I’ve forgotten what I expected when I bought this book – probably a witty book of Wodehouse Quotes, à la The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld. Well, this was a little different.

P. G. Wodehouse In His Own Words tries to tell the story of Wodehouse’s life mainly through his own writings, with Barry Day and Tony Ring adding context to the quotes. For the most part, this works and it’s an enjoyable read because Wodehouse is an enjoyable writer. The book also goes beyond a general biography to talk about Wodehouse’s possible opinion on things like America and the Clergy. There’s also an amusing section entitled “style” which collects some interesting quotes, such as:

“He looked like a halibut which has just been asked by another halibut to lend it a couple of quid till next Wednesday”.

The Word in Season, PG Wodehouse

The only place this book falls short is in the section on war, because it skips over what Wodehouse did to get criticised. After some googling, I found out that he participated in a few broadcasts while captured in Berlin (Guardian article). The reason the editors gave for avoiding what Wodehouse did was that enough ink has been spilled on the subject, but as someone who has never read a Wodehouse biography in my life, I would have appreciated a bit more detail. I actually found the book generally suitable for someone who’s like me, a casual reader of Wodehouse but doesn’t know much about him, so this omission baffled me.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this! It’s a fairly light, breezy read that introduced the life of Wodehouse to me. I don’t think Wodehouse is the best person to write about himself, mostly because he intentionally hides behind his light-hearted tone, but this book is a good way to start learning about the author behind the books.