The following are responses to the question, "How did you come to read and admire the works of P. G. Wodehouse?" If you haven't already done so, please answer the question yourself.

This page covers comments received in 1998.

• Go to How I Met Plum, Vol I: 1997.
• Go to How I Met Plum, Vol III: 1999.

From: Sandy
Date: 12/23/98

I first heard about Wodehouse while listening to a radio show by Jean Shepherd (who had a show on PBS called Jean Shepherd's America).  He claimed he got into trouble in school by reading Wodehouse and it made him laugh out loud, which of course meant he got caught hiding Jeeves in his math book.

From: jim licaretz, http://home.earthlink.net/~idolls/medals.htm
Date: 12/22/98

I had a stepfather of Scottish-Irish decent,born,bred and raised in America who was a fan of Plummie's. I started reading Wodehouse when I was about 10 or 12 and remember certain scenes from some of the books as if I had read them yesterday. And I'm almost 50. I found a few biographied of Wodehouse and found his life almost as enchanting as his literature.Truly one of the reasons I suspect there may be a god.

From: avinash
Date: 12/20/98

i was introduced to the facinating escapist world of plum when i was browsing thro books in british library.

From: Bhargava
Date: 11/25/98

I started on Wodehouse rather late. It was during my grad school. A friend used to read Wodehouse and I got curious. I picked a copy of Meet Mr. Mulliner in the library and got hooked.

I don't remember how many nights I stayed up all night reading Wodehouse, rolling with laughter in my bed. Don't worry, I made it through the grad school :-).

I think George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh's comments on Wodehouse are right on spot.

It takes a genius like Wodehouse to make so many people so much happy.

From: Scott B. Smith
Date: 11/2/98

I "met" Plum on PBS's Masterpiece Therater - Jeeves and Wooster; the was about five years ago. Since then i've bought over forty of his books and have read over fifty.  His writing amazes me, the stories seem simple but the story lines twist and while his tales always end positively how he leads the reader to that climax is enjoyable.

From: sarah kirchner
Date: 10/30/98

I discovered Wodehouse seven years ago, on one fateful night when my parents took me to see a dramatization of a select group of Jeeves stories.  There I was introduced to Bertie, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Aunt Agatha, and of course Jeeves, and there was no looking back.  I have since also become a fan of the Blandings series, and have resolved to start Psmith sometime soon.

From: Jamie Alder
Date: 10/29/98

I first came by Plum by watching the PBS series and then ran to the bookstore to start buying his books. Love them. My favorite story is Uncle Fred Flits By.

From: BALAJI
Date: 10/14/98

Undoubtedly one the greatest men of this century, Sir Wodehouse has ,as somebody once remarked ,made a world for us to live and delight in. I own about 35 of his books and am hungry for more. What else can I say about this man ...he is an angel...indeed

From: Linda Cantoni
Date: 10/13/98

I first learned about P.G. Wodehouse when he died in 1975.  I was a junior in high school at the time. The NY Times Book Review published a tribute to him, and I found it intriguing.  I went to my school library and found only one Wodehouse work:  "Do Butlers Burgle Banks?"  I was hooked for good and now own virtually all of his published works, including some first editions I picked up in London, and a few Italian translations that I found in Italy. (Unfortunately for the Italians, Wodehouse is just about untranslatable.)  I've always been sorry that I didn't "know" him when he was alive, but his power to delight is immortal.

From: John Leo
Date: 10/8/98

My mother had always said that my late father and she greatly enjoyed reading PG Wodehouse aloud, but I hadn't inquired as to the proper spelling and for years struck a blank looking for "Woodhouse". Finally, fate smiled upon me, lost and forlorn, and I read a reference to him in a list of amusing novels. Since then I have regularly broken my vow of "one author-one book" (taken in a period of realization of "so many books, so little time") and returned often to the Jeeves and Bertie Wooster stories, and lately the tales of Psmith. My finding kinsman on the web has been such a treat, as I am alone in my family as an appreciator of PGW.

Thanks, Plum, wherever your spirit resides!

From: Sudha Iyer
Date: 9/25/98

I met P.G. Wodehouse as a mere stripling, in the summer of 1978, in "Summer Moonshine".  I celebrated that day twenty years later, by reading the same book, for the 100th time.  The books have stood by me through thick and thin and I read at least 1 para a day, every day.  I can honestly say that these years have been made more fulfilling for me by the Master.  I own about 30 titles and would like to have them all.

When I came to the US 12 years ago I asked many many people whether they loved Wodehouse as I did (to read PGW is to love PGW).  But frustratingly, no one seemed to have even heard of him and I was worried about the future of the USA!!  But now, having seen that many fans abound, I have renewed hope!

My favorite book is The Mating Season, and Gussie's prize-giving episode is my absolute salvation, reason enough for my human existence.

From: Brett M. Davidson
Date: 9/22/98

I met "Plum" two and half weeks ago at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.  Someone had abandoned a copy of Code of the Woosters.  I picked it up and read 3 pages.  I was instantly hooked.  Since then, I have bathed with Plum nightly and I plan to continue to do so for some time to come.

Tis September 22: Autumn, "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," indeed.  Here's to Plum, Keats, and all the other semi-holy Englishfolk (past and present) who continue to fill my life with joy and light.

From: Janet Xavier
Date: 9/22/98

The first book of PGW that I read was 'Right Ho! Jeeves' and I haven't stopped since. Mon papa gave it to me when I was in the 8th standard. Once I entered the world of PGW, I couldn't leave. Since then, I have become a collector of his books. Presently, I own 32 of his books. My only ambition in life is to have his entire collection. Pip-pip!

