Sonderbooks Book Review of

by P. G. Wodehouse

The Man with Two Left Feet is the first book I read completely on a Kindle. I must admit that I wasn't even slightly enamored with the Kindle. I don't like the gray appearance. I don't like the small number of words on a screen. I'm a fast reader, and scan ahead as I go. Several times, I had to push the button to go back, because I had been scanning and didn't have any idea what I had read on the earlier page. I hated that it had a percentage bar instead of a number of pages, and I hated that I can't leaf through it and find good bits when writing this review. Now, mind you, I realize I could have bookmarked things. But I don't always like to interrupt fiction to do that.

I could probably get used to all these things, but I see no reason to. Now, I did check out this one book as an e-book because the library didn't have it in print. And on top of that, I wanted to practice putting a book on hold and checking it out, the better to help customers.

Novelist, our online data base of information about novels, lists The Man with Two Left Feet as the first book about Jeeves and Wooster, which is why I sought it out. I found that description a little misleading. Yes, one of the thirteen stories is about Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. But, would you believe it, in this story, Jeeves doesn't help solve the situation at all!

Bertie's asked by Aunt Agatha to talk some sense into his friend Gussie, who wants to marry a showgirl. We have humorous situations and reversals, but believe it or not, Jeeves does not save the day!

All the same, the stories in this book are tremendous fun. They remind me of the O. Henry stories I used to devour when I was in junior high. They all have some kind of surprising ending and the humor is shoveled on thick.

So even if Jeeves hadn't yet come into his own, P. G. Wodehouse was already a masterful comic writer.

Though I would have preferred to read this in a traditional book, I'm glad I got to read it at all. I have to admit, the Kindle was light and easy to carry around, and I may have finished the book sooner than I would have otherwise. Because once I dipped into one of these stories in a doctor's waiting room or waiting for my son to get glasses, I simply had to finish that story, and maybe a couple more.