Audio books questions
CMOT Dan
As I'm a newbie here, I'm sorry if these questions have been asked before.
I am a huge fan of audio books and the Wodehouse ones in particular. With that
said, I'd first like to know if there's anywhere on the Net where I can find a
complete list of ALL of the Wodehouse audio books available (including the short
stories, many of which are hard to find).
Secondly, who does everybody think is the best Wodehouse narrator/performer? I
admit that I haven't heard as many Wodehouse books and stories as I would like,
but thus far, I think Jonathan Cecil is the best I've heard.
Hope to see you all around here at AFW!
Cheers,
CMOT
<dan...@gate.net>
charles stone-tolcher
Welcome, welcome , welcome. Nice to have you aboard. Tell us about
yourself and where you live and all that. I am not sure where to find a
definitive list of Wodehouse audio books offhand although I am sure I have
seen a couple somewhere. I have three that were narrated by Martin Jarvis
and they are very good. I also have a list here from Blackstone audio
Books, PO box 969, Ashland, Oregon 97520. The list itself is quite good and
even includes "Not george Washington".
Pillingshot
"CMOT Dan" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:troE6.394$QV4....@www.newsranger.com...
CMOT Dan
I'm actually rather new to Plum's works. I finally decided to pick up "Right Ho,
Jeeves", no longer being able to withstand my nagging fellow Terry Pratchett and
Douglas Adams fans, and the rest is history! I live in Florida (USA, of course
:).
From having read the postings to this group for the last few days, this group
definitely seems like one of the most civil newsgroups I've come across, far
above the quality of the Pratchett newsgroups in my opinion.
As you've probably been able to infer by now, I'm also a Douglas Adams and Terry
Pratchett fan. (I am the co-webmaster of Ook, a huge new Pratchett site as well
as the moderator of a mostly Pratchett-related discussion list.)
I also enjoy books by Frank Herbert, Robert Jordan, and Voltaire just to name a
few.
I have heard Martin Jarvis's narration of "Carry On, Jeeves" which I thought was
very good overall. The only problem I have with his reading is that his Bertie
is a bit too gitty at times, but he was very good overall, just not quite as
good as Cecil in my opinion.
The audio books I'm having the most trouble finding are the short stories. A
list of those available on audio would be a *huge* help, as lots of short story
mini-anthologies exist on audio but packaged under different names from the
books themselves.
Thanks for the quick reply!
CMOT
<dan...@gate.net>
charles stone-tolcher
I have are "Blandings Castle"; "Leave it to Psmith"; and "Uncle fred in the
Springtime". By the way, I know who Herbert adams is but who the heck is
Terry Pratchett?
Pillingshot
"CMOT Dan" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:UrpE6.450$QV4....@www.newsranger.com...
CMOT Dan
world shaped like a disc that is very similar to and different from our own. He
writes awesome social criticisms in a Voltaire-esque style (using his characters
and plotlines to express his ideas rather than just prattling them off :).
I highly recommend Nigel Planer's narrations of the unabridged Discworld books
as well. Great stuff!
Cheers,
CMOT
<dan...@gate.net>
Curbow
a very good job on the stories -- one almost can forget that this isn't
a BBC Radio production, but is instead only one person in a room with a
microphone! I recommend the collection very highly.
Jeeves Takes Charge
The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy
Clustering Round Young Bingo
Without the Option
The Artistic Career of Corky
The Aunt and the Sluggard
Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest
Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg
4 audio cassettes,
Copyright 1997 and published by The Audio Partners
CBB
First rate. You should also check out Alexander Spencer reading, oh, all
sorts of of Jeeves stuff. I have one called "Jeeves and the Song of Songs
and Other Stories" that is pretty easy on the ear.
I always think that Bertie Wooster would have been a big fan of audio
books. Sort of like reading the bally thing without all that hard work.
If only he could find "Types of Ethical Theory" or whatever it was,
perhaps read by Margaret Thatcher? And of course, Bingo Little's uncle
would have loved a complete set of Rosie M. Banks' - "Only a Factory
Girl", "Madcap Myrtle", "A Red, Red Summer Rose... " read by Felicity
Kendall.
Cyril Bassington-Bassington.
****
In article <troE6.394$QV4....@www.newsranger.com>, CMOT Dan
AWILLIS957
have a great treat in store. After Wodehouse I know of no author better at
brilliant metaphors and similes. He has a very high laugh strike rate. And he
is quite obviously indebted to Wodehouse for his comic style.
Albert. P.
Dianne van Dulken
"AWILLIS957" <awill...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010425231215...@ng-fk1.aol.com...
