Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing the favourite authors of Wodehouse lovers in the ‘Fans of P G Wodehouse’ Facebook community. This final installment lists the 50 most popular writers listed during our discussion of the topic. Their order here is a very rudimentary ranking according to the number of nominations, mentions and ‘likes’. I share them, imperfectly ranked as they are, in the interests of helping like-minded readers who may be looking for ‘new’ authors to try.
Happy reading!
HP
| AUTHORS |
|
| 1. | Agatha Christie |
| 2. | Douglas Adams |
| 3. | Jane Austen |
| 4. | Terry Pratchett |
| 5. | Jerome K Jerome |
| 6. | Charles Dickens |
| 7. | John Mortimer |
| 8. | Saki |
| 9. | Richmal Crompton |
| 10. | RK Narayan |
| 11. | G K Chesterton |
| 12. | Gerald Durrell |
| 13. | Rex Stout |
| 14. | J.R.R Tolkien |
| 15. | Enid Blyton |
| 16. | Bill Bryson |
| 17. | Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle |
| 18. | J K Rowling |
| 19. | John Steinbeck |
| 20. | Leo Tolstoy |
| 21. | Mark Twain |
| 22. | Oscar Wilde |
| 23. | E F Benson |
| 24. | Henry Cecil |
| 25. | Roald Dahl |
| 26. | George McDonald Fraser |
| 27. | Evelyn Waugh |
| 28. | Raymond Chandler |
| 29. | Daphne du Maurier |
| 30. | Stephen Fry |
| 31. | Joseph Heller |
| 32. | James Herriot |
| 33. | Alistair Maclean |
| 34. | Dorothy L Sayers |
| 35. | James Thurber |
| 36. | Louisa May Alcott |
| 37. | Lewis Carroll |
| 38. | Frederick Forsyth |
| 39. | Richard Gordon |
| 40. | Graham Greene |
| 41. | Georgette Heyer |
| 42. | Stephen Leacock |
| 43. | Somerset Maugham |
| 44. | Alexander McCall Smith |
| 45. | Tom Sharpe |
| 46. | George Bernard Shaw |
| 47. | William Makepeace Thackery |
| 48. | Dornford Yates |
| 49. | Leslie Charteris |
| 50. | Jhumpa Lahiri |
Plumtopia 
out of this list, i’m unfamiliar with the writings of Benson. should add Thurber and Leacock of the older writers and Roddy Doyle amongst the contemporary
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I’ve read about 30 of them – and I’ve just picked up some Benson and Thurber to try myself.
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Interesting list.
Leslie Charteris – The Saint, Richard Armour anyone ?
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Reblogged this on ashokbhatia and commented:
Here is the concluding part from a thoroughly delightful co-blogger!
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Reblogged this on Honoria's Bookshelf.
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Hope you’re going to join in with the debate! http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/07/pg-wodehouse-creative-writing-leave-it-to-psmith-reading-group?commentpage=1#start-of-comments
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Salutations! Thanks for the link. Brilliant! I’m very sorry to have missed the discussion – I’ve been without internet since moving house – and cities – recently. Just checking in now and catching up from a local cafe. I’ll blog a longer response to this as I have LOTS to say on the subj. Thanks again xx
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Catch up here! I always word my responses so badly, otherwise I would write something!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/23/pg-wodehouse-psmith-letters-reading-group#start-of-comments
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I’ve just come across Kyril Bonfigliori in Waterstone’s, (well, his books anyway – apparently he died in 1885) and the New Yorker describes him as ‘The result of an unholy collaboration between PG Wodehouse and Ian Fleming.’ Needless to say, I’m intrigued, and a little ashamed of never having heard of him.
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Oooh! I will put Kyril Bonfigliori on my must read list!
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Oops. 1985, not 1885! What a typo!
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That makes more sense.
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Peter De Vries. De Vries may be America’s best strictly comic novelist. As distinctive as Wodehouse in his way.
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I shall have to investigate further. Thanks for the tip.
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I recommend beginning with his early cheerful comedies, like Comfort Me With Apples, The Tents of Wickedness, The Tunnel of Love, and The Mackerel Plaza. Especially CMWA. The Bood of the Lamb, although great, marks where he becomes more of a Black Humorist. Still, he stayed good. See Let Me Count the Ways and The Vale of Laughter. Mrs. Wallop and the book that has his two brilliant novellas, The Cat’s Pajamas & Witch’s Milk.
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Right Ho – I shall.
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I love some of them. I would have put anthony buckeridge on the list mysefl, he wrote wonderful funny school stories which I love, in fact it was looking for something similar that led me to Wodehouse, i read mike at Wrykyn and Mike and psmith becaue i loved jennings.
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Thanks Louise. I think he was on the long list of authors mentioned, which ran to several hundred. I will have to give him a try.
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Of these, I have loved 1, 6, 15, 17, 18, 30 and 34 at some stage of my life and enjoyed 2, 3, 9, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32, 37, 40, 44, 46, 48, but none for as long as I’ve loved P G Wodehouse.
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Thanks Jo. We have very similar taste in authors.
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