Start reading Blandings Castle and Elsewhere on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere
 
 

Blandings Castle and Elsewhere [Kindle Edition]

P.G. Wodehouse
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Digital List Price: £7.16 What's this?
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £4.94 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £3.05 (38%)
Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.94  
Hardcover £8.35  
Paperback £5.59  
Audio, CD, Audiobook --  
Unknown Binding --  
Audio Download, Unabridged £12.89 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Description

Book Description

'You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.' Stephen Fry

Product Description

A Blandings collectionThe 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.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 437 KB
  • Print Length: 324 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0099513838
  • Publisher: Cornerstone Digital (27 May 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B0031RS2F4
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #6,091 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  •  Would you like to give feedback on images?


More About the Author

P. G. Wodehouse
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's P. G. Wodehouse Page

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Reviews

3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
Blandings Castle is an unexpected mix of short stories. After P.G. Wodehouse began to weave his novels about Clarence, Ninth Earl of Emsworth, and his improbable family and friends into a series of hilarious stories, he realized that he needed to fill in a gap. He warns that the first six stories in this collection constitute "the short snorts in between the solid orgies." Specifically, these stories tell us about happenings between Leave It to Psmith and Summer Lightning.

You find out more about why Clarence doesn't like to have his son, the Honorable Freddie around. You also learn about how the Empress of Blandings won her first Fat Pigs competition. The Custody of the Pumpkin shows Clarence as a plant-focused competitor before he became a pig-focused one. Mr. Wodehouse also lets us know how Freddie came to marry his wealthy wife and join the dog biscuit business in the States. Some of these stories have plots that could have been turned into novels, which makes the short stories all the better. The most delicious of the stories is a sweet tale of Clarence taking it upon himself to do the right thing in Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend.

The seventh tale is a typical Wodehouse country hullabaloo as Bobbie Wickham manipulates all involved to her advantage in dispatching an unwelcome suitor . . . playing the role for herself the Jeeves and Gally usually play in resolving romantic mishaps. It's clever and ever so liberated.

In the last five stories, P.G. Wodehouse unleashes his dissatisfaction with the Hollywood studios into acid satires of moguls and their foibles. For those who know the Hollywood of those days, these tales are almost biographical. Like the Canterbury Tales, there's a delightful element of exaggeration that makes the humor ever so much more tangy. If you dislike phonies, incompetents and those who are out for only themselves, you'll love these stories. If you don't like biting satire, skip these stories. You'll like the earlier seven.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Blandings at its best 29 April 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
PG Wodehouse is universally acknowledged as the greatest humourist ever to write in the English language, and this collection of short stories provides ample reason why. A variety of stories are included, focusing on all members of the Emsworth clan (a treat for those of us who think that Lord Emsworth is given somewhat short shrift in the full-length novels). A smattering of Mr. Mulliner's Hollywood yarns round out the package. Not quite as good as Jeeves, perhaps, but still a rib-tickling read.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
`Blandings Castle' or `Blandings Castle and Elsewhere' to give it its full title is a collection of short stories set, surprising enough, in Blandings Castle and elsewhere. It is really a book of two halves with the first half chronicling the Threepwood family of Blandings, the second half concerning Mr Mulliners tall tales and a brief interlude of a story about Bobbie Wickham, a thoroughly modern girl.

The Blandings short stories allow the Threepwoods and particularly Lord Emsworth to come out of the shadow of being in the supporting cast of Wodehouse's novels to take centre stage. These six stories highlight whilst a character actor can make a story in support he cannot necessarily carry it alone. The stories which feature Lord Emsworth in the lead are the poorer stories whilst the ones which follow the novel template of boy meets girl, Aunt Constance refuses match, Lord Emsworth brings things to a satisfactory conclusion for the sake of an quiet life, are where these characters really shine.

The Bobbie Wickham story is, in my opinion, the best story in this collection, as Bobbie manipulates all the men captivated by her vivid red hair to get the better of her mothers desire to marry her to the nearest novelist or poet.

The five Mr Mulliner stories are better than the majority to populate his solo ventures possibly due to them being themed around the Mulliners whom work in the Hollywood film industry. No doubt tempered by Wodehouse's own experiences of being a staff man at MGM where he famously said `I've never been paid so much; for doing so little'. His stories of yes men and nodders (junior yes men whom agree with their superiors without recourse to chanting yes) are fantastic. The action in `Monkey Business' is worth the price of admission on its own.

Another great collection in the Wodehouse cannon and if I had a critism it is that it should be reverted to its original title to prevent it being used as an introduction to the Blandings stories. `Summer Lightening; A Blandings story' is the best introduction to Blandings Castle and I imagine this book has put off more weary travellers to the castle grounds than it has attracted.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
p.g.wodehouse
Having read many of the books by P.G., both Jeeves and Wooster, and also Blandings, nothing comes near "Summer Lightning". I found "Blandings Castle" etc hard work.
Published 27 days ago by G. Smith
Snippets of Blandings
After returning to Blandings with Leave it to Psmith, and before returning with Summer Lightning and Heavy Weather, Wodehouse decided to fill in some blanks. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Paul D
graet
Such a fun book, I cried with laughter many times! I preferred the on going story in the first half to the chapters about different people in the second, but was all hilariously... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Katie Miller
Far from bland
Only about half the book relates to the goings on at Blandings Castle (and is effectively a collection of short stories) with the second half being concerned with some Mulliner and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Adrenalin Streams
Not as good as the novels
Perhaps its because I am not a great fan of the short story form, but I did not find these short stories as enticing as the full length Blandings novels. Read more
Published on 26 April 2010 by Aquinas
Dashed Sneaky
"One is tempted to say," said the white wine and soda, "it was a positive wolf in the grass slothing lambs wool mittens!"

The tea with milk, no sugar, agreed. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2008 by A.K.Farrar
P G GIVES US SOME GROWING TIPS!
This book is worth having for 2 stories alone - `The custody of the Pumpkin` - in which lord Emsworth loses and then regains the services of Alistair McCallister the recalcitrant... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2007 by M. Drake
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Popular Highlights

 (What's this?)
&quote;
It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine, &quote;
Highlighted by 12 Kindle users
&quote;
Unlike the male codfish, which, suddenly finding itself the parent of three million five hundred thousand little codfish, cheerfully resolves to love them all, the British aristocracy is apt to look with a somewhat jaundiced eye on its younger sons. &quote;
Highlighted by 5 Kindle users
&quote;
The brains of members of the Press departments of motion-picture studios resemble soup at a cheap restaurant. It is wiser not to stir them. &quote;
Highlighted by 4 Kindle users

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Customers Who Highlighted This Item Also Highlighted


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Returns & Exchanges