From: Ollie
Date: 9/20/98

like a babe stumbling out of those proverbial woods, my first glimpse of paradise was methinks one of the cricket novels, starring the enterprising partnership of Psmith and Jackson. i lapped up most of the school stories and some of the blandings castle-uncle fred. however, that was more than a decade ago and since then, the travails of surviving the corporate wilderness became paramount and i forgot those stories. Till last weekend, when i attended the cricket final between australia and south africa. the sudden stirrings of cobwebbed memory and i felt once more the urge to read wodehouse.

am wondrously misty-eyed to find this fraternity of fellow wodehouse aficionados. very heartened. to MTan, perhaps we should start an asian chapter of the wodehouse society. do email me.

cheerio.

From: Daniel J.S. Oh
Date: 9/9/98

I first started on his books when i was twelve and that was nine years ago.  I have finished reading all his work and am still re-reading them time and again.

As Bertie is wont to say, they are all rather spiffy!

From: M. Lovelace
Date: 9/4/98

As a kid growing up in the Midwest I didn't know nuthin' about no Wodehouse but Jean Kerr used to make me roll around on the ground laughing and she once referred to P.G. Wodehouse as her inspiration.  Tracked this guy down through a list of literary classics I was trying to finish and, after "Code of the Woosters", abandoned the list.

Reading Wodehouse has improved my life dramatically.  Since I could no longer be miserable alongside my husband he left (he just didn't get Wodehouse; Had I But Known!).  I used to have insomnia but now that I read Wodehouse every night I fall asleep with a smile on my face like a little baby newt.  I never have bad hair days anymore.

Isn't it wonderful there's so MUCH Wodehouse out there?  We are truly the fortunate sons of a benevolent Providence.  I've never met a Wodehouse book I didn't like but guess the character I most identify with is Bertie Wooster.  Amiably befuddled but effortlessly carries the whole complicated story narrative, suggesting Hidden Depths, what?

From: Mila
Date: 9/4/98

First read Wodehouse in high school. Didn't quite take to him then, but in college, found Blandings Castle and fell in love.

Hard to say what I like most now.  Several of the Wooster/Jeeves, and most if not all of Blandings.

Would like to find Asian based fans and any online book clubs.

 
Thanks for the space,
M.Tan

From: Pat Bryan
Date: 8/27/98

I first encountered P.G.Wodehouse at school during the War. One of the elderly sadists who were teaching us had failed to turn up - hardening of the arteries, no doubt - and we had a "free period". The brainiest boy in the class was deputed to read to us - he chose one of the Bertie Wooster stories, since it was reputed to be funny. Where he got it from, I don't know; Wodehouse was hardly approved reading material during the war, due to his unfortunate lapse on German radio. But I became hooked.

I suppose my favourite of all Wodehouse stories has always been "Mike at Wrykin" - one of P.G.'s earliest, and my first introduction to the wonderful Psmith (it was mentioned to me that "the P is silent, as in bathwater"). I have always liked Uncle Fred (I have been known to adopt the pseudonym 'J.G. Bulstrode' on occasion). And perhaps my favourite quote is from 'Summer Lightning', where the belted earl who has opened his home to "paying guests" bemoans his downfall, and identifies himself as "the greasy proprietor of a blasted rural doss-house."

From: Pankaj "Doc" Desai
Date: 8/25/98

I have grown up with Plum since I was a teenager in those tender years, when my parents introduced me to him.

Since then I have read and re-read every book and story published by him and each time, I get a good chuckle. I am introducing my daughter to his works now, but she finds it "slow."

I have told her to keep at it, and she now gets the hang of the books. She loved the PBS shows.

My library increases slowly with Plum's collections, and I treasure them. God bless you, Plum, for making our lives richer with your works.

From: Michael Lounsbery
Date: 8/14/98

The first glimmering I had was about 10 years back. The summary in the Seattle Times for that week's radio fare mentioned a show on the local NPR station, with the puzzling blurb, "Gussie Fink-Nottle envies the life of a newt." This was intriguing enough to get me to tune in to the radio series, "What Ho, Jeeves," with Michael Hordern as Jeeves. Moving on to the books from there was easy.

I enjoy reading the books aloud (to my wife, usually, although sometimes unsuspecting dinner guests are ambushed after the meal), and it is impossible for me to not hear those original radio programs in my head when I do. I think radio works better for the Jeeves series, since TV and video unfortunately deprive you of the benefit of Bertie's narrative qualities.

I love the Jeeves and Mulliner stories best, and Psmith is amazing as well.

From: Heidi Logothetti
Date: 8/12/98

My dad had the wonderful good sense to lay in a good stock of P.G. Wodehouse. I was therefore able to get exposure to this amazing johnny while still a stripling of tender years. We have only just got on the Internet, so of course one of the first things I did was look up Wodehouse sites. It is most gratifying to see that there are so many ardent followers of this sunshine in a dark world, but there are not enough. My parents handed out anthologies as presents; need I say that the recipients loved them?

These web pages are properly appreciative of Plum, but I think that the Mulliner stories are rather neglected. Granted, the Jeeves/Wooster stories are the most famous ones, but the Mulliner stories give them a close run for the money in originality and all around neatness. Thanks for this display of Plum enthusiasm.

