Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best

By: P. G. Wodehouse

Narrated by: Martin Jarvis

The Collected Blandings Short Stories.

Blandings Castle is the home of Lord Emsworth, who likes nothing better than to potter at home in his enormous castle garden. But his rural idyll is once again set to be disturbed in these nine hilarious fables. No peace is possible when his sister Constance is let loose, and she is constantly trying to reorganise the household and its inhabitants! Without great success....

The nieces are unhappy, McAllister leaves at a difficult time, and then The Empress of Blandings - Emsworth's prize pig - goes off her pig-food! Put all this against the continuing complicated love affairs of Freddie Threepwood, not to mention Lord Emsworth's own love interests, and the stage is once more set for classic Wodehouse hilarity!

©2012 Canongate Books Ltd (P)2012 Canongate Books

one of the best

narration is as well done as Jonathan Cecil's. I never thought I would say that. and Woodhouse turns a phrase so nicely uses such a gentle humor and descriptions this is one of the best

No gap between stories!

Like other reviewers before me, I was annoyed by the lack of any appreciable gap or breathing space between the stories in this anthology.
Other than that, Martin Jarvis does a fine job of reading and portraying the various characters in this well loved selection of what I feel is the best of Wodehouse, namely the Blandings stories.

If a little more of a pause between stories was inserted, this would be a five star effort all around.

Leaves Shakespeare in the dust

Brilliant Wodehouse! Laughing out loud, repeating his lines at breakfast, giggling every time we listen.

great stories, great voices

I think Martin Jarvis is the best reader of Emsworth stories and possibly of all Wodehouse stories. Characters are neatly distinguished, their emotions clearly conveyed, and there's a constant undercurrent of sheer delight that's delightfully appropriate for the material.

These have a few minor abridgements

The narration isn't too bad, though Jonathan Cecil does Wodehouse better.
The stories are absolutely wonderful; In fact this collection contains a few of my all-time favorite short stories.: The crime wave at blandings, The Custody of the Pumpkin, & Lord Emsworth and the girlfriend.

I compared these to the actual books because I noticed parts missing. There are several very small, almost unnoticeable parts that are abridged-- And I cannot for the life of me, figure out why. It is like reading a bad translation of The Little Prince. . Some of the charm is lost. Even if you can't put your finger on exactly why.