Psmith

A couple of weeks ago I took Doug Wilson’s advice in his inspiring little book on writing, Wordsmithy. Not the advice that inspired Jim Hamilton to write limericks about his family vacation:

There once was a professor named Jim,

Who took his fam on vacation with him.

He brought his sweet wife,

Oh, what a life,

But his limericks not once hit the rim.

Rather I took Wilson’s advice on what to read and just finished a delightful story by P.G. Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith. It’s the perfect summertime read–just a fun story with lots of moving parts that’s a blast to read. I can’t say it’s changed my life in any way, but it brings a smile to my face. Here’s a sampling (I’m paraphrasing from memory).

“Psmith is an unusual name.”

“Yes, my family name is ‘Smith,’ but I wanted to be different so I put a ‘P’ in front of it.”

“How do you pronounce it, ‘Pee-Smith’?

“No, just ‘Smith.’ The ‘P’ is silent.”