Thank You, Jeeves
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Like a comic novelist Nostradamus, Wodehouse seems to have aimed his prologue at an audiobook audience 74 years after this first full-length Bertie-and-Jeeves novel was written. He begins by enumerating the pitfalls of "writing" the book through dictation and gives us a Victor Borgeian demo: "Quote No comma Lord Jasper Murgatroyd comma close quote said. No, better make it hissed Evangeline comma quote I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth close quote period." Nicolas Coster is a genuine joy to listen to, both as Wodehouse and his silly cast of characters. He plays Jeeves's sublime interactions with Bertie and his colleagues in the manner of a true gentleman's gentleman: with cool bemusement and calm. When chaos ensues, Coster's proper British manner makes everything even funnier. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Generally regarded as among the best of Wodehouse's Jeeves/Bertie Wooster novels, Thank You, Jeeves and Jeeves in the Morning are timeless farces that should delight listeners as long as literacy survives. Their plots are similar, but that scarcely matters, as the pleasure in listening to them derives mostly from the author's sparkling dialog and unmatched knack for inventive imagery. In each story, Bertie takes a country cottage (which gets burned down by a miscreant), tries to help a pal win the hand of the woman he craves to marry, is unwillingly sucked into becoming engaged himself, and calls on Jeeves to dish up a happy ending. Thank You, Jeeves is the more fun of the two titles because it offers the unusual twist of Jeeves leaving Bertie's service; however, it will irritate some listeners with its occasional (and for Wodehouse unusual) use of outdated racial terminology. If the numbers of audio editions of Wodehouse are any indication of his popularity with library patrons, then his books must be among the most popular audio titles that circulate. That popularity is no doubt aided by the almost uniformly fine narrations of his books by Jonathan Cecil, who ranks among the best of the best. Highly recommended.--R. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.