THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET AND OTHER STORIES

When this collection of novelettes was published in 1917, Wodehouse had already been in print for 15 years--yet he was still at the dawn of his prolific career. Elements that would catch fire in later works first appear here, most notably Jeeves the Butler and Bertie Wooster's formidable Aunt Agatha, "who had an eye like a man-eating fish." Frederick Davidson has read some of Wodehouse's longer works, but he's better here, mostly because the female characters are limited. He has an almost cynical British voice, yet his own good humor comes through as he nearly drawls the finer points of the comic narrative. D.R.W. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]