Arrow Books Heart of a Goof Вудхаус Пелам Гренвилл

No writer knew better than PG Wodehouse how a drink can lift the spirits – and he was a master at the high comic effects of having a few too many. Highballs for Breakfast is a handpicked selection of wit, wisdom and comic moments from Wodehouse’s work that involve getting pickled or plastered, or lathered or sozzled, and getting in and out of all manner of scrapes • If some great writers dwelled on the darker side of drinking, Wodehouse was concerned with the pure pleasure to be had from ‘the magic bottle’ and getting outside of the contents of a tall glass. His imperishable writing displays a well-turned appreciation for all kinds of booze – cocktails, champagne, port, whiskey and brandy (with soda, of course); but also the humble pint, and even the infamous poteen

Just as Bertie Wooster is a member of the Drones Club, Jeeves has a club of his own, the Junior Ganymede, exclusively for butlers and gentlemen's gentlemen. In its inner sanctum is kept the Book of Revelations, where the less than perfect habits of their employers are lovingly recorded. The book is, of course, pure dynamite. So what happens when it disappears into potentially hostile hands? • Tossed about in the resulting whirlwind you'll find lots of Wodehouse's favourite characters - and a welcome return to Market Snodsbury, in the middle of one of the most chaotic elections of modern times

It's America during Prohibition and shy young George Finch is setting out as an artist - without the encumbrance of a shred of talent. George falls in love with Molly, whose imperious stepmother Mrs Waddington insists he's not the man to marry the stepdaughter of one of New York's most fashionable hostesses. Poor George - he doesn't seem to stand a chance • How George eventually triumphs over the bossy Mrs Waddington makes for a dizzying plot featuring some of Wodehouse's most appealing minor characters - Mullett the butler and his light-fingered girlfriend Fanny, J. Hamilton Beamish, author of the dynamic Beamish Booklets, Officer Garroway the poetic policeman, and Sigsbee H. Waddington, the hen-pecked husband who longs for the wide open spaces of the West

In the bar-parlour of the Angler's Rest, Mr Mulliner tells his amazing tales, which hold his audience of drinkers (referred to only as Pints of Stout and Whiskies-and-Splash) in the palm of his expressive hand. Here you can discover what happened to The Man Who Gave Up Smoking, share a frisson when the butler delivers Something Squishy on a silver salver ('Your serpent, Sir,' said the voice of Simmons) - and experience the dreadful Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court. Throughout the Mulliner clan remains resourcefully in command in the most outlandish situations, making for a vintage collection of hilarious Wodehouse

The peaceful slumber of the Worcester village of Rudge-in-the-Vale is about to be rudely disrupted. First there's a bitter feud between peppery Colonel Wyvern and the Squire of Rudge Hall, rich but miserly Lester Carmody. Second, that arch-villain Chimp Twist has opened a health farm - and he and Soapy and Dolly Molloy are planning a fake burglary so Lester can diddle his insurance company. After the knockout drops are served, things get a little complicated. But will Lester's nephew John win over his true love, Colonel Wyvern's daughter Pat, and restore tranquillity to the idyll? It's a close-run thing

"Неподражаемый Дживс" - классический сборник рассказов, в котором представлены одни из самых смешных эпизодов из жизни Берти Вустера, джентльмена, и Дживса, его слуги, в котором ужасающая тетя Берти Агата бродит по страницам в поисках того, кого она могла бы сожрать, в то время как друг Берти Бинго Литтл влюбляется в семь разных девушек подряд. (включая романистку-бестселлер Рози М. Бэнкс). И Берти, с помощью Дживса, надеется вырваться из лап ужасающей Гонории Глоссоп... В ее основе лежит одна из самых восхитительных историй Вудхауза - "Великая помеха в проповеди" • Книга на английском языке • A classic collection of stories featuring some of the funniest episodes in the life of Bertie Wooster, gentleman, and Jeeves, his gentleman's gentleman - in which Bertie's terrifying Aunt Agatha stalks the pages, seeking whom she may devour, while Bertie's friend Bingo Little falls in love with seven different girls in succession (including the bestselling romantic novelist Rosie M