From: chuck walsh
Date: 8/11/98

while reading golf mag. i came across an article entitled the the( funniest golf writer who ever lived) his name was p.g. wodehouse. if you are a golfer you will not only understand this quote but also be able to relate to it. (archibald mealing was one of those golfers in whom desire outruns performance) i can relate.

From: Sushmita Sen Gupta
Date: 8/10/98

I have a family full of Wodehouse fans and must have read him first at the age of 11 or 12. I've been hooked ever since. Why don't authors like PGW ever get the Nobel, or even the Booker ? Surely, PGW has done more to spread happiness and light (a la Uncle Fred) than all the morose Nobel Laureates put together. His phrases have entered our family conversations. A cousin tells us of his friend, who was being raked over the coals by a hugely irate boss. The friend suddenly spotted a Wodehouse book lying on the boss's table. He held up an admonitory finger and said sternly, "Now, hold it right there. How can you get angry with me if you're a Wodehouse fan ?" Makes sense, doesn't it ? Thanks, Plum.

From: justin price
Date: 7/28/98

I must have been in 6th or 7th grade when I saw Wodehouse Playhouse on tv a few times.  I seem to remember most vividly something about Archibald Mulliner and the crazy socks that he wore.  Anyway, fortunately for me, at the house at the beach that my family stayed at that summer, there happened to be a few stray Wodehouse books laying around, which I quickly polished off.  I don't think that I have ever quit trying to find something new of his to read.  Lately, I've taken to going up to Montreal, because the bookstore up there (Cole's, I think) seems to have a much better selection than any I have found in the States.  It bucks me up considerably to see so many other devotees, and from every corner of the globe, at that.

From: maria forte
Date: 7/26/98

Wodehouse mi fa ridere fino a scompisciarmi. Preferisco la saga di Jeeves naturalmente. Ma apprezzo anche quella ambientata nel castello di BLANDINGS. Mi piacciono anche i romanzi che non fanno parte di un ciclo vero e proprio, anche se fanno solo sorridere. Adoro, per in particolare, il modo in cui Wodehouse parla del golf e dei suoi appassionati. Il cuore di un paranoico in assoluto il mio libro preferito. Wodehouse poi insuperabile quando racconta di Anatole.

From: Mary Lee Chapman
Date: 7/24/98

My first instinct is to say that I came upon P.G. Wodehouse by accident.  On hindsight, however, I would now have to say the Hand of God pointed me to "The Collected Works of P.G. Wodehouse" (or perhaps it was the god-awful ugly cover that caught my attention) in my college library.  Though I love the Drones, the Eggs, the Crumpets, and the Beans, and have even read a few of the Psmith books ("The cry goes round the square...")   I must say my heart lies with Bertie and Jeeves.  The metaphors Plum employed are simply priceless:  "He looked like a sheep with a secret sorrow."  His inimitable style:  "I lifted the cover from the steaming, fragrant eggs and b and pronged a moody forkful." And just Plum:   "To do such-and-so was with me the work of a moment." "I paled beneath the tan."  Whenever I want to escape and a good, howling belly-laugh, I retreat into Plum's world.

From: Vrinda Pisharody
Date: 7/22/98

I discovered PG in Class Nine by sheer accident and was amazed at my discovery. Undisputedly the greatest writer of them all. Our family is a PG fan and I'm actually envious of people who have yet to discover the world of Wodehouse - coz they can look forward to so much..! Guess some things never go out of fashion and PG is one of them - thank god for that!! I am an Indian and would love to know of PG fan clubs if any here in India.

From: Carl Morten Amundsen
Date: 7/16/98

I don't know when I first met Plum - or his writings.  But I know that it must have been early in my life. Both my grandfather and my mother have read plums books with pleasure, and I know that they showed me the way into this universe.

First I read all the norwegian translations in our house, then later I have read him in original.  Every summer in particular I spend together with the characters that Plum created.

I read the same books over and over again - and I have experienced another thing. There are lots of us out there.  My very best friends are also enthusiast - I see the sense for Plum's work as a certain proof of intelligence - reading Wodehouse is more or less synonymous with eating of fish...

I know that Jeeves agree!!!

From: Sarah
Date: 7/15/98

I was 10 when my dad introduced me to the wonderful world of Wodehouse. The first book he read to me (I could have read it myself perfectly well, but it is a tradition that dad reads me bed time stories. He even reads to mom.) The Code of the Woosters. Love at first read. 2 years have passed since then and Dad is now reading Mulliner Nights, but my favorite will always be Jeeves and Wooster. Long live Twitiness!!

From: Wendy
Date: 7/15/98

I first met Plum in January 1993.  I had just broken my leg the night before PBS aired one of the Jeeves & Wooster episodes.  My husband & I laughed which probably was good for me before the surgery to repair my broken tibia.  Then my hubby checked out some PGW from the library (Code of the Woosters, I believe, was the first) and read them out loud to me to distract me from the pain before falling to sleep at night.  I have been hooked ever since.

We now have the first set of 3 videos from the collection plus a couple I taped.  Bertie's escapades & the Mulliner stories are about the only ones we have read so far.  I guess it is time to expand by trying Psmith or Blandings.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

It is so much fun to read how others feel which only confirms my own good taste.

My only regret is that I discovered PGW after he died so I can't write & tell him how much I love his stories.

From: Gordon Frampton
Date: 7/9/98

I first heard about PG Wodehouse when I was a schoolboy at Dulwich College in ~1970, (PGW is well known there because he was an alumnus). Of course I never read any of his books at the time because I assumed they would be deadly boring like most of the other stuff they wanted us to read.

