2023 Pleasures
by Tansy Rayner Roberts
It’s remarkably easy for me to talk about the pleasures of reading, viewing and listening in 2023 — because there have been many delicious pop culture tidbits along the way, but this is the year I REALLY discovered PG Wodehouse, and everything else has pretty much faded into the background.
It started with A Damsel in Distress, a charming little novel about country houses and small-scale burglary, only spoiled a little at the end by some random fat-shaming. I’m still extremely keen to see the Gershwin/Astaire musical based on it.
After that, I fell faster. I discovered the Blandings novels, for which Damsel is almost a blueprint, though they are warmer and funnier as each builds on the last. I re-discovered the joy of Jeeves and Wooster novels — I definitely had read some of these when very young, but discovering them now with their cutthroat wordplay and expert comic timing is a whole different ballgame.
The use of language in these books is so extraordinary, it’s hard to describe. They’re not just funny, entertaining, and enjoyable, they are both clever and silly in equal measure without being remotely ashamed of either of those features. It’s no wonder that Wodehouse has so many famous fans — the paperback editions are scattered with quotes from his many admirers.
It’s hard to single out my favorites, as they’re all tangled up now in my head, but by far the superior edition I have come across so far is the two Audible exclusive collections selected and read by Stephen Fry: one of favorite Blandings treats, and one of favorite Jeeves books. Once you’ve heard Wodehouse read in the voice of Stephen Fry it does pretty much spoil you for other narrators. So of course, I’ve had to start buying the things in hardcopy which is all very well, but do you know how many books Wodehouse wrote? THOUSANDS.
I’ve discovered that I love the Blandings short stories slightly more than the novels (again, is that because of Stephen Fry? At least slightly. But also because Freddy Threepwood is my favorite). I’ve also discovered that if I read or listen to too many Jeeves stories at once, I start dropping Wooster vocabulary into conversation which is TOO MUCH TO BEAR.
Along the way, I started hunting down the adaptations, of which there are startlingly few available. A ten-year-old adaptation of the Blandings stories featuring Evil George from Poldark as the bubbly, useless Freddy, paired with Timothy Spall as his absent-minded pig-loving father and Jennifer Saunders as the haughty Lady Constance, was deeply enjoyable, especially with its habit of bringing in excellent guest-stars. Emerald Fennell! Matthew Baynton! Phoebe Waller-Bridge!
Then of course… well I knew that the Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie version of Jeeves and Wooster was excellent. I remember watching it back in the day, if only vaguely. But I didn’t know HOW good it was until I inhaled all four seasons back to back, while also reading the books. (Thank you, YouTube. I’ve since ordered it on DVD but, well. YouTube is faster.)
I even managed to find, thanks also to the glory of YouTube, a 90s adaptation of a random Blandings novel (weirdly Heavy Weather, which is a direct sequel to another novel, works quite well on its own, hand-waving the backstory) featuring Richard Briers as Galahad Threepwood, Peter O’Toole as Lord Emsworth, Judy Parfitt (Sister Monica Joan from Call the Midwife!) as Lady Constance, and the excellent David Bamber (Mr Collins from the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride & Prejudice) as the slimy private detective Pilbeam.
As someone who has always been mildly obsessed with stories about country houses, I can’t get enough Wodehouse — and luckily for me, he wrote so many books between 1902 and 1977 that even the most voracious reader (which I can be when properly inspired!) can’t get through them all too quickly.
I’m going to be very sad when I run out of Stephen Fry’s Jeeves audiobooks, though I still have 17 hours left (it’s a whopper!), so I shouldn’t complain too much.
While we’re on the subject of country houses, I should take a breather from my current obsession to note that Freya Marske’s The Last Binding trilogy (magical 1920s houses!) finishes up quite excellently with A Power Unbound, even if she’s a bit brutal on one house in particular. Stephanie Burgis’ country house with dragons fantasy-romance Claws and Contrivances was also deeply excellent, as was KJ Charles’ smuggler-themed A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (which has no magic or dragons, but plenty of steam).
To drop the country house theme entirely I should also point out that Cat Sebastian’s 1950s newspaper-based m/m romance We Could Be So Good is crunchy, sexy, thought-provoking, and basically brilliant. And I continue to enjoy Courtney Milan’s Wedgeford Trials books, based around a fictional Chinese community in 19th Century England - the new book, The Marquis Who Mustn’t is a fascinating take on accountability, as the son of a con-man returns to the scene of his father’s biggest crime to make amends.
In contemporary romance, the latest volume of Jodi McAlister’s reality-TV themed trilogy, Can I Steal You For A Second? is a lovely and subversive take on what might happen if two of the female contestants in a Bachelor-style contest fell in love with each other instead — bonus points for this being set during the height of Covid lockdown in Melbourne while still being a comfort read.
Speaking of subversive, I’d also like to draw attention to Kate Healey’s fabulous Olympus Inc series, which uses all the tropes of high glamor corporate soap but turns them all on their heads with a diverse, inclusive, creatively inspiring bunch of characters… who are all modern versions of characters from Greek myth. I adored her Persephone/Hades novel last year, as well as her Odysseus/Penelope reader magnet, but this year brought Aphrodite Unbound, a rom com about a supermodel with a learning disability, who shocks the world when she chooses to date Hephaestus, an IT guy who uses a wheelchair (and perhaps more importantly in the context of her career, does not himself look like a supermodel).
In TV Land I have been delighted to receive the pure and wholesome gifts that are Our Flag Means Death Season 2, Good Omens Season 2, and Ghosts (UK) Season 5 which all lightened my life and were essential family viewing in our household. As is the new Doctor Who, which has brought me so much sheer delight over the last three weeks, thanks to one of my favorite all-time TARDIS teams being fixed after the terrible things done to them fifteen years ago, and given some splendid material to perform in honor of the 60th anniversary. And now an exciting new Doctor to take us through to Christmas… there are great things ahead.
Please excuse me now, I have a 65 year old novel waiting for me to read with my next cup of coffee.
Tansy Rayner Roberts is a co-host of the Verity! Doctor Who podcast, and the author of a smaller number (for now!) of books than PG Wodehouse. Her 2023 releases included gaslamp fantasy novellas Gate Sinister, House Perilous and Have Spirit Will Duchess, a Greek myth short story collection Gorgons Deserve Nice Things, and the audiobook Teacup Magic: The First Collection. She recently Kickstarted a cozy SF novel about time travelers and talking cats. Find Tansy at tansyrr.com or patreon.com/tansyrr
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