Stephen Fry — The Blank Page

You know you’re living your best life when you step up to the bookshelf to try and pick a new book and find yourself asking ‘Elmore Leonard or P.G. Wodehouse?’. Well, maybe not your best life. But it’s a very good one. Honest. The reading is certainly good.

I started my P.G. journey with Jeeves and Wooster, thanks to the collections released by Hutchinson back in the late 90s. I picked the first couple with a rabid desire to devour them all, only I hit a tiny, tiny snag. Just a minor one, really. And it’s a snag that I guess no self-respecting reader should ever admit to anyone. So, here goes…the TV show was too good. Yup, you heard me. Welcome to the first world problems of a forty something, white, straight, English man. Do I read my next Elmore Leonard or my next P.G. Wodehouse book? Do I keep reading a book when the TV show with Fry and Laurie in has burned itself permanently onto my brain? I know, I know. Things are tough all over, right?

Book review, Books, ReviewChristopher Long9 June 2023P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Blandings, Elmore LeonardComment

Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse

There are certain things you don’t want to see when you’re considering writing a book review. A death threat from the author would be quite high up that list. As would a list of previous reviewers of their work who’ve all disappeared in ‘mysterious circumstances’. Another red flag is when the first page of that book holds a glowing quote from Stephen Fry.

‘What’s the point?’ you find yourself wondering, seeing his eloquent little summation laid out for all the world to see. ‘Fry got here first.’

Book review, BooksChristopher Long5 January 2023P.G. Wodehouse, Blandings, Jeeves and Wooster, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Lord of the Rings, TolkienComment