Leave it to Psmith

I have in the past read a number of Wodehouse's books, though only a minority of them. This seems to me at least one of his best, and my personal favourite so far.

We have the distinctively humorous writing style (usually present), the endearing if exaggerated characterization, the remarkably adept plotting (present in his best books), Psmith (who particularly appeals to me), the pleasant location of Blandings Castle, and on top of it all a rather appealing love story.

The early chapters are agreeable if perhaps a wee bit slow; the later chapters are better paced and hilarious in places, enough to make me laugh out loud, which I don't often do over books.

Wodehouse's fantasy world of upper-class England isn't to everyone's taste, but Psmith is a vaguely subversive figure in it. Unlike other Wodehouse characters, he belongs to that world but lacks respect for its conventions, exploiting and undermining them for his own advantage. He has almost the intellect of Jeeves without being limited to the status of a servant. What he lacks is money, but he doesn't allow that to depress him; indeed, he doesn't seem very concerned about money, except that unfortunately he needs some of it to get by.