Thirty years later I encountered an almost-new copy of the 'Jeeves omnibus' in an antique store in a small town in Northern California. Since it was only $1 I bought it and I have been hooked ever since (almost two months). I now find myself drinking tea rather than coffee in the morning, I guess at some level I will always remain an Englishman.

From: Julia Litton
Date: 7/8/98

When I was eight, my father and I settled down to an airing of "Wodehouse Playhouse" (which I would give unto half my kingdom to see again.) I was intrigued.  My father, encouraged no doubt by my first glimmers of intelligence, borrowed a collection of Mulliner stories from the library. He read them aloud, and we howled with laughter. "The Truth About George" sticks in my mind as an early favorite, as does "Honeysuckle Cottage."  I started getting his books myself from the library...then buying them so as to have them handy as need arose. Mulliner led to Jeeves, Jeeves to Blandings.  I watched "Damsel in Distress" on videotape and, one afternoon, suffered with incredulity through an Arthur Treacher double-feature.  The typical path of a confirmed addict, I believe.

As a senior in high school, I wrote a final paper entitled "P.G. Wodehouse: Deity, or Just the Greatest Writer of the English Language Who Ever Lived?"  My teacher's succinct comment was: "Who?"

Philistine.

From: bronwyn
Date: 7/8/98

my first encounter was when my father gave my mother numerous amounts of videos, which included three episodes of Jeeves and Wooster. My whole family instantly fell in love with these Wodehouse characters, and went in search of more. We were told that no more had been made, but dad did not believe it as he had recently been in england and on a visit to clovally he saw a sign thanking the towns people for their cooperation during the filming, and none of our video's had this particular town in them. So on our next trip to england we found more of the videos and bought them, which proved to be just as entertaining as the first. These videos led me to read his numerous books of Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and Jeeves, and also the Blandings collection. One of the books i found was not by wodehouse, but it was the sorely lost Reminiscences of Galahad Threepwood, edited by N.T.P Murphy, and written in the true Wodehouse style, I recommend it to all the Wodehouse lovers out there! !
En!
joy!

From: Gerry Manning
Date: 7/6/98

At my boarding school in Ireland around 1970 I got hold of a copy of 'Jeeves in the Offing' from the school library. I've never looked back and can now claim to have read the greater part of Plum's output - in some cases, particularly the Jeeves and Bertie stories and novels, I've read them several times over the years. My all time favourites are 'The Code of the Woosters' and 'Right Ho, Jeeves.'

From: S. Rea
Date: 6/27/98

I was at a friend's house, in 1972, and she was cleaning out a storage shed, throwing away a number of things.  One was a book -- I couldn't let a book be thrown out, and retrieved it from the barrel.  She said, "I think you might like that."  It was The Weekend Wodehouse.  I sure did, and the 54 additional Wodehouse books I've collected in the US, Canada, and England since then.

An inelegant introduction to a most elegant read!

From: Elizabeth Hayes
Date: 6/25/98

I met Sir Pelham (he was only Mr. Wodehouse to me at the time) when I happened upon him residing on a shelf in my parents library when I was only thirteen years old.  He had orange covers and bore the blazon "Brinkley Manor" (which, I believe, is also known as "Right-ho, Jeeves")  I enticed him to come to the back garden with me, and whilst reading him, I hooted with laughter so raucously that my father heard me from the second floor, and looked out to see what was amiss.  My favorite Wodehouse lines, though I have read many of them, are still from "Brinkley Manor."  It concerns the telegram exchange between Aunt Dahlia and Bertie, about his coming to Brinkley to distribute the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. Bertie, of course, wires his regrets, and Aunt Dahlia replies something like:

"Regret am not in London so as unable to hit you with a brick.  Love, Travers"
 

And to others who love this series, and Tuppy Glossop, as I do:

"Lay off the sausages.  Avoid the ham."

From: Mehrangez Musa Rahman
Date: 6/23/98

I was, I think, about 13 years old then. I was rummaging in an old trunk full of books belonging to my mother when suddenly I came across a book called SUMMER MOONSHINE. Because I had often heard my mother and others) mention Plum's name with enthusiasm, and because there wasn't much else interesting in the trunk, I settled down with it. I was hooked from the very first page. 2 years, and approximately 30 Wodehouse books later I still believe SUMMER MOONSHINE is the best book ever written. That doesn't mean that I didn't like any of his other books, I did and do; I have never and probably will never come across another writer so witty, so ingenious, so skillful with words and so openly genial as Wodehouse. Joi Plum!

From: C. Kesi
Date: 6/6/98

Before I say ``how'' I met Plum, let me say when I met him. That was when I was a lad of some 24 years spending his leisure mostly in reading. After reading  A. J. Cronin, Pearl S. Buck, Paul Gallico,  W. Somerset Maugham, et al, someone dropped Plum's name. Here I was curled in the sofa with a book and letting out guffaws once every while. And in those days my laughter was so boisterous that heads in the place where I was  would turn  and the eyes in them stare. One of the books that I liked best was ``The Girl in the Boat''.  And then ``The Mating Season'' in which I liked a certain chapter (14, I think) so much that I re-read it before moving on to the next. What I like most in PGW is the way he uses quotations from literature for comic effect.

