Above Average at Games
The Very Best of P.G. Wodehouse on Sport
Published on 31. October 2019
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-1-78633-200-4 (ISBN)
Description
'Wodehouse would have made an excellent sports writer' Sunday Times
As Wodehouse's biographer Frances Donaldson observed, it was vitally important to the boy Plum that he was 'above average at games'. Luckily, he was known at school as 'a noted athlete, a fine footballer and cricketer [and] a boxer', and sport inspired much of his earliest writings, as well as some of his very finest and laugh-out-loud funniest.
Wodehouse wrote with trademark wit on a rich range of games - and on cricket and golf, in particular - as well as anyone ever has, bringing a knowledge and a passion born of practice.
English cricket inspired in Wodehouse what he himself long considered to be his favourite work; and yet America (which he first visited keenly and then came to call home) led him to the love of baseball, and golf - enthusiasms that drew him to new tales for new audiences, including the celebrated golf stories which John Updike described as 'the best fiction ever done about the sport.'
This rollicking anthology, selected, edited and introduced by the novelist Richard T. Kelly, offers a vivid picture of Wodehouse at play - in the ring, at the crease, on the tee - which is guaranteed to please any sporting crowd. Beginning with early journalism, taking in extracts from novels and short stories in their entirety, it all adds up to a medal-winning collection.
As Wodehouse's biographer Frances Donaldson observed, it was vitally important to the boy Plum that he was 'above average at games'. Luckily, he was known at school as 'a noted athlete, a fine footballer and cricketer [and] a boxer', and sport inspired much of his earliest writings, as well as some of his very finest and laugh-out-loud funniest.
Wodehouse wrote with trademark wit on a rich range of games - and on cricket and golf, in particular - as well as anyone ever has, bringing a knowledge and a passion born of practice.
English cricket inspired in Wodehouse what he himself long considered to be his favourite work; and yet America (which he first visited keenly and then came to call home) led him to the love of baseball, and golf - enthusiasms that drew him to new tales for new audiences, including the celebrated golf stories which John Updike described as 'the best fiction ever done about the sport.'
This rollicking anthology, selected, edited and introduced by the novelist Richard T. Kelly, offers a vivid picture of Wodehouse at play - in the ring, at the crease, on the tee - which is guaranteed to please any sporting crowd. Beginning with early journalism, taking in extracts from novels and short stories in their entirety, it all adds up to a medal-winning collection.
Reviews / Votes
Above Average at Games is the sort of book that should be tackled from the comfort of a deep leather armchair in front of the fire at the Drone Club [...] If Wodehouse hadn't found success with Jeeves and Wooster and Lord Emsworth and all that crowd, he would have made an excellent sports writer [...] He writes with great affection about the sporting world. * Sunday Times * There are several authors whose work should be required reading for every youngster in the land . . . PG Wodehouse, widely regarded as the greatest comic author of the twentieth century, is [one] . . . Novelist Richard T. Kelly has selected, edited and introduced a rip-roaring anthology . . . we're treated to extremely funny observations on cricket, golf, boxing, rugby and even baseball. * Wales Evening Post: Sports Book of the Month * [H]ilarious and incisive; Wodehouse brilliantly sends up his own ineptitude (he was an 18 handicap), while managing to write of the sport with keenness of insight. * Irish Times * [E]ven if you aren't [interested in the technical aspects], bits make you laugh out loud. * Tablet *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Dimensions
Height: 243 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
758 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78633-200-4 (9781786332004)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2019
Cornerstone Digital
€14.99
Available for download
Person
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) is widely regarded as the greatest comic writer of the 20th century. Wodehouse wrote more than 70 novels and 200 short stories, creating numerous much-loved characters - the inimitable Jeeves and Wooster, Lord Emsworth and his beloved Empress of Blandings, Mr Mulliner, Ukridge, and Psmith. His humorous articles were published in more than 80 magazines, including Punch, over six decades. He was also a highly successful music lyricist, once with over five musicals running on Broadway simultaneously. P.G. Wodehouse was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for 'an outstanding and lasting contribution to the happiness of the world'.