Hmm
Or, if you are more sensible, you could read Georgette Heyer, who, unlike
Pratchett, doesn't become boring the second time around
Waggles,
The dog Mc
AWILLIS957
"Embarrassment normally came as naturally to Nanny Ogg as altruism to a cat."
"Economy of emotion was one of Ridcully`s strong points."
"Ridcully was to management what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup
association."
"Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind. "Mind you, my first name is Bad."
"People would take pains to tell her that beauty is only skin-deep, as if a man
ever fell for an attrractive pair of kidneys."
"She had plaits, a hat with horns on it, and a breastplate that must have been
a week`s work for an experienced panel-beater."
"The Chattering Order of St Beryl is under a vow to emulate St Beryl at all
times, except on Tuesday afternoons, when the nuns are permitted to shut up,
and, if they wish, play table tennis."
"Peoples lives Do pass before their eyes before they die. The process is called
living."
"A good general always knows when to leave the battlefield, and as far as Lord
Fang was concerned, it was when he saw the enemy coming towards him."
I could go on and on, because Pratchett studs his pages with this stuff very
liberally.
My point is not to compare him to Wodehouse, of course, who is a hundred miles
ahead of the rest. But if you can name me an author, among Wodehouse`s
followers, with a higher beautifully written gag rate than Pratchett I will
willingly rush out and read them, because I love this sort of thing, and it
doesn`t grow on trees.
Mr Peasemarch.
Stevecarr00
association."
Hmmmm. Terry Pratchett didn't write that one, Wodehouse did. About a dozen
times in various books. It's still a good gag though.
Pratchett: "I wish I'd written that"
Wodehouse: "You will, Terry, you will...."
For the record, Pratchett is an enjoyable read, even if, like me, you don't
especially look out for sci-fi/ dungeons and dragons etc. He is the nearest
thing Britain has to a living Wodehouse, which is to say, not very near at all,
but he's good for the one liners.
If Mr Peasemarch knows of a site that lists some of those gags, I'd be glad to
know about it.....
SteveC
John Winters
Stevecarr00 <steve...@aol.com> wrote:
>"Ridcully was to management what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup
>association."
>
>Hmmmm. Terry Pratchett didn't write that one, Wodehouse did. About a dozen
>times in various books. It's still a good gag though.
Terry Pratchett was quoted in one of the Sunday papers yesterday as
saying he was proud of his status as most-shoplifted author. That too
has echoes of Plum.
Cpt. Mainwaring
--
John Winters. Wallingford, Oxon, England.
The Linux Emporium - the source for Linux CDs in the UK
See http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk/
charles stone-tolcher
Was it not Beerbohm Tree who made this statement to Oscar Wilde at the Cafe
Royal?
Pillingshot
Steve C wrote:
> Pratchett: "I wish I'd written that"
>
> Wodehouse: "You will, Terry, you will...."
> SteveC
Briarpatch
>
> In article <20010430145246...@ng-fn1.aol.com>,
> Stevecarr00 <steve...@aol.com> wrote:
> >"Ridcully was to management what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup
> >association."
> >
> >Hmmmm. Terry Pratchett didn't write that one, Wodehouse did. About a dozen
> >times in various books. It's still a good gag though.
>
> Terry Pratchett was quoted in one of the Sunday papers yesterday as
> saying he was proud of his status as most-shoplifted author. That too
> has echoes of Plum.
>
Fave Pratchett quote (from "Jingo," I believe):
"Give a man fire, and he's warm for a day. Set fire to him, and
he's warm for the rest of his life."
the pink chap
news:3AEE43C0...@earthlink.net...
> Fave Pratchett quote (from "Jingo," I believe):
>
> "Give a man fire, and he's warm for a day. Set fire to him, and
> he's warm for the rest of his life."
I say, that IS a keeper. Is it accurate as written? If one is going to
shoplift, one does want to get these things right, what?
Bill Riepl
> Terry Pratchett was quoted in one of the Sunday papers yesterday as
> saying he was proud of his status as most-shoplifted author. That too
> has echoes of Plum.
My personal favorite:
"He was against the use of unnecessary cruelty. While being bang alongside
the use of necessary cruelty"
Or, in the world of wonderful metaphors, the one comparing sex to cooking,
which I cannot remember at the moment, but it's a real corker.
Bill
Briarpatch
Found it.
It is indeed from "Jingo," and it appears on page 181 of the
Gollancz hardback:
"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to
him and he's warm for the rest of his life."
