The Man with Two Left Feet, and Other Stories

This is the book where P.G. Wodehouse invented the two greatest characters in English comic fiction. Jeeves appears for the first time, uttering the immortal words "Mrs. Gregson to see you, sir," before going on to rescue Bertie Wooster from some catastrophically bad decision. Also arriving fully formed: Aunt Agatha, whose eye "like a man-eating fish" would haunt Bertie for decades. But the collection offers more than origin mythology. These are stories of love-stricken detectives who abandon their careers to pursue chorus girls, of playwrights tangled in romantic misunderstandings, of milkmen rivaling policeman for the hearts of comely maidens. Wodehouse's early work already demonstrates his gift for the perfect turn of phrase and the absurd situation played completely straight. The comedy is gentle, the characters are lovable fools, and the prose clicks like well-oiled machinery. If you want to understand where modern comic fiction began, or simply want to spend a few hours laughing at the misadventures of people far more hapless than yourself, start here.