Uncle Dynamite

If you were to ask me who my favorite author is, I couldn't answer you.  Choosing one favorite author is like choosing your favorite child.  There are just too many excellent writers out there, and I love each one for something different.  But, if I was going to pick one, Wodehouse would certainly be in the running for the best.

I very rarely "laugh out loud" when I'm reading a book.  I might smirk or even chuckle, but I don't laugh out loud.  Wodehouse makes me laugh, though.  Sometimes, I'll laugh until I cry.  When I need a good pick-me-up, I pick up a Wodehouse book.  There's nothing like one of his gut-busters when you're feeling sour.

I've not been feeling sour, per se, but I've been feeling cooped up.  So, when my dear friend  Shay said that she was reading one of the books I'd given her last year (I had passed along a couple of my precious Wodehouse titles when shelving got a bit too tight), I thought it might be worth checking out one myself.  And since she was reading Uncle Dynamite, I thought that I would, too.  The problem is that of course, I had given my copy to her.

But, remember how I talked about Hoopla and other ebook systems in one of my last posts?  Well, Hoopla had Wodehouse on audiobook.  And I remembered that as a lonely teenager, I would spend hours pouring over Wodehouse's books, and I discovered the brilliant Jonathan Cecil's narrations.  Even though I didn't particularly like audiobooks, I liked him, so I started to listen to anything that the library had to offer.  And wouldn't you know it, years later, I found that Hoopla had 30+ Wodehouse books read by none other!

So, of course, I downloaded Uncle Dynamite.  And goodness gracious!  I was not disappointed.  The magic had not been lost.  I had a delightful time.  It was so much fun!  The voices, the pacing...Cecil even includes little vocal cues, like braying laughs, or someone choking on a muffin!

But, what is Uncle Dynamite about?  Anyone who has read a Wodehouse book knows that there are always multiple intertwining subplots that make it hard to answer this question.  So, instead, I'll give you a short list of some of the things you can look forward to in such a book.    You'll find love triangles, American girls, Brazilian explorers, mistaken identity, smuggled jewels, and plots to punch policeman.  There are impoverished publishers, scheming uncles, and bonny baby contests.  In short, it's a lot of fun!  While this one didn't have me in tears, it certainly had me in stitches the way that only Wodehouse can do.  I learned about halfway through the book, it was #2 in the Uncle Fred series (for some reason, I thought this was book 1), but as with any Wodehouse tale, you can generally jump right into the series wherever you want.  You'll still be able to follow along just fine.

What I'm Reading

What are YOU reading?  During this time of social distancing (or as my boss put it, physical distancing), many of us are locked up at home, looking for something to do.  What a great time to bust out your To-Read list!

Not actually me.  Sorry to disappoint!

As for me, I'm relying on a few different resources, including my own personal book collection, titles I grabbed from the library before we closed, and lots of ebooks.  I know I've been staunchly anti-ebook, but since getting a smartphone (welcome to the 21st century, Emmy!) I've started to appreciate the convenience of an expanded digital library.

My library (along with many libraries across the country) offers access to ebooks through several ebook systems.  I like to use Hoopla and Libby (by Overdrive).  I can check out books, audiobooks, movies, music, and comics through these resources!  And if you're interested in ebooks but don't want to use the library, I have two apps to suggest.

The first is Free Books.  And just as the title suggests, it's free books.  Most of them are classics or out-of-print, but MAN!  You can find some really cool stuff on here!  The best part is that you can download everything onto your device for reading offline, and its yours to keep.  I recommend starting with The Abandoned Room by Charles Wadsworth Camp.  It's a chilling story of murder, ghosts, and missing time.

The second is sort of a combo.  Project Gutenberg has an amazing collection of excellent Classics available to read for free on their website.  But, their app leaves a lot to be desired.  So, what I do is download the books I want from Project Gutenberg onto my phone, and open them with this app: ReadEra.  I've played around with a few different eReader apps, and this is my favorite.

Of course, I still prefer the feeling of paper pages between my fingers.  And I'm still reading physical books.  As I teased in the title of this post, I'm reading a lot right now.  If you want to see all the sweet details, follow me on Goodreads.  But, I'll share my Currently Reading list with you right now.

In an effort to find something a little more fun and happy, I picked up a few Wodehouse titles.  Got Mike at Wrykyn by PG Wodehouse sitting on the desk next to me as I write.  I'm also listening to the audiobook for another Wodehouse title: Uncle Dynamite.  The narrator is Jonathan Cecil, who's my favorite audiobook reader.  I was super excited to see that there are 30+ Wodehouse books narrated by him on Hoopla, so if you're interested, be sure to check him out!

And finally, I have one ebook in the works-- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I read it as a kid, but that was years (and many books) ago, so I don't remember much.  It's been fun getting to relive the experience.