One Minute Wodehouse

The meritorious nature of P.G. Wodehouse in audio book format is elucidated in good order, what? Rather!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• oneminutecritic
• fvrl
• vancovuer
• library
• books
• comedy
• audiobooks

[JungleOasis]

You know what they should do? Have Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie do the voices for the characters, with the other characters from the show, and just have the narrator doing the bits in between.

[CrashSolo]

I think that would be pretty cool - a 'full cast recording.' The BBC sometimes does those, and generally does a pretty good job. Maybe they could be induced to put one together for old Wodehouse!

[KiranGopalAshtekar]

I've just been listening to 'Summer Lightning' and 'Heavy Weather' and found an astonishing discovery that listening to Wodehouse's works can by far beat reading him in cold print. Previous to this experience, I would have disagreed. It was like a direct feed of nectar to the soul! Thanks.

[CrashSolo]

I've listened to four or five of Wodehouse's books and collections of short stories, and have always enjoyed them - i wish i could find more audiobooks of his at my library.

[thejackal7137]

My own 2 cents: Wodehouse, particularly for Americans (I'm one) can be an aquired taste. Additionally, much of his English is dated. "Rozzers" and "the constabulary" are no longer common terms in UK, and were almost never used here in the States. So, much like "A Clockwork Orange," many readers have to slog through much material before they catch onto his prose style and vernacular. Once that's done, many people see why he's called the funniest writer in English. Read The Code of the Woosters!

[CrashSolo]

I agree - Getting used to unfamiliar colloquialisms can take a bit of work, but with Wodehouse it's worth the effort. I've had similar experiences reading Chaucer or Shakespeare, where the unfamiliar words, sentence structure and cadence were at first a barrier, but once I became familiar with the writing, the pace, and the tempo, I was able to appreciate the brilliance of the authors more and more.

[dubbadubbadubba]

Wow! Claiming the Master's words sound best when acted is certainly a unique opinion. For the dissenting, read Stephen Fry's introduction to 'What Ho! The Best of PG Wodehouse' - in it, he laments his and Hugh Laurie's impossible task of portraying the magic found in Plum's words. They did a good job, but it's hard to match the laughter that's 'mutually created' in our heads when we read him.

[JungleOasis]

Do they??

Man that is cool, my dream is one step closer. I never get audio tapes.

[Frankingsteins]

Good egg!

[jeremyshambles]

i must say that pg wodehouse is brilliant either in print or audio. I do fancy audio books but the local library here in my grim town has a rather limited catalogue and no p.g. wodehouse what so ever. I would certainly recommend vladamir nabokov on audio, especially lolita and also oscar wilde "the picture of dorian gray" Both are extraordinary works of art and can be thoroughly enjoyed whilst playing guitar or having tea, cheers and take care

[CrashSolo]

I just finished watching the first three episodes of "Jeeves and Wooster." I was disappointed a little by them - not because of the acting (so far, so good!) so much as the reorganization of the storylines for no good reason. The stories worked best the way they were written! There's a difference between watching something on the telly listening to it on audio, however. On audiobook, it's still Wodehouse's exact words, and just one actor doing voices - no easy task, but still quite enjoyable.