From: preethi kutty
Date: 5/25/98

i love plum because his has redefined the way english is used and given me many moments of undiluted mirth, for which i am eternally indebted. i read my first plum book at 13 and now i am hooked for life. i often scour the raddiwallas at churchgate mumbai hunting for his books.

From: Gourab Basu
Date: 5/22/98

The drums in India are bally loud. So, when i settled down with the Master's work one perfectly loud drumming day, i had rare occasion to tame their fame.

Gentlemen ought to have the best in their lives ,and my noble self is delighted to be in reading  circs. of the delightful.

At the end of that specific day in the evolution of the mind, a sudden sense of pity, if that is the word i am looking for, came upon me. Pity for the Blokes who have not had the pleasure to bask in the Master's mind . Sad, that they should have passed this way without knowing how it is to leave bed with one of the 'pick-me-ups' .

The ways of the world are different, thank god PLUM lives on.

From: John Crowe
Date: 5/20/98

Back in the 30's my father, grandfather, and several older brothers were great fans of PG. They would regale the family at meals with the crazy things that were happening in his latest novel/short story. It was a real treat!! In the 70's I bumped into a few of his books and started buying them. At this point I have about 130 books by Plum or about him. Of course, through not remembering all the titles I had, or because of some British titles being different from ours, I have a number of duplications. I was in London last week (first trip there in years) and found two titles I didn't have. As far as I know I have essentially everything he wrote except for seven titles. I'm trying to get Amazon to help find those. Am just discovering the interest in Plum in the net. It is a delight to find out I'm not the only nut still reading him. Although as I tour used book stores I do find that his stuff gets grabbed up quickly. Great! I'd like to get into whatever activities there are. Where do I start??

From: Charles Newman
Date: 5/13/98

As a young, innocent youth of 15 I followed my interest in....ahhh... photography by purchasing a copy of Playboy Magazine.  After exhaustingly studying the styles and techniques of the photographers I came across a short story by Wodehouse.  Okay, I'll admit it, it was the only part of the magazine still in one piece but being bored and having nothing else to do I read the Wodehouse piece.

From then on I can honestly say I bought Playboy only for the Wodehouse stories.  I was an outcast in my juvenile set until a few of the more adventurous starting reading them too.

Within a year I had reading copies of every Wodehouse novel.  My account at Blackwells swallowing my
all too small allowance.

Since then I've added first editions, signed editions, Plum bios, sheet music etc.

Still, the most precious thing remains Wodehouse's incredible language on any scrap of paper, even the remains of an adolescents skin mag.

From: another blot on the landscape
Date: 5/10/98

much to my consternation in early 1997, i found myself burdened with a computer job in the city every thursday ... evidently strong measures had to be taken to combat the ensuing ennui and as I didn't have jeeves at hand to whip up one of his "specials", audio books from the local library were the things to do it, starting with the classics ...

however all audio books paled beneath their tan covers in comparison with the works of p.g. wodehouse (found after indiscriminate roaming) and as that fellow john keats (junkets to his friends) put it so well, it was like being "some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his [her] ken" to find a gentlewoman's companion in His Work ...

incidentally, though disconcerted to find no mention of his work here, my favourite narrator of wodehouse is jonathon cecil

have since become an avid reader etc. of all other wodehouse i can beg/borrow/steal, and as any person with a predilection for p.g. well knows,  if begging, borrowing or stealing is on the cards, one need look no further than wodehouse for inspiration of the first water ... i refer, of course, to intricate stratagems and coils  involving silver cow creamers laid down for our guidance by jeeves...

psmith is without question my favourite man about town in wodehouse, though all his characters provide endless inspiration and edification

From: Sridhar Manyem
Date: 5/6/98

Well. There I was with a solid Milan Kundera in hand and reading serious (read depressing stuff) literature like Milan Kundera, Somerset Maugham and getting drunk everyday.

Accidentally, I decided to read all the books in the fiction section of the library and as is my wont, started backwards. After unsuccessfully prodding thru vague African Literature (Gives you a hangover and god knows why African writers names start with a Z), I came to Wodehouse. I had heard of him before. But, after all those what is the word that starts with a l and ends with an s meaning gloomy. Ridiculous or something like that. Jeeves would know. oh....lugubrious.

After all that lugubrious stuff, this was like fresh air. Refreshing. Comic. Language at its pristine best. Other writers use language as a medium for communication. Wodehouse uses ideas as a tool for expressing his language. (This is confusing. But I'll let it be). Anyway, to make a long story short They were the cure of my hangover.

There have been thousands of times when others have questioned my sanity (not surprising !!!!) for laughing like  a pig in a crowded bus as I used to distort my body and hands such that I could maintain my balance and still read the book.

Cheers to Wodehouse

From: Gordon Neill
Date: 4/30/98

I met P.G.Wodehouse in a very cramped mobile library van at the age of thirteen.  Having found nothing more stimulating than a rather shabby biography of Ian Botham (written, if I remember correctly, by the inordinately churlish Don Mosey) I picked up a copy of "Psmith in the City" and was instantly hooked.  I have read over sixty of Wodehouse's novels since then but, although Baxter, Wooster, Lord Emsworth and the Oldest Member are all quite wonderful creations, no one can quite surpass, for me, the solemnity and splendour of Psmith.

From: Susan Johnston
Date: 4/27/98

I first met Wodehouse when I was in high school.  In my enthusiasm I went to my English teacher, who told me he was "trash" and "not serious literature."

