Skip navigation
London Review of Books London Review Bookshop

No snarling subscriber-only content

Fatema Ahmed

On my father’s bookshelves, tucked between yet another novel by Somerset Maugham and J.B. Priestley’s account of a journey to Mexico with his archaeologist wife, was a copy of Carry On, Jeeves. I had never heard of P.G. Wodehouse and racing through these stories of a master and his manservant I was surprised to find that, so far as I could tell, they were seriously funny and devoid of serious meaning. There was no more Wodehouse at home; my father took a dim view of frivolous books. But my local library took a dim view of the contemporary unless it was slightly unfashionable or too popular to ignore – and the shortage of more recent fiction left room for two whole shelves of Wodehouse. I read nearly 50 books before the supply ran out. I wouldn’t really recommend this: prolonged exposure to Wodehouse can stop you taking anything seriously. Worse still, it can stop other people taking you seriously.

subscriber-only content Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is available for purchase online. Buy this article.

Fatema Ahmed works at Granta.

LRB cover artwork

From the archive

How to be a wife
Colm Tóibín: The Discretion of Jackie Kennedy

Jade and Plastic
Andrew Nathan: How bad was Mao?

Operation Barbarella
Rick Perlstein: Hanoi Jane

Of the Mule Breed
David Bromwich on Robert Southey

As Astonishing as Elvis
Jenny Turner: Ayn Rand