Captain Biggar, big-game hunter and all round tough guy, should make short work of the two bookies who have absconded with his winnings after a freak double made him a fortune. But on this occasion Honest Patch Perkins and his clerk are not as they seem. In fact they're not bookies at all, but the impoverished Bill Belfry, Ninth Earl of Rowcester and his temporary butler, Jeeves • Bertie Wooster has gone away to a special school teaching the aristocracy to fend for itself 'in case the social revolution sets in with even greater severity'. But Jeeves will prove just as resourceful without his young master, and brilliant brainwork may yet square the impossible circle for all concerned

Пелэм Вудхаус: Мир Дживса • Сборник замечательных рассказов о Дживсе и Вустере, специально отобранных и представленных самим Вудхаусом, который был поражен размером своей подборки и описал ее как почти идеальное пресс-папье. Как он писал • "Теперь, когда я так много написал о нем, мне кажется любопытным вспомнить, как мягко и недраматично Дживс впервые вошел в мой маленький мирок. Что характерно, он не стал выпячиваться вперед. В тот раз он произнес всего две строчки • Первым был • - К вам миссис Грегсон, сэр • Второй • - Очень хорошо, сэр, какой костюм вы наденете? • Только некоторое время спустя до меня дошли качества этого человека. Я до сих пор краснею при мысли о том, как бесцеремонно я обошелся с ним при нашей первой встрече..." • В этот сборник вошли "Продолжай, Дживс", "Неподражаемый Дживс", "Очень хорошо, Дживс" и рассказы "Дживс готовит омлет" и "Дживс и жирная птица"

The Oldest Member knows everything that has ever happened on the golf course - and a great deal more besides • Take the story of Cuthbert, for instance. He's helplessly in love with Adeline, but what use are his holes-in-one when she's in thrall to Culture and prefers rising young writers to winners of the French Open? But enter a Great Russian Novelist with a strange passion, and Cuthbert's prospects are transformed. Then look at what happens to young Mitchell Holmes, who misses short putts because of the uproar of the butterflies in the adjoining meadows. His career seems on the skids - but can golf redeem it? • The kindly but shrewd gaze of the Oldest Member picks out some of the funniest stories Wodehouse ever wrote

If you come into a lot of money, life becomes easier, right? No, wrong - at least not for Sally Nicholas, whose generosity of spirit leaves her wide open to all the slings and arrows outrageous fortune can send. Her handsome fiance turns out not to be all he seems - and then there is the show he's written, which Sally puts on in the theatre. No, life is not straightforward at all. But waiting in the wings is Ginger Kemp, who really does adore her, seems to make a hash of everything he tries and yet is always ready to try something else. If money becomes a problem, perhaps Ginger can provide a solution

The nearest Wodehouse ever came to a serious story, The Coming of Bill is a fascinating blend of social comment and light comedy. It concerns the offspring of Ruth, a spoilt heiress, and Kirk, an impecunious artist of perfect physique, brought together by Ruth’s aunt, a believer in eugenics. The young couple are eventually successful in retrieving their child and their marriage from the influence of the overbearing Mrs Porter, but only after a series of comic mishaps in a book which features a galaxy of vintage Wodehouse characters, including the bossy aunt, a tetchy millionaire, a good-natured ex-boxer and an orotund English butler

In this comic novel - dedicated to Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in the stage version - Jimmy Pitt, man-about-town and former newspaper hound, takes a bet that he cannot commit burglary. He finds breaking and entering easy enough, but then discovers that he has forced his way into the home of a tough New York policeman. Naturally, Captain McEachern has a beautiful daughter and problems of his own. The complications which ensue from their meeting, involving a rich cast of Wodehousean characters from both sides of the Atlantic, create one of his most amusing and light-hearted early novels