I don't think the shoplifting statement, however, was a
metaphor or simile of any kind. When he says he is the most
shoplifted author, he means that people steal his books from
stores. Mr. Pratchett frequently tells of a bookstore where
someone broke in and stole one each of all his books, leaving
everything else untouched.
Stevecarr00
SteveC
Shirley Fowler
> Here are a few examples that I for one could re-read many a time:
>
> "Embarrassment normally came as naturally to Nanny Ogg as altruism to
> a cat."
"Whatever is the matter, Mortimer?"
"Let me get at the man who hit me in the eye with a cat."
"A cat?" Lady Prenderby's voice sounded perplexed. "Are you sure?"
"Sure? What do you mean sure? Of course I'm sure. I was just
dropping off to sleep in my hammock, when suddenly a great beastly
cat came whizzing through the air and caught me properly in the
eyeball. It's a nice thing. A man can't sleep in hammocks in his
own garden withtout people pelting him with cats. I insist on the
blood of the man who threw the cat."
"He experienced all the emotions of one who has carelessly swallowed a
family of scorpions."
Science, with a thousand triumphs to her credit, has not yet succeeded
in discovering the correct reply for a young man to make who finds
himself in the appalling position of being apologized to by a pretty
girl. If he says nothing, he seems sullen and unforgiving. If he says
anything, he makes a fool of himself. Ashe, hesitating between these two
courses, suddenly caught sight of the sheet of paper over which he had
been poring for so long. "What is a wand of death?" he asked.
Jeeves lugged my purple socks out of the drawer as if he were a
vegetarian fishing a caterpillar out of his salad.
His whole attitude recalled irresistibly to the mind that of some
assiduous hound who will persist in laying a dead rat on the
drawing-room carpet, though repeatedly apprised by word and
gesture that the market for same is sluggish or even non-existent.
> "Economy of emotion was one of Ridcully`s strong points."
It was the look which caused her to be known in native bearer and
halfcaste circles as 'Mgobi-'Mgumbi, which may be loosely
translated as She On Whom It Is Unsafe To Try Any Oompus-Boompus.
"Her temper in the mornings was terrible. I have known her lift the cat
over two chairs and a settee with a single kick. And all because there
were no mushrooms."
Ice formed on the butler's upper slopes.
He was prepared to coo to him like a turtledove; or as nearly like
a turtledove as was within the scope of one whose vocal delivery
was always reminiscent of a bad-tempered toastmaster.
I could see that she was looking for something to break as a
relief to her surging emotions ... and courteously drew her
attention to a terra-cotta figure of the Infant Samuel at Prayer.
She thanked me briefly and hurled it against the opposite wall.
She spoke with the mildness of a cushat dove addressing another
cushat dove from whom it is hoping to borrow money.
> "Ridcully was to management what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup
> association."
"Bertie, if you are your aunt and you know what kind of a chap you
are, will you trust your son with a chap like you ?"
his supply of the milk of human kindness is plainly short by several
gallons
> "Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind. "Mind you, my first name is Bad."
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he
was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the
obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion
thought it wasn't.
A chap who's supposed to stop chaps pinching things things from
chaps having a chap come along and pinch something from him.
He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, has had one of them
suddenly turn and bite him in the leg.
Freddie experienced the abysmal sour sadness which afflicts one of
Tolstoy's peasants when, after putting in a heavy days work strangling
his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby in the city
resorvoir, he turns to the cupboard only to find the vodka bottle empty.
Freddie had mooned about with an air of crushed gloom which would have
caused comment in Siberia.
Aunt Jane looked like she had bad news round about the year 1904 and
never really got over it.
Vladimir Brusiloff specialized in grey studies of hopeless misery, where
nothing happens until page 448 when the mujik decides to commit suicide.
It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance
and a ray of sunshine.
'I hate you, I hate you!' cried Madeline, a thing I didn't know
anyone ever said except in the second act of a musical comedy.
> "People would take pains to tell her that beauty is only skin-deep, as
> if a man ever fell for an attrractive pair of kidneys."
She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it had been built round
her by someone who knew they were wearing armchairs tight about
the hips that season.
If Esmond Haddock goes with a bang at the concert, as I
anticipate, it won't be long before those aunts of his will be
climbing trees and pulling them up after them whenever he looks
squiggle-eyed at them.
There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a
Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.
...he might have been a motion picture star whose face had
launched a thousand bags of popcorn.
> "She had plaits, a hat with horns on it, and a breastplate that must
> have been a week`s work for an experienced panel-beater."
