Happy Birthday, Plum!

I was indisposed yesterday, so didn't get the chance to note that October 15 is the anniversary of the birth of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, born that day in 1881 in Guildford, Surrey.

Instead of doing a post about the man's true literary genius, defending him over the whole Nazi P.O.W. wartime radio broadcasts, or crankily blasting and damning those who've attempted the impossible in trying to bring his Bertie and Jeeves stories to the screen, I thought I'd do a much simpler trick and simply meme my way through his bibliography. (I've screened out omnibuses, re-releases and compilations, so you may not see a title you're expecting.)

I've bolded the books I own, italicized the ones I've read but don't own, and added some comment where I thought suitable.

Are you ready? Right ho!

School Stories - Written when Plum wasn't long out of school himself.

The Pothunters (1902)
A Prefect's Uncle (1903)
Tales of St. Austin's (1903)
The Gold Bat: And Other Stories (1904)
The Head of Kay's (1905)
The White Feather (1907)
Mike at Wrykn (1953)

Ukridge Oddly, I've never read any of the Ukridge stories. Dunno why.

Love Among the Chickens (1906)
Ukridge (aka He Rather Enjoyed It) (1924)

Psmith - Plum's first really memorable character. He was based on one Rupert Doyle-Carte, son of the Doyle-Carte associated with Gilbert & Sullivan. There are not a few among you who still consider Psmith their favorite.

Mike (1909)
Psmith in the City (1910)
Psmith Journalist (1915)
Leave it to Psmith (1923) - Best of the bunch and also gets points as a Blandings Castle novel (see below).
Mike and Psmith (aka Enter Psmith) (1935)

Blandings - Ah, Blandings Castle! Home of Lord Emsworth, that affable, fuzzy-headed peer who wants nothing more than to be left alone to fiddle with his roses and tend to his prize pig. Of course he's not going to be allowed to do so.

Something Fresh (1915) - A bit clunky on re-reading, but still well worth it.
Summer Lightning (aka Fish Preferred)(1929) - One of my very favorite Wodehouse novels.
Heavy Weather (1933)
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935)
Lord Emsworth and Others (aka The Crime Wave at Blandings)(1937)
Full Moon (1947)- In one of Plum's run-ons, this novel also features that hell-raiser Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistelton, Fifth Earl of Ickenham, known to all and sundry as Uncle Fred. See below.
Pigs Have Wings (1952)
Galahad at Blandings (aka The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood)(1964) - By these last couple, the steam had run out of the Blandings story.
A Pelican at Blandings (1969) See above.
Sunset at Blandings (1977) - Plum was working on this the day he died. The draft makes interesting reading, but more as a curiosity than anything else.

Bertie and Jeeves - The focus of most casual Wodehouse readers these days.
My Man Jeeves (1919)
The Inimitable Jeeves (aka Jeeves) (1923)
Carry on, Jeeves (1925)
Very Good, Jeeves (1930)
Right Ho, Jeeves (aka Brinkley Manor) (1934) - This is actually the first full-length Bertie and Jeeves novel (the previous works being short story collections). And it is easily one of the funniest.
Thank You, Jeeves (1934) - Unlike the trombone featured in the Fry/Laurie tee vee series, it was actually a ukelele with which Bertie drove Jeeves to flee. Humph.
The Code of the Woosters (1938) - My personal favorite. If Scotties come, can Stiffys be far behind?
Joy in the Morning (1946)
The Mating Season (1949)
Ring for Jeeves (aka The Return of Jeeves) (1953) - This one doesn't actually feature Bertie at all, but a pal of his instead. Further, it's written from a third-person point of view instead of the usual narrative by Bertie. Many people don't much like it, but I think it has some merits.
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954) - Probably the last in the series really worth reading. As with the Blandings novels, you can tell the last few Bertie and Jeeves stories run out of steam.
Jeeves in the Offing (aka How Right You Are, Jeeves) (1960)
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963)
Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971)
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974)

Oldest Member - Plums collections of golf stories.
The Clicking of Cuthbert (aka Golf Without Tears) (1922)
The Heart of a Goof (1926) - A perfect little nine-hole course.

Mr. Mulliner - I've never really warmed up to the Mulliner stories. Plum himself was involved in a tee vee series in the late 60's called Wodehouse Playhouse that was based on some of the Mulliners, and is quite good.

Meet Mr. Mulliner (1927)
Mr. Mulliner Speaking (1929)
Mulliner Nights (1933)

Monty Bodkin - Plum never seemed to have gone anywhere in particular with Monty as a main character, although he turns up in a number of other books, usually as the friend-of-the-hero.

The Luck of the Bodkins (1935)
Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (1972)
Bachelors Anonymous (1973)

Uncle Fred - Ah, good old Uncle Fred. Now what did happen at the dog track that time?
Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939)
Uncle Dynamite (1948)
Cocktail Time (1958)
Service with a Smile (1962)

Novels I bought a whole stack of these when I lived in London back in the late 80's that never made it back across the pond. Hence, a rayther large proportion of books that I've read but don't own. The novels tend to be hit or miss, in part because in many of the early ones Plum hadn't quite got the farce down yet and was still going for some degree of realism. However, some of my favorite stories are buried within this list.

Willam Tell Told Again (1904)
Not George Washington (1907)
The Swoop!: Or How Clarence Saved England (1909)
A Gentleman of Leisure (aka The Intrusion of Jimmy) (1910)
The Prince and Betty (1912)
The Little Nugget (1913)
Uneasy Money (1917) - The best of Plum's earlier novels, imho. It contains the priceless line, "She heaved a sigh, like a sentimental seige-gun."
Piccadilly Jim (1918)
A Damsel in Distress (1919)
The Coming of Bill (aka Their Mutual Child) (1920)
Jill the Reckless (1921)
Indiscretions of Archie (1921) - I like this one quite a bit.
The Adventures of Sally (1922)
The Girl on the Boat (1922)
Bill the Conqueror (1924)
Sam the Sudden (aka Sam in the Suberbs) (1925)
The Small Bachelor (1927)
Money for Nothing (1928)
Big Money (1931)
If I Were You (1931)
Doctor Sally (1932)
Hot Water (1932) - One of my very favorites.
Laughing Gas (1936)
Summer Moonshine (1937)
Quick Service (1940)
Money in the Bank (1946) - Another of my very favorites.
Spring Fever (1948)
The Old Reliable (1951)
Barmy in Wonderland (1952)
French Leave (1956) - Eh. The only novel I think Plum set amongst the French.
Something Fishy (1957)
Ice in the Bedroom (1961)
Frozen Assets (1964)
aka Biffen's Millions
Company for Henry (1967)
Do Butlers Burgle Banks? (1968)
The Girl in Blue (1970)