In this ninth of his eleven Blandings Castle farces, P. G. Wodehouse brings a large cast of mostly repeating characters to Blandings Castle in Shropshire, where their adolescent behavior, their misplaced values, and their obliviousness to real issues in a real world, allow Wodehouse to create gentle but pointed satire of the British upperclass, of which he himself was also a member. Written in 1965, but set in 1929, this novel, like all Wodehouse writing, is timeless in its ability to capture the silly, the petty, and the laughable in complex and hilarious plots in which numerous misunderstandings occur because characters refuse to be honest with themselves and with each other. Wodehouse selects perfect, absurd details to describe these characters as they engage in perfectly outrageous actions, as he coaxes readers of all walks of life to laugh with those whom “society” considers to be “upper” class. (Just click on the title to see full review.)
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“I don’t know if you know the meaning of the word ‘agley,’ but that is the way things have ganged.” With this play on lines from Robert Burns, Bertie Wooster, the aristocratic and dithery protagonist of P. G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves” novels, expresses his dismay at the way matters of love and quiet country life have “ganged” since his arrival at his aunt Dahlia’s country estate. Shortly after his arrival, he is surprised to read in the newspaper that Roberta “Bobby” Wickham is engaged to marry him. Bobby, upon her arrival, quickly sets him straight–she is in love with his best friend Reginald “Kipper” Herring, and because she knows her parents find Herring unsuitable, has made them believe she will marry Bertie, whom they dislike even more. She believes that their discovery of the truth will be a relief. (Just click on the title to see full review.)
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P. G. Wodehouse’s famous offbeat humor develops in this Blandings Castle novel from the theft of the Empress of Blandings. Not a human aristocrat, the Empress is actually the prize-winning pig and all-consuming interest of the dotty Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle, and she is due to defend her honor in an annual contest. A typical Wodehouse comedy of manners with its witty satire of upperclass life, the affectations, lack of perspective, and preoccupation with preserving the status quo, the novel also revolves around the subject of love as various characters must face their differences, counter false accusations, and even deal with an impersonation.
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In her most playful and exuberant novel, Virginia Woolf writes the “historical biography” of Orlando, a young boy of nobility during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A wild ride through four centuries, the novel shows Orlando aging, magically, only thirty-six years between 1588 and 1928. Even more magically, he also changes from a man to a woman. As she explores Orlando’s life, Woolf also explores the differing roles of men and women in society during various periods, ultimately concluding that one’s role as a man or woman is determined by society, rather than by birth. (Just click on the title to see full review.)
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In what many call her most autobiographical novel, Virginia Woolf creates a warm and intimate portrait of a family which resembles her own–her parents, brothers and sisters–and the friends with whom they enjoy their summer vacation on the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides. Mrs. Ramsay, the mother of eight children, is the linchpin of the fictional family. She adores her husband, and though she often feels she fails him, she persists in smoothing his way so that he can work, managing the house and children, and inviting large groups of his students and friends to visit. Often strict and always right, Mr. Ramsay loves being the center of praise, but rarely praises others, and is often insensitive to the hopes and dreams of his children. No unifying plot and no unifying voice tie the three sections of the novel together, and many of the early characters play little role in the ending, yet in her hands the novel “works.” Woolf captures not only the passage of time but also the effects of time on all of her characters as they continue their lives, however changed, following in the footsteps of experimental writers like James Joyce, and taking literary chances which place her work with the best of the twentieth century. (Click on the title to see full review.)
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