I liked the Blandings stories, most of which involved Emsworth's younger son Freddy, better than the final 4 Mr. Mulliner stories, which all involved Hollywood. I think that those 4 were too similar - one I would have liked but by the fourth one, I found myself disappointed. Ah well...

James Saxon was OK as the narrator but he didn't have that little extra which lifts the narration into the superb category that Jonathan Cecil has. ( )

This collection of short stories is mostly divided into two distinct sets: the first are those stories revolving around Lord Emsworth and the Threepwoods of Blandings Castle, the second the tales relayed by Mr. Mulliner to fellow pubgoers that were told to him by his various relations in Hollywood. Sandwiched between these two sets is one lonely story, "Mr Potter Takes a Rest," that belongs to neither the Blandings nor Mulliner universes.

I love the Blandings stories; they are classic Wodehouse in tone, characterization, setting, and plot. But the Mulliner Hollywood stories were not quite up to the Bertie & Jeeves or Blandings standard that I have come to expect. The last story of the book – "The Castaways," a Mulliner tale – ended with a particularly cheap deus ex machina that I felt was beneath the great Plum to conjure.

Without Mulliner, if we could base our ratings solely upon the strength of the Blandings stories, this would be a five-star affair for me. As it is, however, the inclusion of the Hollywood tales drags the collection as a whole down to a four. Very good, as Wodehouse always is, but not his best. ( )

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Title: Blandings Castle and Elsewhere
Series: Blandings Castle #5
Authors: PG Wodehouse
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humor
Pages: 229
Words: 82.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

The first six stories all take place at the book's namesake Blandings Castle; they are set some time between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and those of Summer Lightning (1929). Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle is depicted as a gentleman farmer, growing prize pumpkins and especially concerned with his prize pig, Empress of Blandings; he is also concerned with his nieces and nephews as well as the love life of his younger son Freddie Threepwood. The seventh story concerns Bobbie Wickham, an acquaintance and sometime fiancée of Bertie Wooster, who also appears in three of the stories in Mr Mulliner Speaking. The last five are narrated by Mr Mulliner and are set in Hollywood among the movie studios that Wodehouse knew from his time as a screenwriter in 1930–31.

For more detailed synopses, please visit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandings_Castle_and_Elsewhere

My Thoughts:

A nice light collection of short stories. The Blandings Castle short stories were everything I could have wanted and were close to a 4.5star rating. Sadly, the rest of the short stories about others aren't as good. In fact, the one with Bobbie Wickham annoyed me to no end. Wickham is the most annoying girl ever and I didn't like her in the Jeeves & Wooster stories and I certainly didn't like her here. The hollywood movie stories simply reinforced my views on Hollywood as a den of iniquity that makes Mos Eisley look like a convent by comparison.

I had dipped my toes back into the Gulag Archipelago this past weekend as I was feeling pretty good after reading MHI Bloodlines and I was only able to get through 5 percent on my kindle before I had to stop. Even One Piece yesterday didn't really get me out of the funk it put me in. Thankfully, this did the trick. Not that I'm recommending that course of action to any of you, but if you do ever decide to read Gulag, then have some lighter material on hand, you'll sorely need it.

And I'm done. I'm getting worded out here folks. It is a good thing it is almost the end of the month. I'll have to come up with some sort of plan to change things for June. That gives me just over a week to think of something and talk about it in the monthly roundup & ramblings.

★★★★☆ ( )

Would have given this gem 5 stars had all of the stories been about Blandings. The volume was rounded out with some "Elsewhere" stories involving Bobbi Wickham and others about the Mulliners of Hollywood. But the core stories about Blandings, Lord Emsworth, Freddie, and the Empress are pure Wodehouse - the best! ( )

The Blandings stories were pretty awesome, but the Mulliner ones not so much. ( )