Tämä sivusto käyttää evästeitä palvelujen toimittamiseen, toiminnan parantamiseen, analytiikkaan ja (jos et ole kirjautunut sisään) mainostamiseen. Käyttämällä LibraryThingiä ilmaiset, että olet lukenut ja ymmärtänyt käyttöehdot ja yksityisyydensuojakäytännöt. Sivujen ja palveluiden käytön tulee olla näiden ehtojen ja käytäntöjen mukaista.
The first entry in P. G. Wodehouse's beloved Blandings Castle Saga, Something New (also published under the alternate title Something Fresh) introduces two young writers, Joan Valentine and Ashe Marson, who find themselves flung together by an increasingly unusual set of circumstances. Forced to pose as servants for a fabulously wealthy family, the two scribes gradually soften toward one another. Can their burgeoning romance survive even as everything else around them appears to be going awry?
OK, so it's official now: I definitely have a serious problem with Blandings series. I know it's very popular, many people love it - I don't. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book - it was crazy and funny, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I should.
The book is quite complicated, like all Wodehouse's books, but generally there is this young couple, Ashe and Joan, who have no money. They find out, that an American millionaire is willing to pay a thousand pounds for stealing a scarab from Blandings and they both decide to do it.
The first half was so long and slow, that I really had to make myself read it. It gets better later - the ending was fast and fun, but reading the first half was a chore for me.
I was not a great fan of neither Ashe nor Joan and I was not interested in their romance at all. Aline, Joan's friend, was insipid, and George was so patronising and full of himself, that it was painful to read. I really liked Freddie - he was great, so silly and polite, it was hard not to love him. I quite liked his father, lord Emsworth, so absent-minded and a bit crazy.
All in all, normally I would give this book three stars, but it's Wodehouse, so I gave it four. I will give this series the second chance in the future, but I'm in no great hurry to get back to Blandings.
Meh. A disappointing read, certainly not as good or as witty as I’d expected. I think I should try some of the Jeeves and Wooster novels instead. I shan’t be reading more of the Blandings Castle series at least. ( )
This first book in the Blandings castle series is a scream! If you like Wodehouse's style then this is a must-read. Only one thing was lacking & that was the pigs... otherwise, Lord Emsworth is at his absent-minded best and Rupert Baxter becomes entangled in those events which lead him to be considered insane in some of the later books. ( )
Sometimes the world gets into such a state that only the refined silliness of PG Wodehouse will do as an escape.
I read all of the Jeeves stories as a boy, and many times since, but I have never read any of his Blandings series before. Something Fresh is the first in this series, which is centred on the doings at Blandings Castle, owned by the absent-minded Lord Emsworth.
Lord Emsorth's hopeless son Freddy is engaged to the daughter of US millionaire J. Preston Peters. Emsworth is invited to visit Peters to be shown his valuable collection of scarabs. In the process, Emsworth absent-mindedly pockets a scarab worth thousands, and walks off with it. Peters, thinking of it as theft, is aghast and determined to recover his prize.
Meanwhile, pulp fiction authors Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine are bored with their writing and seeking a change. Ashe answers an ad placed by Peters and gets a job as a pretend valet, with a view to sneaking into Blandings and stealing the scarab back for a reward. Independently of this, Joan hears about the scarab and the reward from her friend Aline - Peters' daughter - and insists on Aline hiring her as a maid so that she can also go to Blandings and steal the scarab back.
Once everyone descends on Blandings, the usual Wodehouse hi-jinks ensue, involving subterfuge, misunderstandings, embarrassment and, ultimately, a happy resolution for all. His writing is full of sardonic observations; the narrative commentary is probably more witty than the actual plot. It's a typical Wodehouse outing and, as such, a brief and welcome distraction. ( )
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
The sunshine of a fair Spring morning fell graciously upon London town.
Sitaatit
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
I have always had the idea that Lorimer must have been put in a receptive mood the moment he saw the title page. My pulp magazine stories had been by 'P. G. Wodehouse", but Something Fresh was the work of: PELHAM GRENVILLE WODEHOUSE, and I am convinced that that was what put it over.
A writer in America at that time who went around without three names was practically going around naked. (Preface, Wodehouse on the first time that his work was accepted by George Horace Lorimer, the editor of the prestigious Saturday Evening Post)
One of the Georges---I forget which---once said that a certain number of hours' sleep each night---I cannot recall at the moment how many---made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory. Baxter agreed with him. (p. 164)
'Do you ever get moods when life seems absolutely meaningless? It's like a badly constructed story, with all sorts of characters moving in and out who have nothing to do with the plot. And, when somebody comes along who you think really has something to do with the plot, he suddenly drops out. After a while you begin to wonder what the story is about, and you feel that it's about nothing ---- just a jumble.' 'There is one thing,' said Ashe, 'that knits it together.' 'What is that?' 'The love interest.'(p. 235)
'What is the good,' said Ashe, 'of travelling fast if you're going around in a circle? . . . . You think that there is something tremendous just round the corner, and that you can get it if you try hard enough. There isn't. Or, if there is, it isn't worth getting. Life is nothing but a mutual aid association. . . .' (p. 236)
Viimeiset sanat
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
'I'll have a jolly good stab at it, governor,' said the Hon. Freddie.
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
UK title 'Something Fresh', US title 'Something New.' Although the canonical title would normally be Something New, it seems to be most often known under the UK title.
It was first published as a book in the United States, by D. Appleton & Company on 3 September 1915, under the title Something New, having previously appeared under that title as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post between 26 June and 14 August 1915. It was published in the United Kingdom by Methuen & Co. on 16 September 1915 as Something Fresh - Wikipedia
Julkaisutoimittajat
Kirjan kehujat
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
The first entry in P. G. Wodehouse's beloved Blandings Castle Saga, Something New (also published under the alternate title Something Fresh) introduces two young writers, Joan Valentine and Ashe Marson, who find themselves flung together by an increasingly unusual set of circumstances. Forced to pose as servants for a fabulously wealthy family, the two scribes gradually soften toward one another. Can their burgeoning romance survive even as everything else around them appears to be going awry?
)
)
)
)
Google Books — Ladataan...
1
The book is quite complicated, like all Wodehouse's books, but generally there is this young couple, Ashe and Joan, who have no money. They find out, that an American millionaire is willing to pay a thousand pounds for stealing a scarab from Blandings and they both decide to do it.
The first half was so long and slow, that I really had to make myself read it. It gets better later - the ending was fast and fun, but reading the first half was a chore for me.
I was not a great fan of neither Ashe nor Joan and I was not interested in their romance at all. Aline, Joan's friend, was insipid, and George was so patronising and full of himself, that it was painful to read. I really liked Freddie - he was great, so silly and polite, it was hard not to love him. I quite liked his father, lord Emsworth, so absent-minded and a bit crazy.
All in all, normally I would give this book three stars, but it's Wodehouse, so I gave it four. I will give this series the second chance in the future, but I'm in no great hurry to get back to Blandings.
This review was first published at my blog: https://dominikasreadingchallenge.blogspot.com/ (