"Nerts!" I said, thankfully having the good sense to ignore her, and here I am  20 years later needing a dose of Wodehouse to insure a good night's sleep.  Plum is (with apologies to my husband!) "the tree on which the fruit of my life hangs."

From: Samanth Subramanian
Date: 4/26/98

In the 6th grade, I wouldn't have known a printed book if you had brought it on a plate with watercress around it. It was still "The Age of the Comics"... then I came across a "Jeeves" book and for years to come, my friends look at me strangely when I laugh out aloud and wonder why the foremost mental institutions don't compete for me vigourously.
My favourite? Ring for Jeeves, which has the absolutely smashing line:
 
In the summer, the river is at the bottom of the garden while in the rainy season, the garden is at the bottom of the river.
Pip pip chaps...Plum lives on!

From: Brittany Bianchi
Date: 4/22/98

I was 13 years old when I discovered P. G. Wodehouse's books. I was going through a period where I was rereading all of my favorite books because none of the new books I tried captured my interest. I was starting to think the Unthinkable;  I HAD READ ALL THE GOOD BOOKS! The one day, when all seemed lost, I came upon a Jeeves and Wooster story! I couldn't believe I had not heard of P. G. Wodehouse before! The world seemed a Better and Brighter place. God Bless P.G. Wodehouse!

From: Gilda
Date: 4/15/98

I first became introduced to the wonderful world of P. G. Wodehouse through Masterpiece Theater's fabulous series, Jeeves and Wooster.  I immediately fell in love with the characters and subsequently read some of Wodehouse's books.  I have only read the ones about Bertie Wooster and Jeeves so far, but am anxious to launch into works concerning other characters.  P.G. Wodehouse truly was a genius.  He created such an entertaining world filled with endearing characters.  What a Plum!

From: Reem Jan
Date: 4/9/98

Strangely enough, I don't know any Wodehouse fans and I only came across his works while casually browsing through a bookshop. The first thing I read was a collection of short stories about Blandings Castle and I was hooked from the start. His books are such delightful nonsense, the perfect world for an escapist. I'm still familiarising myself with his works, but I think my favourite stories so far would be the Ukridge ones, narrated by his long-suffering best friend Corky. I love his crazy pursuit of "capital", aided by his unwavering optimism, and of course his "vision" and the "big, broad, flexible outlook".

From: Paul Lucey
Date: 4/2/98

I discovered P.G.Wodehouse one X-Mas vacation through the BBC series. While I had been away at U.W.O., my brother, who was an enormous "Blackadder" fan, had been taping this new series featuring Fry & Laurie.  I watched three episodes and was hooked.  I took them back to school with me and introduced my roommate to them.  Over the next month, we sought out and devoured any Wodehouse work in every bookstore in town.  When I eventually moved out, dividing up the books created much ill will.

From: Preeta Guptan
Date: 3/25/98

I think I have been reading a Wodehouse ever since I was born. That is of course not true and I remember the day my father was reading "The Small Bachelor" and roaring away and gave me the book to read and I didn't understand what was funny except for some subtle witticism and my father was pleased. ... and then sometime I was hooked.

I love so many of his characters and go back to them every now and then and feel I am revisiting old friends. I love Gally and Uncle Fred and Lord Em and Chimp Twist and the Molloys. But the man I absolutely adore is Psmith.

From: Barbara Williams
Date: 3/15/98

I met the works of Wodehouse when I was about 12 at the hand of my grandmother who was a devoted fan.  Her great claim to fame is that Wodehouse himself had once answered a fan letter she had written him. I carry on undaunted as a fan who regularly rereads, and have introduced my sons and their friends as well to the joys of a gentler world.

From: bahma sivasubramaniam
Date: 3/15/98

I was at school, doing O-levels My English teacher gave us a list of authors to read, amongst which was P.G.Wodehouse. That was the turning point. I cannot remember what was the first book of his I read but it made such an impact on me that i have been a Wodehouser since. I think I must have bought all his books available in Malaysia.  My sore point is that I cannot get the videos of Jeeves and Bertie, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The only tapes available are at the British Council, but I want my own!!! Wodehouse lives, man!

From: Sharmila Gokhale
Date: 2/6/98

What a blessed day it was...the discovery of `Right Ho, Jeeves!' in a bookshop...I read the first two chapters in the shop itself, and when my giggling became embarrassingly loud, I finally bought the book and headed home...after that there was no looking back. Wodehouse's popularity can be gauged from the fact that it's so hard to lay your hand on a copy at the British Council libraries (in India)...you find one, your day is made! Hail to Plum!

From: Hitesh Purswani
Date: 2/5/98

I was introduced to Wodehouse at a fairly early age. I borrowed "Indiscretions of Archie" when i was about 12 Yrs old. That was a time I was into Archie comics and Mad magazines. I didn't understand what people found so funny in it. However about 4 yrs  later, a friend of mine leant me "Eggs, Beans And Crumpets". That was the book that got me hooked onto P.G Wodehouse.

 I can say now that I am a Wodehouse addict. I'm particularly fond of the Blandings series.

From: lucy gabb
Date: 2/1/98

i go to the public library frequently and usually pick up some audio books i just happened to pick up Inimitable Jeeves and from then on bertie and jeeves were firm companions to long trips in the car. i now scan the shelves for anything written by wodehouse and discovered the tv version of jeeves and wooster. Could you tell me how to get hold of more tv series as the library only has 2 episodes.

