Not Wodehouse's funniest collection
343844
The Mulliner tales are mostly mildly entertaining.  I usually laugh out loud at Wodehouse stories and re-read passages and whole books for joy at his use of language, but these stories don't have the same zing as other Wodehouse works.  There a few cute ones with a few chuckles, but overall the stories feel tired.
1942684
One of the greatest - perhaps the greatest - cricket umpire, whether living or dead, Harold Dennis (aka Dickie) Bird has become a national treasure.  It's a long time since he stood in his last game, but his celebrity status remains undimmed, despite living a rather quiet existence in Barnsley, Yorkshire.  80 NOT OUT is a rag-bag of quotes, stories and other observations; some of the stories are quite funny, but, alas, the general impression of the book is that it has been thrown together simply to make money.  It does not tell us much about Bird himself; nor about his views on the game either past or present.  It is the written equivalent of one of those so-called "Evening With ..." entertainments, in which cricketing personalities entertain audiences both in Britain and elsewhere with a collection of funny stories.  Mildly diverting as far as it goes, but leaves the reader wanting to know more about Bird himself and his views of life.
1058106
There's a reason why P.G. Wodehouse is still considered the creme de la creme of English wit almost a hundred years later. It is impossible to read his work without laughing out loud.
1903912
Of all the wonderful characters who come and go in the stories of PG Wodehouse, Uncle Fred (Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, Fifth Earl of good old Ickenham) is my favorite.  Like Guybrush's distant relative Galahad Threepwood, Uncle Fred likes to do what he can to assist and stimulate those with whom he comes into contact.  Unlike Gally, however, Uncle Fred generally leaves rather more excitement and uproar in his wake than most men can easily handle.  To attempt to summarize the plot of this book would be both pointless and boring; let me just say that this is Wodehouse's version of "A butterfly flap in Manhattan produces a hurricane in Brazil".  In other words, great books from small Brazil Nuts grow.  Of the three Uncle Fred novels (of which this is the second), I slightly prefer the other two, but that's rather like saying I prefer Boston Creme and Maple-glazed to Chocolate-coated donuts.  They're all still donuts - nature's most perfect food.  I should say a word about these hard-bound editions:  "Repulsive!"  Looking (with a shudder) at what must be the world's worst artwork and layout job for any sort of good book, I can only assume that either the publishers were trying to keep sales to an absolute minimum or that one of the owners of the publishing firm had an incompetent nephew who desperately needed a job.  Wodehouse would have appreciated that.  Whatever the motivation of the publishers, though, you should cross them up.  Buy this; in fact buy copies for your friends.  Just burn the dustjackets before you distribute the copies (or perhaps in these modern times of global warming, recycle them).
2671081
While I find this mystery collection enjoyable, and like Helen Hayes very much, her Miss Marple and other lead Christie ladies is not interpreted as seriously as Joan Hickson's.  It's probably a bit unfair to compare the two, but I do like seeing how actors interpret the same character.  I much prefer Hickson's They Do It With Mirrors to the Hayes production; I just didn't find it lively enough for my taste.  BUT, for my collection and comparison of the two performances, it serves the purpose.  Not bad, not bad at all if you're a Helen Hayes fan, and good for any novice of the Agatha Christie mysteries.
660125
This one took me a very long time to complete since nearly half of the collection of stories were either painfully dull and tame (surprisingly by well known authors whose stories may have frightened or terrified readers at the first-half of the 20th century, but are "ho-hum" by today's horror standards), or had little or nothing to do with ghosts (just a vague notion of the supernatural), and still others read like bad urban legends with predictable endings. But nonetheless I read them all from beginning to end. However, the book is by no means a complete loss since the other half of stories collected are well worth the read (which is why I gave the book an overall 3-star rating). So, if you happen to pick up this book, the stories I recommend reading are: A.C. Benson's "The House at Trehale", Arthur Gray's "The Everlasting Club", A.N.L. Munby's "Number Seventy-Nine", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Playing With Fire", Rudyard Kipling's "The House Surgeon", John Buchan's "The Grove of Ashtaroth", Somerset Maugham's "A Man from Glasgow", George Minto's "The Ghost of U65", Algernon Blackwood's "Vengeance is Mine", Sir Alec Guiness' "Money for Jam", Edith Wharton's "The Lady's Maid's Bell", Eudora Welty's "Clytie", Daphne du Maurier's "The Pool", James Thurber's "The Night the Ghost Got In", Eric Keown's "Sir Tristram Goes West", Ray Bradbury's "Another Fine Mess", E.F. Benson's "A Light in the Garden", Hammond Innes' "South Sea Bubble", Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost", A.E. Van Vogt's "The Ghost", and Philip Pullman's "Video Nasty".
1341775
P.G. Wodehouse's best stories are invariably those that involve the butler Jeeves helping the scatterbrained and easy-living Bertie Wooster escape from the fickle hand of fate and his own pranks.  The Cat-nappers focuses on Bertie being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being constantly in the soup because of what others do.  He valiantly launches forward and needs less help than usual to remain the carefree bachelor about town.

