothing but get arrested for d&d and get engaged.  And it's not like they take either one of those things seriously.  And they do it in such a refined tone too :)

So I like P.G. Wodehouse - like everyone else.  And, like everyone else, I like the Jeeves and Bertie books best.  Bertie is just too funny - a total idiot, but also really nice and always ready with a rather neat turn of phrase (did I sound anything like him just now? :)) This particular book was actually not a Jeeves and Wooster.  It's called... Galahad at Blandings, I think.  So it doesn't have Bertie's unique voice (it's 3rd person narrated) and features Galahad instead of Jeeves as the man behind the curtain - and he doesn't quite measure up.  And the three marriages that make up the plot don't really have much connection beyond Blandings, whereas I feel like the Bertie books often to a good job of snowballing the story with little effort.  On the other hand, Lord Emsworth brings his own charm to the story.  So I'm not really complaining - it's good stuff, classic Wodehouse.  I mean the truth is I have a hard time differentiating these books (I can never remember which Bertie ones I've read) and I don't actually care because they're fun in any case. 

Verdict: 3.75/5 (4/5 would be a Jeeves and Bertie I think)
Food: classic, well-crafted... but maybe not the absolute best of its kind... shall we say an omelette, but maybe mushroom and onion instead of cheese... i do like eggs in all forms :)