From: Richard Andrade
Date: 1/31/98

Hoo boy...15 years old, aimlessly thumbing the FM dial for something, anything, of interest, when, like the Archangel Gabriel parting the Dead Sea of public radio, in floats the nasally voice of some English twit, accompanied by the equally annoying drone of his acapella manservant. Twelve years later, my bookcase groans under it's Wodehouse burden I still find myself laughing to the point of tears.

From: Vic Bobb
Date: 1/30/98

I may have been cursed with genes that guaranteed me shortsightedness and high cholesterol, but I was by-golly blessed in one of my heritages: I was a third-generation Wodehouse freak.  My father had been introduced by his father, back in the early '30s; I've been reading him since about 1962.

In 1972 I was fortunate enough to have Plum himself reply to a fan letter.  That note is one of my treasures.

What Ho to all Wodehouseans out there.

Tinkerty tonk (but I don't mean it to sting)
Vic Bobb, Spokane, Washington

From: Mike McBride
Date: 1/30/98

Finding Bertie and Jeeves on PBS wasn't like finding enlightenment at the bottom of a bowl of really satisfying bowl of peaches or anything like that.  I simply sat down and watched my TV on a balmy summer afternoon.   It being Sunday, notwithstanding, I felt like I had stepped into an experience that had been denied me all  these years as my parents observed some commandment or another for some obscure religious reason. Well, there you have it.  The slippery road downhill started right there on PBS at 2:00PM and it's got me where I am today.

After reading a few of the stories, I wonder if I shouldn't have been born into the British Aristocracy of the twenties in order to reach my full spiritual potential in this life and to prepare me for the next.

From: Hitesh Purswani
Date: 1/29/98

I was introduced to Wodehouse at a fairly early age. I borrowed "Indiscretions of Archie" when i was about 12 Yrs old. That was a time I was into Archie comics and Mad magazines. I didn't understand what people found so funny in it. However about 4 yrs  later, a friend of mine leant me "Eggs, Beans And Crumpets". That was the book that got me hooked onto P.G Wodehouse.

 I can say now that I am a Wodehouse . I'm particularly fond of the Blandings series.

From: David Crowe
Date: 1/28/97

I discovered Wodehouse's books in Micawber's Bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota.  I had shopped there for years, and had noticed this long shelf of books with the orange Penguin spines.  This was obviously the largest selection of books by a single author in a very good bookstore.  I was a grad student in English at the time, but apparently wasn't curious enough to look up Wodehouse's name in the DLB or some other biographical source.  One day, I pulled one of the books off the shelf and began to read.  I think it was Very Good, Jeeves, I'm not sure.

It's one of those moments you have in life when you know you've stumbled onto  something really good.  And to know that there were dozens of these books there on Micawber's shelf, ready to buy and read . . .

From: Altere
Date: 1/27/98

First heard of him from someone at school - received a bad impression.  First purchase while on a long wait on Cambridge Station c1961.  Caused concern among fellow passengers on the down train by being simply unable to suppress giggles ....... and worse.  Addict foe years, read many many ....  but out of touch since job got serious.  Now catching up.

From: ann-marie burke
Date: 1/27/98

as an afternoon lunch break, myself and other girls in my previous off would get together and during these conversations i was introduced to the writer. i found his writing a great way to pass the heat of the day. now i want to start my collection of all his books so i am looking for a list to send to a friend in england, so that he can purchase some for me.

From: Malcolm MacLucas
Date: 1/27/98

My introduction to bertie and jeeves was with a books on tape version, passed to my dad, who had thought he had seen something on PBS about it, so the next night, my sister and I watched an episode and laughed ourselves silly.  In the space of 2 weeks 3 new people became jeeves fans

From: Suzanne Bowles
Date: 1/24/98

When Wodehouse was knighted I read an article about it in, I think, Newsweek.  I had never heard of him, but my interest was piqued.  Shortly after that I was in the public library & spotted a copy of Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, so I thought, Well, I'll try this.  Needless to say, I became totally hooked.  And all the stuff I learned came in handy since some years after that I married an Englishman!

From: Lin
Date: 1/23/98

First read Plum before first primer as 3 year old. Thereabouts. Don't know what was first - just read everything in my grandparents' house, moved on to everyone else's.

First Plum I owned was `Eggs, Beans and Crumpets', followed by `Mike at Wrykin', `Leave it to Psmith', `Psmith in the City' and `Psmith, Journalist' - all presented by my mother when I was ill in bed.

Favourite work - unfortunately, cited but never seen in print: that pathetic little ditty, `Baby's Sock is Now a Bluebag.'

Good to be among fellows.

Cheers
Lin (aka Myrtle Jellaby, fiancee to Ambrose Mulliner, though rather more sporting than he. Hope the nom's not taken)

From: Ioannis Zannos
Date: 1/20/98

My grandmother kept a small collection of Wodehouse classics, including
- Inimitable Jeeves
- Jeeves in the Offing
- Meet Mr. Mulliner
...

in our family's vacation house by the sea. My initiation to Wodehouse thus happened during the long summer evenings.

I was introduced to Wodehouse novels at a very young age of 9 or 10 years by my Mom, who has been crazy about W since I can remember. She is one of the few women I've seen being more obsessed with her Wodehouse collection than by her second most prized possessions- us. Well, genes will be genes and in a couple of years I've taken to reading W at a maniacal level. Little to say about hoarding his works. I'm still crazy about his stuff and have made (I'm quite smug about) some good friends of mine equally crazy. Well in typical english tradition, can I say 'Long Live 'Wodehouse''.

