Tuesday, September 16, 2008

the inimitable jeeves

I have a number of books I consider suitable bedtime reading: books I know so well that there's no particular suspense and I can close them at any time, but that I like enough to keep reading over and over. Right now I'm on a P.G. Wodehouse kick, and bits like this are the reason why:
"I worship her, Bertie! I worship the very ground she treads on!' continued the patient, in a loud, penetrating voice. Fred Thompson and one or two fellows had come in, and McGarry, the chappie behind the bar, was listening with his ears flapping. But there's no reticence about Bingo. He always reminds me of the hero of a musical comedy who takes the centre of the stage, gathers the boys round him in a circle, and tells them all about his love at the top of his voice.
Man. That Wodehouse really knew how to put a sentence together. Also in rotation right now: a well-worn copy of The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts that probably belongs to my brother. Ok, ok, you can have an excerpt from that one, too:
NARRATOR It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance - on the planet Earth Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much...the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.
Other books I can read over and over at bedtime: the Harry Potter books, although less so when they start getting depressing; the James Herriot books; James and the Giant Peach. You?

4 comments:

Cheryl said...

I know you aren't the biggest fan but I can read the Stephanie Plum series over and over. It's such fluff. Also, the Harry Potter series and anything by Anne Tyler.

erin*carly said...

i feel like there's so many awesome books out there that i haven't read yet, it's silly to re-read any at the moment.

i'm slogging my way through Slaughterhouse Five at the moment, and while i hated (with a capital H) it at first (it took two tries to get going), i'm starting to love it. not in a 'bedtime re-read favorite' way, but in a 'man, this guy was on a lot of drugs or drunk when he wrote this' kinda way. it's like a train wreck you just can't help but watch. i think i'll love it when i'm done, too.

anyone else read it recently (or not so recently) and want to have a discussion about the time-unsticking?

towwas said...

I went through a big Vonnegut phase in high school, but yeah, I don't exactly consider it bedtime re-reading material.

I've *always* loved rereading books. I think some people do and some don't. I still read new books, but most of the time I'd rather read one I've read before.

I don't know if I could reread Stephanie Plum at bedtime - too much suspense.

Anonymous said...

I usually just finish whatever I was reading to Josie. The last few nights, in no particular order, that's been Infinite Jest, Gravity's Rainbow, and Brown Bear Goes to Town.