Review: Highballs for Breakfast by PG Wodehouse

Highballs For Breakfast, the very best of PG Wodehouse on the joys of a good stiff drink is a fun and frivolous collection of some of the beloved comic novelist's descriptions of characters who find themselves in all kinds of hilarious scrapes after enjoying a strong drink or two. All of Wodehouse's most beloved characters are here--Jeeves and Wooster, Uncle Fred, Mr Mulliner, Lord Emsworth. 

This was an enjoyable collection, featuring snippets of various short stories and novels by PG Wodehouse, each linked together by a theme. Richard T Kelly provides the introduction and linking text, and his strong working knowledge of Wodehouse shows throughout. The text also adds some useful social and historical context, though as we know, Wodehouse's work was very much based on a notion of who the idle rich could be and how they lived, rather than who they actually were. 

Anyway, this is a fun collection, ending somewhat appropriately with a selection from Right Ho Jeeves where teetotaller Gussie Fink-Nottle finds himself drunk and amusing--then offending--nearly everyone at a presentation. I found myself discovering a few Wodehouse stories and characters I had never heard of and, better yet, I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions.

A must for Wodehouse fans. 

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