Pelham Grenville ("P. G.") Wodehouse is the master of comic fiction. He wrote close to a hundred novels and books of short stories, as well as plays, essays, letters, and other works.
Wodehouse was born in England in 1881 and published his first book in 1902. He spent the years of World War I in New York, mostly writing Broadway plays, and went back and forth between America and England after the war. This created tax problems which he resolved, but then tried to avoid by moving to France in 1934.
When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Wodehouse was taken prisoner at Le Touquet and interned for nearly a year. After his release he made five broadcasts from German radio in Berlin to his fans in the US, which had not yet entered the war. The talks were meandering "whimsy and hokum," but his broadcasting over enemy radio prompted outrage in Britain and a threat of prosecution.
Wodehouse never returned to England. After the war, he moved permanently to the US and took dual British-American citizenship in 1955. He died in 1975, at the age of 93, in Southampton, New York.
He is best known for his Jeeves/Bertie Wooster and Blandings Castle series of novels and stories. But he has many stand alone books and several other minor series.
I would like to read all of his books if I can find them. I particularly enjoy reading Wodehouse with my ears because audio book editions make the comic language come alive. There is a free Wodehouse Omnibus of 36 of his earlier books available on Kindle that I downloaded to the Kindle App on my phone. I read those when I need an emergency book.
Here's the list, with notes on whether I've read a book, it's on my TBR shelf, or it is available in an audiobook.
The Pothunters (1902) (reviewed here) FINISHED
A Prefect's Uncle (1903) FINISHED
Tales of St. Austin's (1903) (short stories) FINISHED
The Gold Bat (1904) FINISHED
William Tell Told Again (1904) FINISHED
The Head of Kays (1905) FINISHED
Love Among the Chickens (1906) FINISHED
The White Feather (1907) FINISHED
Not George Washington (1907) FINISHED
The Globe 'By the Way' Book (1908) (essays, out of print)
The Swoop (1909) FINISHED
Mike (1909) FINISHED
Gentleman of Leisure (1910) (US: The Intrusion of Jimmy 1909 serialized edition, The Gem Collector) FINISHED
Psmith in the City (1910) FINISHED
The Prince and Betty (1912) FINISHED
The Little Nugget (1913) FINISHED
The Man Upstairs (1914) (short stories) TBR SHELF
Psmith Journalist (2015) FINISHED
Something Fresh (1915) (US: Something New) FINISHED
Uneasy Money (1916) FINISHED
The Man With Two Left Feet (1917) (short stories) FINISHED
Piccadilly Jim (1918) FINISHED
My Man Jeeves (1919) (short stories) FINISHED
A Damsel in Distress (1919) FINISHED
The Coming of Bill (or The White Hope, 1920) (US: Their Mutual Child, 1919) TBR SHELF
Jill the Reckless (1921) (US: The Little Warrior, 1920) AUDIOBOOK
Indiscretions of Archie (1921) FINISHED
The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922) (US: Golf Without Tears, 1924) (short stories) FINISHED
The Girl on the Boat (1922) (US: Three Men and a Maid) FINISHED
The Adventures of Sally (1922) (US: Mostly Sally, 1923) FINISHED
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) (US: Jeeves) FINISHED
Leave It to Psmith (1923) FINISHED
Ukridge (1924) (US: He Rather Enjoyed It, 1925) (short stories)
Bill the Conqueror (1924) AUDIOBOOK
Carry On, Jeeves (1925) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
Sam the Sudden (1925) (US: Sam in the Suburbs)
The Heart of a Goof (1926) (US: Divots, 1927) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
The Small Bachelor (1927) FINISHED
Meet Mr. Mulliner (1927) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
Money for Nothing (1928)
Mr. Mulliner Speaking (1929) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
Summer Lightning (1929) (US: Fish Preferred) FINISHED
Very Good, Jeeves (1930) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
Big Money (1931) FINISHED
If I Were You (1931)
Louder and Funnier (1932) (essays)
Doctor Sally (1932) FINISHED
Hot Water (1932)
Mulliner Nights (1933) (short stories)
Heavy Weather (1933) TBR SHELF
Thank You, Jeeves (1934) FINISHED
Right Ho, Jeeves (1934) (US: Brinkley Manor) FINISHED
Enter Psmith (1935)
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) (US: Blandings Castle) (short stories) FINISHED
The Luck of the Bodkins (1935) AUDIOBOOK
Young Men in Spats (1936) (short stories) TBR SHELF
Laughing Gas (1936) FINISHED
Lord Emsworth and Others (1937) (US: The Crime Wave at Blandings) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
Summer Moonshine (1937) TBR SHELF
The Code of the Woosters (1938) FINISHED
Uncle Fred in Springtime (1939) AUDIOBOOK
Eggs, Beans and Crumpets (1940) (short stories) TBR SHELF
Quick Service (1940) TBR SHELF
Money in the Bank (1942)
Joy in the Morning (1946) (US: Jeeves in the Morning) FINISHED
Full Moon (1947)
Spring Fever (1948) TBR SHELF
Uncle Dynamite (1948) AUDIOBOOK
The Mating Season (1949) FINISHED
Nothing Serious (1949) (short stories) AUDIOBOOK
The Old Reliable (1951)
Barmy in Wonderland (1952) (US: Angel Cake)
Pigs Have Wings (1952) AUDIOBOOK
Ring for Jeeves (1953) (US: The Return of Jeeves) FINISHED
Performing Flea (1953) (US: Author Author, 1962) (letters)
Bring on the Girls (1954) (autobiography, with Guy Bolton)
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954) (US: Bertie Wooster Sees It Through, 1955) AUDIOBOOK
French Leave (1956)
Over Seventy (1957) (US: America I Like You, 1956) (essays)
Something Fishy (1957) (US: The Butler Did It)
Cocktail Time (1958) FINISHED
A Few Quick Ones (1959) (short stories)
Jeeves in the Offing(1960) (US: How Right You Are Jeeves) FINISHED
Ice in the Bedroom (1961)
Service With a Smile (1961) TBR SHELF
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963) FINISHED
Frozen Assets (1964) (US: Biffen's Millions) AUDIOBOOK
Galahad at Blandings (1964) (US: The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood) TBR SHELF
Plum Pie (1966) (short stories, poems, essays)
Company for Henry (1967) (US: The Purloined Paperweight)
Do Butlers Burgle Banks? (1968)
A Pelican at Blandings (1969) (US: No Nudes Is Good Nudes, 1970) FINISHED
The Girl in Blue (1970) AUDIOBOOK
Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971) (US: Jeeves and the Tie that Binds) AUDIOBOOK
Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (1972) (US: The Plot that Thickened, 1973) TBR SHELF
Bachelors Anonymous (1973) TBR SHELF
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974) (US: The Cat-Nappers, 1975) AUDIOBOOK
The Uncollected Wodehouse (1976) (short stories, essays)
Sunset at Blandings (1977) (unfinished)
NOTES
Many of the early novels and short stories are available in free Kindle editions, either separately or in omnibus editions, like this one. I keep an omnibus on the Kindle app on my phone so I always have a book in case of emergency.
If you are reading Wodehouse's books, please leave comments with Wodehouse-related links and I will add them here.
OTHER WODEHOUSE FANS
If you are reading Wodehouse's books, please leave comments with Wodehouse-related links and I will add them here.