Wodehouse got me in books again

[breakinglight11]

Since getting into Midsummer Mischief, the P.G. Wodehouse-themed game that captainecchi is running at Festival, I decided to finally try reading some of that famed canon. I’m incredibly pleased that I did. I started with Something New, (or Something Fresh as it is usually referred to today) the first novel of the Blandings Castle Wodehouse wrote, and I thought it was funny and clever. Moreover, I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that it is the first new book I have read in probably a year.

My focus issues, which I’ve been struggling with for several years now, have taken the form of an inability to concentrate on a single thing for extended periods of time. While I read constantly, it’s lately taken the form of short things like articles, blog posts, and essays, with the play script being the longest continuous form of literature I’ve been able to absorb. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to return to reading books, which I was a voracious consumer of for most of my life; it’s only been in the last few years I’ve not had the concentration for them. Something New marks the first I’ve really been able to take on in ages, and now I’m most of the way through Wodehouse’s My Man Jeeves. Maybe this is finally my return. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Sherlock Holmes on audiobook, but that doesn’t count because I’ve read it all a million times before already.

Incidentally, both series include examples of men putting their feet up on mantlepieces. Are British traditional mantlepieces very different from what I’m picturing, or is that a particularly odd image? I mean, wouldn't their heels be up ridiculously high? Sounds super uncomfortable.

Comments

[jducoeur]

Hmm. The OED suggests that "mantelpiece" refers to the entire structure around the fireplace, not necessarily just the top shelf. So I would *guess* that they are referring to the stone shelf that often sticks out from underneath the fireplace, which seems like a logical place to put your feet...

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh, I see. That makes enormously more sense!