"Carry On, Jeeves" by P. G. Wodehouse

I read this instead of reading some dystopian YA fiction, because I wanted something less depressing and more fun. Carry On, Jeeves did not disappoint. It's about as far from dystopian YA as it's possible to get.

This is a collection of ten (ten? *checks* yes, ten) short stories, most of which have the basic plot of "Bertie Wooster or one of his friends gets into a scrape, and Jeeves gets them out of it." The stories are:

"Jeeves Takes Charge", which details the first meeting between Bertie Wooster and his inimitably competent gentleman's gentleman Jeeves. It wasn't the first story written, but as far as I know it's the first one chronologically.

"The Artistic Career of Corky", which features the memorable phrase |"The Adventures of Baby Blobbs"|. (Spoilered to avoid spoiling the joke, which is best experienced out of the blue for the first time.)

"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest", "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", and "The Aunt and the Sluggard", three fairly normal stories of the "Bertie's-friend-is-in-the-soup-and-Jeeves-gets-him-out-of-it" type.

"The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy", one of the few times it is revealed that |Jeeves did not simply spring fully formed from the head of Zeus, and in fact does have relatives|.

"Without the Option" and "Fixing it for Freddie", two instances of the "Bertie-is-in-the-soup" type of story.

"Clustering Round Young Bingo", one which features the recurring characters of Bertie Wooster's Aunt Dahlia and her French cook Anatole. Possibly the first one with them, but also possibly not, because these weren't written in any particular order.

And finally, "Bertie Changes His Mind", the only Jeeves and Wooster story ever to be narrated by Jeeves. It is exactly like what one would expect from something starring him.

Despite my general dislike for stories about people getting into trouble, I can't help but like P. G. Wodehouse books. Perhaps because you always know, reading them, that no matter how deep in the soup anyone is, Jeeves will somehow get them out again. He will also prevail over Bertie's occasionally atrocious fashion sense.

Jonathan Cecil, who did most of the audiobooks, is forever enshrined in my head as the voice for all of these characters.

Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E10+.

4 stars.

(Endnote: I deeply regret that I couldn't say "Roderick Spode" anywhere in this review. This is for the simple reason that he's not in the book.)