Lord Emsworth and the Loonies

Not really exaggerating; once you read Blandings Castle series (whichever one), you think you're either an Alice in Wonderland or everyone's just loony in varying degrees.

It's all about Emsworth and his pig. Everyone else is just causing havoc and tormenting him refusing to allow him to sit in his study with Whiffle on the Care of the Pig or lounge in the pig sty staring at his prize possession (possibly the only one). The first intruder is Constance (his sister, also known as Connie) who absolutely thinks of him as a project that cannot be left by itself. Her absence in one book was not a pleasant break for Emsworth; there are four sisters equally unbearable and weight-throwing-about and one promptly came to replace her. The girls, as in all P G Wodehouse books, are either Connie-like or are extremely nice but a bit batty. The one I'm reading right now even has a Gussie-like character (from the Wooster series) and a young Spode-ish character but you find yourself liking him better than Spode. I dont think I'll ever like Spode unless as a salesman for Eulalie (a lingerie brand), which he's successfully hidden from the eyes of all but Jeeves. This is also how Bertie successfully blackmails Spode (even if it is only to save his life).

Anyway, this is not about Bertie, this is about Emsworth. He also has guardian angels who watch over him and are basically on his side. One is Lord Ickenham (in the book I'm reading) and the other is Galahad Threepwood (his brother). I'm sure there are others but I havent read the entire series.

It's an enjoyable afternoon read. You can involve yourself totally in the insane schemes they hatch and the way they work out but in unpredictable ways. Everyone's plotting; Connie's plotting to make a man out of Emsworth (a better man), Ickenham is trying to make it all right for lovers to get married (despite opposition from guardians), Emsworth is trying to protect his pig or struggle with listening to someone for more than the minute they start talking, Beach the butler is trying to lose weight, the young men are trying to make money or get married. Only the girls arent working at all at something or the other; they're looking pretty at balls, or playing tennis with the men or going for walks with a particular man after dinner. Only in Jeeves and Wooster are girls trying to scheme round the clock with Wooster expected to be the person carrying out their brilliant plans.

Definitely an adventure waiting to happen the minute you pick up any of P G Wodehouse's books. To think that he left his day job at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to pursue writing! What a loss to literature if he hadnt!