From: Martha Valainis
Date: 1/17/98

Forever years ago, I was in the midst of a gawd-awful time in my life, and someone handed me JOY IN THE MORNING - which I subsequently read zillions of times, and it pulled me through. I've since read every book I can get my grubby hands on, and own all the videos put out so far.

From: Sam Waring
Date: 1/15/98

I found Sir Plum when I was about eleven or twelve years old.  One of the oldest patrons at the library where my mother was Librarian was a devoted Wodehouse fan, and after seeing him bring back yet *another* two or three books, I asked my mother what the books were about.  She told me, I read a jacket blurb or two, and then I tried reading one.  In the years since, I've read most of the Wodehouse novels save for a few *very* early and scarce ones, like THE POT HUNTERS.

I came across pgw quite by chance, really. I like to think of myself as a good reader of books. With no discrimination except of course they have to be romantic. I picked up the first book from my friendly neighbourhood library and i should confess I positively hated the first pgw, simply b'coz i was waiting for the plot and the story, u know the usual beginning, the body and the end. But what should I see the book is over. I am happy to say i've come a long way since. Now I jump on the person holding a pgw not only to get the book but to share that feeling of companionship in feeling the same way about pgw as I do. What strikes me everytime is his effortless flow of prose. I hope to share a lot of like-minded people's friendship here, thank-u

Too bad, you are making me do this again, but anything to add my voice to the chorus of Wodehouse admirers, one can't have too much of a good thing, never mind what the society of spartans has to say about excess.

Right ho, then. Actually, Right ho, Jeeves was the first book by the master that I chanced upon, lying around unassumingly at a neighbour's house.

I read the first few pages, not having the foggiest notion as to what I was letting myself into, but at some point, I realized this chap was unputdownable. Went about with a silly smirk on my face, read out the funny bits to anybody who would listen.

Like the dark joke about the name shared by the mangled remains of  two cyclists who collided in the dark, the speech made by Gussie Fink-Nottle to the local school,  while under the influence. Not to forget Madeleine Bassett, who had eyes as wide as saucers and thought the stars were God's daisy chain.

Of course, I went on to like the Psmith books better, found the perpetually broke Ukridge's schemes a pain, read and re-read Vintage Wodehouse, edited by Richard Usborne (?).

Anyway, suffice to say that I still love the master's works with the same ardour and am happy to have found kindred souls.

From: James L. Falk
Date: 1/9/98

I found him completely by accident at the local library.

I happened to see a Jeeves  story in the "Classics" paperbacks rack.

I believe it was one of the stories where Bertie wound up getting engaged, (much to his dismay) I was hooked, there is no other way to describe it.

Luckily one of my son's friends has a father with an extensive Wodehouse collection that he doesn't mind lending out.

There is no one else like him.  Unfortunately, he is not taught in the schools like he should be.

For a US Version, of Wodehouse, don't forget Damon Runyon.

From: Tirtho Sarkar
Date: 1/9/98

One day, I couldn't find anything to read at home because I had read all the books. Then, I saw a book called The Pothunters and other school stories so I just picked it up and started reading it. Ever since then, I've become hooked.

From: Rick Rashid
Date: 1/7/98

There is a strong literary tradition in my family, and I was exposed to all manner of classics in English as well as Urdu while I was growing up in Lahore, Pakistan. By the time I was 13, My Aunt Maryam, (an MA in English Lit.) had begun foisting Jane Austin, Shakespeare, Tolstoy etc. on me, and I loathed every minute I spent reading these masterpieces. My preferred reading in those days was anything to do with Cricket.

One day (around 1969), browsing through our local lending library, I came across a book called "Mike and Psmith" by a fellow called P. G. Wodehouse, then unknown to me. The cover illustration featured a  Cricket scene, and that was enough to get me to check it out. The rest, as someone once said, is history. Although I moved to California when I was 18, and now (23 years later) prefer Baseball and American Football to Cricket, but my admiration of Wodehouse still remains as strong as ever.

I mean to say, one must have a choice in the matter, what? There I was, regular visitor to the library, and as I trooped off to get my regular quota of Secret Sevens and Famous Fives, my dad would ask me to get another Wodehouse that I hadn't got him lately.

Sooner or later, one begins to think, there must be something in this Wodehouse chappie, if older people should read him to the exclusion of such literary giants as Enid Blyton, and there I was.  Hooked without a choice in the matter. Sometimes one thinks there must be a law or something.

From: Kathy Downing
Date: 1/3/98

I first read a Wodehouse novel because my then boyfriend bought ten or twelve hardback novels at a estate sale for 20 cents a book or something like that.  The boyfriend is gone, but the books remain and are still bringing a smile to my lips.  Married with five children now I still find a lot of pleasure in Wodehouse.  I read a bit out loud to the kids once in a while.

From: Bob Clark
Date: 1/2/98

I first heard of Wodehouse when in the early '80s I read the (long but interesting) autobiography of Isaac Asimov.  Asimov speaks of talking about Wodehouse stories with his friends, and often invokes the "Code of the Woosters" (Never Let a Pal Down).  Several years later I noticed a Wodehouse book somewhere, thought of Asimov's words and decided to try it out.

From: Sohail Mohammed
Date: 1/1/98

well my father has this library of books...so one day when i was about 17 i went and picked up this book which had both wooster and jeeves on the cover and if i remember correctly the book was called 'very good jeeves' and since then ive developed this strong taste of wodehouse's literary works

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