For me this is The Accident Syndicate by P.G. Wodehouse because it is wonderfully funny and the prose is sublime. It is so well crafted. Also the “hero”, Ukridge, is my least favourite Wodehouse character (reminds me too much of someone I know!) yet here in this story the character has me gripped. It takes a special kind of author to get someone following the actions of a character that same someone dislikes. I’d also say I like Wodehouse’s golf stories and I can’t stand golf either (I agree with Mark Twain’s view here that “golf is a good walk wasted”).
What would you say was the best novel ever written?
In terms of breadth, vision, and for being the definition of an epic, I’d say The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. It’s not without its faults. I dislike Tom Bombadil’s “songs” (they’re far too twee) but it is for me the classic good versus evil story. C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series is high up on my list too. For humorous novels, which I say deserve a category of their own, I think Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse clinches it for me.