The Cat-nappers starts off innocently enough as Bertie finds himself with disturbing pink spots on his chest.  Seeking out a physician's counsel, Bertie gets more than he bargained for when he bumps into Vanessa Cook (who had turned down his marriage proposal the year before) and O.J. (Orlo) Porter (former dorm mate at Oxford who favored left-wing causes) as they lead a protest march that stalls Bertie's car.  Porter hops in the car to escape the Bobbies and sells Bertie some life insurance.  Porter turns out to be in love with Ms. Cook and is very jealous of anyone who might have an interest in her.  At the doctor's office, Bertie runs into Major Plank who had once tried to have Bertie arrested.  Fortunately, Plank cannot remember who he is . . .  but it's a narrow escape.  The doctor tells Bertie the spots will go away, but Bertie's health needs are not being met.  He suggests a trip to someplace quiet in the country.

Naturally, Bertie thinks of his Aunt Dahlia and the wonderful meals he always enjoys when he visits her.  But she's off visiting elsewhere.  She does offer to take a cottage for Bertie so he can visit with her.

Once there, things go badly downhill.  Naturally, Bertie does it to himself to some extent.  Ignoring Jeeves's advice, he takes a wrong turn and ends up with a nasty scare.  From there, the complications build to their humorous conclusion as thieves, bettors, lovers, churchmen and angry horsemen blunder about in silly circles that provide much delight to the reader.  Naturally, Bertie's always at the wrong place at the wrong time . . . but at the right place at the right time to make us laugh!

One of the special charms of this story is that Bertie tries very hard to do the right thing . . . and finds it exceptionally difficult to do so.

As the book ends, Bertie notes that the problems with the world boil down to the comment that "Aunts Aren't Gentlemen" which is the book's original English title.

Peace is what you carry with you.
3269701
I received "Where's My Wand?" (uncorrected proof for limited distribution) as part of Goodreads Firstreads giveaway. I'm not usually a reader of humorists, so I was intrigued by the other reviews and comments, but didn't really have any specific expectations for the book. While there were several funny laugh-out-loud retorts--mostly commentary from Poole's OCD, commandeering, yet frustrated, mother and a few from Poole himself, the chapters of his life growing up in a small Midwestern town were spotty and the entire narrative of his coming-of-age (if you can call it that) were sewn up entirely too quickly. There were a couple of incidents that were uncomfortable to read (his ill-advised "exorcism" of a Sunday School friend was certainly non-consensual) that I wonder if the author actually reflected/examined his motivations before he decided to set them to paper. Overall, I found myself feeling sympathetic towards some of the characters, who likely were more complex than Poole is able to do them justice, and their foibles. And some of the lines were priceless, such as: "They may not live in a trailer now, but those people are one step away from a steering wheel in the living room." Classic. So, thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons for my copy.
2400979
Ukridge is the most interesting Wodehouse character on which the least has been written. So when I found that there are other stories apart from the ten in the Ukridge collection&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Ukridge/dp/1585674796/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Ukridge</a>, I was overjoyed. Upon my Sam, its a little hard if you expect to read all about Ukridge in this book, and then find out that it was not to be. There is a
reason that these stories are called Ukridge stories, and its because they primarily focus on Ukridge with only a minor peek into the narrator's life.

The premise for this book is very promising. Ukridge intends to create a chicken farm in the country and come to riches through this grand plan. He does not worry about his complete lack of knowledge about raising chickens, or that he does not have enough money for running the farm. The man has a grand vision and intends to achieve it inspite of these shortcomings.

The problem arises because half the pages are spent on the narrator's love life, and in this aspect, there are countless other engaging writers. Wodehouse falls way short of engaging our interest in this love story. Maybe I have a little less sport in my blood than the average Wodehouse reader, but when I buy a Ukridge book, the expectation is that he would occupy most of the pages.