"She" (i.e., Aunt Dahlia) "snorted emotionally and expressed an
opinion that I was a worm.
"'But a prudent levelheaded worm,' I assured her.'A worm who knows
enough not to stick its neck out.'"
Has anybody ever seen a dramatic critic in the daytime? Of course
not. They come out after dark, up to no good.
Love's silken bonds are not broken just because the female half of
the sketch takes umbrage at the loony behavior of the male partner
and slips it across him in a series of impassioned speeches.
However devoutly a girl may worship the man of her choice, there
always comes a time when she feels an irresistible urge to haul
off and let him have it in the neck. I suppose if the young lovers
I've known in my time were placed end to end ... they would reach
half-way down Piccadilly. And I couldn't think of a single dashed
one who hadn't been through what Boko had been through to-night.
It is bad to be trapped in a den of slavering aunts, lashing their
tails and glaring at you out of their red eyes.
> "The Chattering Order of St Beryl is under a vow to emulate St Beryl at all
> times, except on Tuesday afternoons, when the nuns are permitted to shut up,
> and, if they wish, play table tennis."
It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well
in advance of modern medical thought.
"Some workmen were busy tearing up the pavement with pneumatic drills,
but the whirring of Freddie`s brain made the sound almost inaudible."
"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel
Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the
shifty, hangdog look which announces that the Englishman is about to
talk French."
His ideas of first-aid stopped short at squirting soda-water.
South Kensington ... where sin stalks naked through the dark
alleys and only might is right.
> "Peoples lives Do pass before their eyes before they die. The process is
> called living."
I spent the afternoon musing on Life. If you come to think of it,
what a queer thing Life is! So unlike anything else, don't you
know, if you see what I mean.
> "A good general always knows when to leave the battlefield, and as far
> as Lord Fang was concerned, it was when he saw the enemy coming towards him."
"on these occasions of back-chat between the delicately-nurtured,
a man should retire into the offing, curl up in a ball, and
imitate the prudent tactics of the opossum, which, when danger is
in the air, pretends to be dead, frequently going to the lengths
of hanging out crepe and instructing its friends to stand around
and say what a pity it all is."
Many men in Packy's position would have shrunk from diving into
the rescue, fully clad. Packy was one of them.
Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if
somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from
Moscow, eh?".
He looked like a bishop who has just discovered Schism and Doubt
among the minor clergy.
> My point is not to compare him to Wodehouse, of course, who is a hundred
> miles ahead of the rest. But if you can name me an author, among Wodehouse`s
> followers ...
What do you mean by followers? Devotees? Admirers? or Authors who have
been writing since Wodehouse. Have a dozen author's names:
Tom Sharpe? Graham Greene? Dornford Yates? Martin Amis? Leslie Thomas?
Berly Bainbridge? Robert Benchley? Evelyn Waugh? Diana Holman-Hunt?
V.S Pritchett? Keith Waterhouse? Stella Gibbons?
Ben
Shirley Fowler
> ... is quite obviously indebted to Wodehouse for his comic style.
>
> Albert. P.
I was thinking of starting a thread here on the general lines of
'I bet that man reads Wodehouse'.
Did you ever read a book called 'Second from Last in the Sack Race';
the title stemming from the hero's status on the school's sport's
ground.
In it, our hero, one Pratt, has to study a particular favourite work
of his English teacher and describes how getting stuck on the phrase
"'mid myrtles" led to a painful interview with the headmaster.
If you are not familar with it, take a dekko and decide for yourself
whether there is a degree of congruence.
<URL: http://www.yorkshirebooks.com/book.php3?bookid=5369 >
<URL: http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/archive/1998/05/12/feat21RM.html >
Ben
P.S. This is not to accuse anyone, whether published author or not, of
pinching stuff, simply that it is not easy to disguise a cosy
familiarity with PGW, and not many actually want to.
Shirley Fowler
But is it original? Surely the average male on seeing a f. m.
in inclined to some deft work in the kitchen with the fish slice.
See for example John Ridell/Corey Ford 1932 'The Norris Plan'; Eric
Nicol 'The New Woman'; Nathaniel Gubbins 'Man in a Pub' c. 1930, 'Diary
of a Worm'; and especially James Thurber 1929 'Is Sex Necessary'.
Ben
Shirley Fowler
> ... who does everybody think is the best Wodehouse narrator/performer?
> I admit that I haven't heard as many Wodehouse books and stories as I
> would like, but thus far, I think Jonathan Cecil is the best I've
> heard.
I am happy with Ian Carmichael's reading of 'Summer Lightning'.
Ben