Newcomers to Jeeves should avoid this volume. You are unlikely to find this in stores, anyhow. Published in 1919, My Man Jeeves collects a number of stories featuring Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, however they are embryonic, and several of the stories feature neither of them. All would be reworked and included in future short story collections. These are the first stories, written before and during WWI, when the young Wodehouse - having already published several novels and many short stories - was slowly figuring out these characters and their world. (Ironically, these are the only Jeeves stories written during an era when their content is remotely contemporary!)

The best option is to buy the modern omnibus The World of Jeeves which contains all of the stories in their "definitive" format.

Contains:
Leave it to Jeeves [later reworked as "The Artistic Career of Corky"]
Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest
Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg
The Aunt and the Sluggard
and four stories featuring the character of Reggie Pepper, which would be revised into Jeeves stories in the future. ( )

(Because the books in this series have been republished so many times and I'm reading mismatched editions, I'm adding my own generic but matching fan art covers to my reviews. Yay!)

Tee-HEE! Sheer entertainment for the jolly good "PG" fun of it.

I'd heard the names of Wodehouse and his character Jeeves on various occasions and wanted to try a different author's "homage" novel to Wodehouse, but I thought I'd better start with some of the original author's writing first. And it didn't disappoint.

I found this collection of short stories to be refreshingly vintage, comfortably clever, and light on its toes. I certainly laughed out loud at some moments that punctuated the quirky and generally humorous nature of it all for me.

There was only one area of the humor that I really didn't care for, referencing King Herod and infants, but that moment was brief.

I had little idea before just how many Jeeves and Jeeves-related (and Wooster-like) stories this author wrote. Now I think I'd better try out some more of 'em. ( )

Funny in a droll way, but a bit too obsolete of a world for me. ( )

I've decided to attempt reading the Jeeves novels in order. However even though this is listed as the first Jeeves novel - it does not contain the Extricating Gussie which is referenced in at least two of the stories. A single story that is found in the 1917 collection The Man With Two Left Feet, which brings Jeeves and Bertie to American shores at the behest of Aunt Agatha. But despite this error I forge -- ever giggling -- onwards!

This anthology contains..
        Leave It to Jeeves - (J&W) - Corky needs some help introducing his fiancee to his uncle. Bertie askes Jeeves who comes up with an interesting solution - with unexpected and hilarious results.
         Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest (J&W) - Aunt Agatha's freind leaves her son with Bertie for a month while she travels to get information for her latest book. The son, reportedly a good, quiet, vegetarian, tea-teetotaler immediately goes off the rails. It's jeeves to the rescue.. or is it?
         Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg (J&W) -  Bicky's uncle the Duke is coming to town and is insisting he become an upstanding and industrious citizen. Bertie and Jeeves help him out..
         Absent Treatment  Reggie Pepper
         Helping Freddie
         Rallying Round Old George
        Doing Clarence a Bit of Good
        The Aunt and the Sluggard

The big problem is I just didn't find any of the stories funny. There were a couple of lines I cracked a smile about but it just didn't fit my taste. All Wooster's friends are completely interchangeable and all the characters are very one dimensional so there's very little to get invested in. The plots are perfectly competent - formulaic, but the solution to each problem is reasonably clever. I don't regret reading it, I just didn't feel anything after finishing. It was just... fine. To be honest everything being about aristocrats didn't help - I didn't find the upper class slang particularly appealing (I know a lot of people do). 4 of the stories feature... some guy who's not Wooster as the narrator. He's basically exactly the same only he doesn't get it right every time like Jeeves does (although there's no unhappy endings exactly). One of the stories by him, about a nobleman getting walloped and someone thinking they'd done it while drunk, is the most interesting.

Honestly after reading this I feel much more inclined to watch the TV show - I totally see the appeal but for me I think it'd work much better on screen. ( )