Books: P.G. Flitters On

NOTHING SERIOUS (222 pp.) — P.G. Wodehouse—Doubleday ($2.50).

"A crusty roll, whizzing like a meteor out of the unknown, shot past the Crumpet . . . and shattered itself against the wall. Noting that his guest had risen some eighteen inches into the air, the Crumpet begged him not to give the thing another thought. 'Just someone being civil,' he explained."

In an era of the impolite grenade, the civil roll may come as a pleasant intrusion, especially if it doesn't hit anybody. And P.G. Wodehouse never hits anybody. In his new book of short stories, as in dozens of his previous...