The heroine here, Jill Mariner, is a young woman from the lower end of the upper class. We follow her through financial disaster, a broken engagement, an awkward stay with some grasping relatives, employment as a chorus girl, and of course, the finding of true love. Views: 2 221
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffman, (the A in his pen name stands for Amadeus, out of admiration for Mozart), was one of the most influential German writers in his time. He is credited with instigating the Romantic movement, creating the first detective story, introducing themes of the supernatural and psychological abnormality to the literary world, and inspiring many eminent writers and composers. Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" is based on his "Nutcracker and Mouse King". Hoffmann had a taste for the macabre, lending to tales that interweave fantasy with realism. This collection of stories, his "Weird Tales", includes "Mademoiselle de Scudéri," the story of an illusive master goldsmith who will go to violent lengths to not be parted from his creations; "Signor Formica," the hilarious tale of the famous Italian artist Salvator Rosa and his assistance in the marriage of two friends; "The Sand-man" and many others. All told this edition brings together the eleven tales contained in volumes one and two of Hoffmann's "Weird Tales". Views: 1 996
In a day in June, at the hour when London moves abroad in quest of lunch, a young man stood at the entrance of the Bandolero Restaurant looking earnestly up Shaftesbury Avenue—a large young man in excellent condition, with a pleasant, good-humoured, brown, clean-cut face. He paid no attention to the stream of humanity that flowed past him. His mouth was set and his eyes wore a serious, almost a wistful expression. He was frowning slightly. One would have said that here was a man with a secret sorrow. William FitzWilliam Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish, had no secret sorrow. All that he was thinking of at that moment was the best method of laying a golf ball dead in front of the Palace Theatre. It was his habit to pass the time in mental golf when Claire Fenwick was late in keeping her appointments with him. On one occasion she had kept him waiting so long that he had been able to do nine holes, starting at the Savoy Grill and finishing up near Hammersmith. His was a simple mind, able to amuse itself with simple things. Views: 1 991
Right Ho, Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, the second full-length novel featuring the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, after Thank You, Jeeves. It also features a host of other recurring Wodehouse characters, and is mostly set at Brinkley Court, the home of Bertie\'s Aunt Dahlia. It was first published in the United Kingdom on October 5, 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on October 15, 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, under the title Brinkley Manor. Before being published as a book, it had been sold to the Saturday Evening Post, in which it appeared in serial form from December 23, 1933 to January 27, 1934, and in England in Grand Magazine from April to September 1934. Wodehouse had already started planning this sequel while working on Thank You, Jeeves. Views: 1 517
Although many might not recognize the name P.G. Wodehouse, they have inevitably come across his work. Wodehouse was a British humorist who wrote novels, short stories, journalism pieces, and other stuff, becoming extremely popular over a 70 year career. Today he is best known for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, but he was also a playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of 15 plays and 250 lyrics. Both the name "Jeeves" and the character of Jeeves have become a common part of the English lexicon, meaning a valet or chauffeur. It is even the inspiration behind the popular search engine Ask Jeeves. Views: 1 376
A P.G. Wodehouse novel
The peaceful slumber of the Worcester village of Rudge-in-the-Vale is about to be rudely disrupted. First there's a bitter feud between peppery Colonel Wyvern and the Squire of Rudge Hall, rich but miserly Lester Carmody. Second, that arch-villain Chimp Twist has opened a health farm - and he and Soapy and Dolly Molloy are planning a fake burglary so Lester can diddle his insurance company. After the knockout drops are served, things get a little complicated. But will Lester's nephew John win over his true love, Colonel Wyvern's daughter Pat, and restore tranquillity to the idyll? It's a close-run thing... Views: 1 209
Mr. Mulliner is the genial Scheherazade of the Anglers' Rest, a bucolic English pub. Each evening, sipping his Scotch and lemon, Mr. Mulliner tells of an adventure that once befell a nephew, a cousin's son, or some other un-stuffy younger relative. Mr. Mulliner's narratives showcase Wodehouse's particular genius for fetching whimsy and eccentric shenanigans. Views: 1 208
After seeing his friend Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge for the first time in years, author Jeremy Garnet is dragged along on holiday to Ukridge\'s new chicken farm in Dorset. Hilarious situations abound with Garnet\'s troublesome courting of a girl living nearby and the struggles on the farm, which are worsened by Ukridge\'s bizarre business ideas and methods. Views: 1 187
This romantic narrative set on either side of the Atlantic is a true tale of its time. First published in 1920, Jill the Reckless commences in the better circles of London society. Jill Mariner is engaged to Derek Underhill. Both of these young people are well to do and Derek has a title to boot! What better match could be made? Unfortunately matches made in heaven are generally between just two people. This match depended, alas to a certain extent to the will of Lady Underhill, Derek’s mother. Views: 1 174
