The Man with Two Left Feet (Collector's Wodehouse)

The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories PGW is a great writer. The collection of his stories under the title "The man with two left feet" cover different subjects and only one features Bertie, an advantage rather than a drawback. Most of the stories end with unpredictable punchline. As always PGW's English is flawless.

As always, he comes up with situations that can only be described as typically Wodehouse and these are resolved as only he can. The reader is ready to forgive the man with two left feet even before the heroine does.

I only knew P G Wodehouse through the BBC production of Jeeves and Wooster so I thought I would give this book of short stories a chance. He has a gentle humor throughout these character driven stories. His descriptions are so immersive that I feel I would know these people were I to meet them on the street. I especially loved the story written from the perspective of a delightfully naive dog. There is no heavy drama here. Just light-hearted fancy. I thoroughly enjoyed them.

A pretty good representation of the authors style. I prefer some of the longer more developed stories. All of his stories could be scripts for movies or maybe they were. Lots of Chorus girls, lazy rich young men, and the hero gets the girl in the end.

Fourteen short stories and all of them are quite entertaning. This is the kind of book that you read as you sip on a cold glass of whatever drink you fancy on a hot day. The best story for me was At Geisenheimer's and I have always found something to quote on my Twitter feed or Tumblr while I was reading it.

Only problem would be the formatting.

I love these stories. Have been reading Wodehouse for about 10 years and find that, no matter what I feel prior to picking up one of his books, I feel happier once I start reading. This collection is as good as it gets. Great pacing and easy to dip in to. Go ahead. Awesome fun.

Oh Mr. Wodehouse! Where would we be without you! One of the finest witty wordsmiths who ever picked up a pen. When I need a smile, or a lift, or even a roll on the floor laugh I turn to one of the many wonderful works of Wodehouse.

So many wonderful and delightful stories to choose from, and each one is from a different period in PG 'Plum' to his friends - life. While my favorite character is Psmith, how can I not enjoy the mutterings of Ukridge, or long to have my life saved from disasters by the likes of Jeeves.

Stephen Fry wrote 'Without Wodehouse I am not sure I would be a tenth of what I am today...his writings awoke me to the possibilities of language. His rhythms, tropes, tricks and mannerisms are deep within me. But more than that, he taught me something about good nature. It IS enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind.

As laughter is the best medicine, perhaps we need a good dose of Wodehouse from time to time, and during these bleak winter months, in the dark time of the economy, Wodehouse is just what the Doctor ordered!

Here is a prescription: read one story per night until you are always smiling!

The Man with Two Left Feet is a delightful collection of 13 short stories by P.G. Wodehouse. Each is clever and witty. Two are written from a dog's point of view, which I appreciated, since my dog Charlie blogs ([...]). I loved that the dog calls himself a "mixer," since my dog likes people, too; and it was so funny how the mixer's sensitivity to the "shyness" of a gentleman carried the story. The little romances were sweet. "At Geisenheimer's" was my favorite. I was hoping for more Bertie Wooster stories, but this volume included only one, "Extricating Young Gussie," whose ironies and silly names I thoroughly enjoyed.

I'll finish with an example of Wodehouse's subtle humor, taken from the anthology's final story, titled "The Man with Two Left Feet." Henry liked to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and he took notes as he read. "He read the BIS-CAL volume because, after many days, he had finished the A-AND, AND-AUS, and the AUS-BIS. ... The ordinary man who is paying instalments on the Encyclopaedia Britannica is apt to get over-excited and to skip impatiently to Volume XXVIII (VET-ZYM) to see how it all comes out in the end. Not so Henry."

Clearly, if you like one Wodehouse story you're going to like all of these! Much of this can be explained by Wodehouse's mastery of the language and constant deft turns of phrase, period slang, and comic timing.

In The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories you will enjoy this comic collection of works written by this celebrated comic genius. Whether encountering the gloomy prospect of dance lessons or bemoaning hopeless romantic entanglements, Wodehouse's heroes and heroines never fail to provide plenty of laughter for each of us. Beloved characters like Bertie Wooster make their first appearances here in this delightful set of wacky, witty, short stories.

During these times the pleasant but hilarious works of Wodehouse are just what we need!

Another collection of Wodehouse stories, only one of which ("Extricating Young Gussie") is a Bertie Wooster story. Reading these stories at the same time as the first volume of Theodore Sturgeon's complete short stories constantly had me drawing comparisons between the two writers. Wodehouse never wrote fantasy *per se* (that is, Bertie Wooster never encountered a genie or a god in his garden), but in truth his stories were always fantastical. As commentators have said, the idyllic world of young men in spats and authoritative aunts was a figment of Wodehouse's imagination, and never existed at any time in England. I don't think Wodehouse would have disagreed; he knew the power of fantasy. In this volume, he tells one story ("The Mixer") from the point of view of a dog, and one of his habits was to read the entire Shakespeare's collected works every year, and Willy wasn't a stranger to fantasy, either.

This collection is slightly better than its similarly titled predecessor, _The Man Upstairs_; the proper reading order for Wodehouse completists would put this one just after that one, since it contains stories written well before the book publication date. It might also make sense to read the Reggie Pepper stories added to the American version, published in the British version of _My Man Jeeves_, originally published 1911 and after.
The stories are mostly more of Wodehouse's early crude ridicule of the lower classes, with some notable exceptions. The very first Bertie Wooster story "Extricating Young Gussie" is worth reading, though Jeeves is barely mentioned. "At Geisenheimer's" is remarkably dark and mature; I think Wodehouse was subtly deconstructing his early coincidence-driven plotting--the plot is not as preposterous as it first appears. The rest are mostly unreadable, with "The Mixer: He Meets a Shy Gentleman" notable only for Wodehouse's third (by my count) instance of getting humor from the killing of a dog.

Another great collection of Wodehouse stories, one of which ("Extricating Young Gussie") is a Bertie Wooster story. Through Wodehouse we can enjoy the idyllic world of young men in spats and authoritative aunts - and each story there is an eccentric that you'll love.

If only there were people like this in real life.

If you love life, you'll love Wodehouse.

This is a very unusual collection for Wodehouse. The stories in "The Man With Two Left Feet" are very unlike his usual style. Most take place in New York, one is told from the first person perspective of a woman, and one is even told from the point of view of a dog. However, every one has the classic humor and expectadly unexpected happy ending that Wodehouse is known for, and each was a delightful read. As usual, Wodehouse kept me smiling throughout ~ even with only a brief visit from our old friend Bertie.