Everyone should read some Wodehouse.  But, P.G. Wodehouse wrote more than one-hundred books, so where should one start?  In A Students Guided to Liberal Learning James V. Schall recommends three Wodehouse titles on “how sanity and wit belong together;

1) Leave It To Psmith

2) Blandings Castle and Elsewhere

3) How Right You Are, Jeeves

What is your favorite Wodehouse work?

When was the last time you hugged the 5-year old in your life? You will rush to do so after hearing the story of Elena Desserich. At the age of five she was diagnosed with with inoperable brain cancer. She died a little more than two years ago, but her parents and sister continue to find hundreds of notes that Elena left behind.

After learning of her disease Elena gave herself fully to loving her family, and preparing a way to continue to show them her love long after she was gone. She hid love notes for her parents, her sister, … even her favorite dog that would be discovered by them after she was gone. Notes in books, notes in drawers, notes mixed in with Christmas decorations. So far the family has discovered three boxes full of love notes.

Elena’s love notes have now been collected and bound together with a journal that the family kept during the illness. All proceeds from the book are going to The Cure Starts Now Cancer Foundation.

* * * * * *

“This is a stunning story that teaches us how precious children, family, and life are, and that the sacrifices we make are worth it. I won’t forget the Desserich family, and neither will you.” (James Patterson, bestselling author )

“Elena has left behind a story of resilience, hope and most of all, love. We can’t help but take her into our hearts, and carry the best of her into our own lives.” (Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor, The Last Lecture )

The following excerpt is taken from the book The Natural Superiority of Women, by Ashley Montagu.

“Women have many firsts as innovators in literature.  Thus Marie of France, who flourished during the latter half of the twelfth century, is said to have invented the genre known as the Breton lay.  Dame Juliana of Norwich wrote the earliest mystical prose autobiography (1342), and Dame Juliana Berners, the abbess of Sopwell priory, near St. Albans, wrote the earliest English treatise on fishing, The Boke of St. Albans (1486).  Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, wrote here autobiography (1655), and a biography of her husband (1667), which was added as an appendix to her Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, in addition to the earliest English prose romance, The Blazing World (1666).  This remarkable woman was also the author of CCXI Sociable Letters, an epistolary novel, preceding Richardson’s Pamela (1740) in the same genre by years.  The Restoration playwright, Mrs. Aphra Behn, was also the author of the famous novel Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (1688), which was distinguished, among other things, for its sypathetic view of Blacks.  The Gothic or horror novel was the invention of Ann Radcliffe whose The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) is perhaps her most famous work.  Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) was the first science fiction story of a monster created by a scientist which subsequently ills its creator and the members of his family.  As Grace Shulman points out, women were leaders in the revolution that overthrew romantic flaccidity during the twentieth century.  Harriet Monroe founded Poetry in 1912, and Margaret Anderson founded The Little Review in 1915.  It was a woman, Sylvia Beach, who, in 1922, had the courage to publish James Joyce’s Ulysses.”

What are the ten most influential books of all time?

Tough question …

Horace Shipp published Books That Moved the World in which he listed the following ten titles.

• The Bible
• The Republic (Plato)
• City of God (St. Augustine)
• The Koran
• The Divine Comedy (Dante)
• The Plays of Shakespeare
• Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan)
• Areopagitica (Milton)
• The Origin of the Species (Darwin)
• Das Kapital (Marx)

How does his list compare with yours?

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RELATED

• Lord Acton’s List of 100 Best Books
• Talking Books – John Mark Reynolds, David Allen White, and Hugh Hewitt
• Science & Social Science Books That Changed the World
• Master List of Great Quotes

What books have had the most impact in shaping the contemporary American mind?

In 1939 Malcolm Cowley and Bernard Smith polled American educators, historians, critics, lecturers, and publicists on this subject. Following is the list of twelve titles which were most prominent.

• The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud)
• The Education of Henry Adams (Adams)
• The Frontier in American History (Turner)
• FOLKWAYS: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and Morals (Sumner)
• The Theory of Business Enterprise (Veblen)
• Studies in Logical Theory (Dewey)
• The Mind Of Primitive Man (Boas)
• An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (Beard)
• Principles of Literary Criticism (Richards)
• The State And Revolution (Lenin)
• The Decline of the West (Spengler)

If the same survey was conducted today among American educators, historians, critics, and lecturers I would be surprised if more than one or two of the above titles would appear on the list.

What titles do you think should appear on the list?

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RELATED

• Lord Acton’s List of 100 Best Books
• Talking Books – John Mark Reynolds, David Allen White, and Hugh Hewitt
• Science & Social Science Books That Changed the World
• Master List of Great Quotes