My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I discovered P.G. Wodehouse in my late teens.  It was a happy encounter.

Wodehouse's writing is a triumph of levity over gravity.  That is about the most profound thing about his works - the rest is entertaining fluff.  But what fabulous entertaining fluff it is.

If Wodehouse is remembered for anything, it is for his Wooster and Jeeves stories.  My Man Jeeves contains eight short stories, four of which feature Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves (the other four feature Reggie Pepper).  These are the earliest of the Wooster and Jeeves stories.  

Bertie is a man of independent means but with little commonsense.  He spends most of his time thinking about betting on horses and buying clothes.  Jeeves, on the other hand, has oceans of commonsense as well as vast reservoirs of experience and an impeccable sartorial taste.  The tales are usually about how Jeeves rescues Bertie from preposterous social situations, bad gambling decisions and fashion faux pas.  And that is about as deep as it gets.

The obvious joy about reading the Wooster and Jeeves stories is discovering how Bertie is dropped into trouble (and trouble, it seems, comes looking for him) and how Jeeves extricates him from it.  There is always a happy ending, and Bertie is always grateful for Jeeves' help.  A subtler joy is Wodehouse's lightness of touch.  Bertie, who is usually the narrator, tells his tales in the breeziest of manners.  His choice of phrase is a delight - for example, he describes an empty-headed friend as "unclouded".  As a result, the pages just roll by.

Entertaining, surprising and always comical, Wodehouse is a must read.