For a similar story (short story though), try "Ukridge's Dog College", part of the Ukridge short story collection, which is much better as Ukridge occupies front, right and center and there are no distractions.

Read it if you want to complete your understanding of P G Wodehouse and get a feel of his early writings before he perfected his art, otherwise give it a wide miss.
3989890
Recommended by a relative, I read it, but didn't love it. It is sort of a low-paid detective working his clients type of story, and the A for Alibi and so forth stories are more interesting and funny. One or two laugh-out-loud moments in this one.
1732095
Since this is a collection of short stories, I think it best to review the stories one by one and then let you decide for yourselves whether the book is worth buying or not.

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot

This is a very simple story. So simple that it is insipid actually. Dumbledore's commentary regarding the anti-muggle sentiment amongst the wizarding community is more interesting than the story itself.

1.5/5

The Fountain of Fair Fortune

A typical kind of fairy tale, which depicts how 3 witches and a knight, by wit or sheer luck, overcomes the obstacles on their way to the hilltop where the Fountain of Fair Fortune is located. It's believed that by bathing in the fountain, one would receive fair fortune forever. Maybe I should note that the intended age group for this story (entire book?) is most likely 5-8. The Dumbledore's commentary includes a somewhat heated exchange of words between the old headmaster and Lucius Malfoy over the blood purity of the so-called pure-blood families. If you're a hardcore Malfoy fan, you may want to check this out.

2/5

The Warlock's Hairy Heart

This is the one many worried moms described as "dark", "gruesome", "not for my kids". All I have to say is if they considered this dark, chances are they themselves had never read the Harry Potter series, of which their kids are most likely a big fan.

2.5/5

Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump

This one tells the tale of a foolish muggle king who wanted to learn magic and a charlatan with no magical power took advantage of that by volunteering to be his instructor. What the king did not know was that there was a true witch in his palace all along. It is actually a better stories in the collection, and Dumbledore's commentary is an added bonus because it sheds some light on the differences between being an Animagus and Transfiguring oneself into an animal.

3.5/5

The Tale of the Three Brothers

Those of you who had read Deathly Hallows are already familiar with this one. It should also be considered one of the better tales in the collection. Dumbledore's commentary on the Hallows, mostly the history of the Elder Wand, maybe the reason you want to buy this book. Though, frankly, not many interesting tidbits were added.

3.5/5
647258
Bertie Wooster's bachelorhood is under threat and this forces an unwelcome return to Totliegh Towers. A great Wodehouse cocktail follows.. But this one might not reach up to the high standards set by Wodehouse himself.
2244666
This edition is very short on reader conveniences but it is readable. The plots of the tales are interesting but Chesterton's style, and his social and political biases, even bigotries, can be jarring. His characters express nationalistic, racist and anti-semitic views that are unchallenged and therefore appear to be the author's own. It definitely comes across as the work of, thankfully, an earlier time. I doubt I'll read all the stories in the collection.
4201507
For some reason, I didn't find Carlin's "Best Stuff" that funny. I seem to remember a time where those routines made me laugh; but watching, again, I did not find too much of it very funny at all. It was OK, but you would think that George's "Best Stuff" would be thouroughly, hilarious.  As I said, it was OK.
2246312
I think the stories are mixed - some just aren't entertaining while others are classic. Hearing the voice of Rickles in your head makes the book work. It was a shorter, lighter read than I expected.
2080534
This collection was a bit of a disappointment to me...when I think "funniest" it's generally NOT these stories.  Some were fantastic, some were "meh", and others were just plain boring to me.

Not something I'd go out of my way to get again.
1115261
Disappointing Wodehouse story, filled with some of the most unpleasant and disturbing characters I've ever come across!  Perhaps this is an early Wodehouse attempt (or written when he was depressed?), because it has none of the delightful humor and funny people I've come to expect from his work.  Both the men and women alike are repellent or boring, which is sad.  A dull artist type meets a bossy, interfering woman who introduces him to her niece, a suffocatingly clinging creature who drives off his friends and demands that she have him all to herself.  Even her father, who opposed the match, is a cold, heartless monster of the like I've never encountered in ANY Wodehouse story.  He has a psychopathic cold-bloodedness that makes me wonder if his character wasn't based upon some horrible memory from the author's past.  If you love Wodehouse as I do, stick to his wonderful stories about Jeeves and Bertie, Lord Emsworth, or any of his warmer, kinder works.  Please give this one a miss!