Freddie Widgeon is in the chips— or expects to be very shortly. After months of slaving in a solicitor's office, he can now count the days to when he will be able to strike off the shackles of Messrs. Shoesmith, Shoes mith, Shoesmith and Shoe-smith for ever. The author of Freddie's gratifying swing of fortune is the American, Thomas G. Molloy. With philanthropic beneficence he recently let Freddie have some Silver River oil stock for £1,000. The deal took every penny Freddie could raise, but the certainty of being able to sell his holding within a month for a cool £10,000 made an instant appeal to his quick intelligence. Indeed, it was a point Mr. Moiloy was most careful to stress when, with fatherly concern, he explained the mysteries of high finance to this young man to whose face he had taken so firm a fancy. Thus it is a gay and confident Widgeon that we meet in the opening pages of this uproarious novel. And though poor Freddie has less and less occasion to feel gay and confident as the story advances, the reader's delight never falters. Ice In The Bedroom just romps along from one sparkling situation to the next. Views: 1 170
Ronald Psmith (“the ‘p’ is silent, as in pshrimp”) is always willing to help a damsel in distress. So when he sees Eve Halliday without an umbrella during a downpour, he nobly offers her an umbrella, even though it’s one he picks out of the Drone Club’s umbrella rack. Psmith is so besotted with Eve that, when Lord Emsworth, her new boss, mistakes him for Ralston McTodd, a poet, Psmith pretends to be him so he can make his way to Blandings Castle and woo her. And so the farce begins: criminals disguised as poets with a plan to steal a priceless diamond necklace, a secretary who throws flower pots through windows, and a nighttime heist that ends in gunplay. How will everything be sorted out? Leave it to Psmith! Views: 1 168
Wodehouse died before finishing this novel, which uses the Blandings formula: a pretty niece brought to the castle to separate her from a suitor; suitor infiltrated under an assumed name by Gally; Lord Emsworth innocently blowing the gaff to an angry sister. Wodehouse's notes complete the story. Views: 1 135
Monty Bodkin's pursuit of Gertude Butterwick is temporarily interrupted by his encounter with silver-screen siren Miss Lotus Blossom, who sees in him a means of restoring relations with her idol, the novelist Ambrose Tennyson. But Monty is not the only one with problems. Ambrose's brother Reggie has money troubles and Ikey Llewellyn is struggling with difficulties which would tax anyone's ingenuity, let alone his limited brain power. When the paths of these men collide, the ensuing plot complications produce a vintage Wodehouse farce involving London, New York, Hollywood and translatlantic liners. A delicious period piece from 1935. Views: 1 091
A Blandings collection
The ivied walls of Blandings Castle have seldom glowed as sunnily as in these wonderful stories - but there are snakes in the rolling parkland ready to nip Clarence, the absent-minded Ninth Earl of Emsworth, when he least expects it.
For a start the Empress of Blandings, in the running for her first prize in the Fat Pigs Class at the Shropshire Agricultural Show, is off her food - and can only be coaxed back to the trough by a call in her own language. Then there is the feud with Head Gardener McAllister, aided by Clarence's sister, the terrifying Lady Constance, and the horrible prospect of the summer fête - twin problems solved by the arrival of a delightfully rebellious little girl from London. But first of all there is the vexed matter of the custody of the pumpkin.
Skipping an ocean and a continent, Wodehouse also treats us to some unputdownable stories of excess from the monstrous Golden Age of Hollywood. Views: 1 078
Notwithstanding the popularity which several of Hoffmann's tales have obtained in many different countries, we are not aware of any complete or accurate translation of his works. In England they have become known in a very partial form, chiefly by the appearance of a few isolated tales in association with those of other writers, as in the 'Specimens of German Romance,' or in Gillies' 'German Stories,' which were published about 1830. Others are familiar only through the medium of a translation from a previous French version, as is the case with the well-known 'Nutcracker,'--and in this process of double dilution the Author's name has sometimes disappeared altogether. The most important attempt to present this writer to English readers is the recent publication of two volumes entitled 'Hoffmann's Weird Stories,' which contain eleven tales seven being from the Serapions-Brüder, two from the Nachtstücke, and two from other parts of his works. These stories are all separated from the setting in which, as in the present volume, they for the most part appeared, and the translator has not aimed at any completeness or method in their selection. The first attempt to give English readers a satisfactory idea of Hoffmann's work in its completeness is inaugurated by the present volume, which will be followed by the remaining portion of the Serapion Brethren, and in due course it is hoped by other portions of his works. Musicians will be interested by the fulness with which the Author's views on musical subjects so much in advance of his age, and so just and accurate are developed in many places, such as the dialogue called "The Poet and the Composer," and the conversation which precedes the tale "Master Martin." It would be of much interest could any of Hoffmann's numerous musical compositions be brought to light at the present day; they appear to have been considerably in advance of their period, although Weber's critique on one of Hoffmann's operas is full of high praise. A. E. Taunton, September, 1886. Views: 1 051
