Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog!

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

more photos (1)

read book* *Different edition

Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog!

by Jerome K. Jerome

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 13,598 ratings · 1,286 reviews

Conceived as a fairly serious guide to amateur boating on the Thames in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome's best-known novel ended up as a hilarious account of the misadventures of three friends and a dog as they attempt to relax and enjoy themselves amid unreliable weather forecasts, imaginary illnesses, repellent cooking, and an unopenable can of pineapple chunks.Three Men in a Boa...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published January 26th 1978 by Penguin Books (first published 1889)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2012: The Over 35s favourite books of 2012

110th out of 764 books — 203 voters

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

The funniest books I ever read

57th out of 135 books — 58 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 12, 2011 Petra X rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, humour

This book is a strange mix. Part of it is of a particular kind of obvious humour. Sort of like watching a very pompous-looking person talking loudly into their cell-phone and paying no attention to where they are going and therefore fails to notice the banana skin everyone else has been avoiding. Bamm, down she goes, and hahaha, its just so funny, you have to laugh. There are also amusing incidents with the fox terrier Montmorency, whose chief pleasures in life seem to be fighting and hanging ou...more

24 likes · like · see review

Jun 08, 2011 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

a taste:

the members have spoken: Three Men in a Boat will be our first group read. if it goes well, we can read other books together and see what we learn.

so, again, the point of our reading a book together is so we can all learn how to extract appeal factors from a text, and learn how to discuss books in a way that is relevant to a readers' advisory scenario.

the deadline for finishing the book is june 1st.
i will be posting some information on here from NoveList, which will be useful to glance o...more

27 likes · like · see review

Apr 08, 2009 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny, footnotes-and-diagrams, great-outdoors, victorian

Utterly delightful from beginning to end; had me in stitches more than once. I loved the digressions, the endless tales about friends and friends-of-friends; the charming diagrams; the sudden swoops into romantic (and Romantic) flights of fancy. In my mind, all three characters spoke like Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster (with similar sensibility; that is to say, none at all).
I can't reproduce it all here, but one of my favorite scenes was that in which the narrator describes his loathing for stea...more Utterly delightful from beginning to end; had me in stitches more than once. I loved the digressions, the endless tales about friends and friends-of-friends; the charming diagrams; the sudden swoops into romantic (and Romantic) flights of fancy. In my mind, all three characters spoke like Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster (with similar sensibility; that is to say, none at all).
I can't reproduce it all here, but one of my favorite scenes was that in which the narrator describes his loathing for steam launches -- hilarious! -- followed by the scene in which they are towed by a steam launch and the narrator rails against the "wretched small boats that are continually getting in the way of our launch."
And the packing scene! "I never saw two men do more with one-and-twopence worth of butter in my whole life than they did."
And the chapter headings! Loved.
I am now going to go back and re-read that scene in To Say Nothing of the Dog in which they run into the hapless boaters.
Folded corners:

...down he would slide on to the piano, a really fine musical effect being produced by the suddenness with which his head and body struck all the notes at the same time.
And Aunt Maria would say that she would not allow the children to stand round and hear such language.

The remaining four passengers sat on for a while, until a solemn-looking man in the corner, who, from his dress and general appearance, seemed to belong to the undertaker class, said {the smell of the cheese} put him in mind of a dead baby; and the other three passengers tried to get out of the door at the same time, and hurt themselves.

They started by breaking a cup. That was the first thing they did. They did that just to show you what they could do, and to get you interested.

Montmorency was in it all, of course. Montmorency's ambition in life, is to get in the way and be sworn at. If he can squirm in anywhere where he particularly is not wanted, and be a perfect nuisance, and make people mad, and have things thrown at his head, then he feels his day has not been wasted.

She was nuts on public houses, was England's Virgin Queen. There's scarcely a pub of any attractions within ten miles of London that she does not seem to have looked in at, or stopped at, or slept at, some time or another.

...a gentleman in shirt sleeves and a short pipe came along, and wanted to know if we knew that we were trespassing. We said we hadn't given the matter sufficient consideration as yet to enable us to arrive at a definite conclusion on that point, but that, if he assured us on his word as a gentleman that we were trespassing, we would, without further hesitation, believe it.

You get near the kettle, so that it can overhear you, and then you shout out, "I don't want any tea; do you, George?" to which George shouts back, "Oh, no, I don't like tea; we'll have lemonade instead--tea's so indigestible." Upon which the kettle boils over, and puts the stove out.

When I meet a cat, I say, "Poor Pussy!" and stoop down and tickle the side of its head; and the cat sticks up its tail in a rigid, cast-iron manner, arches its back, and wipes its nose up against my trousers; and all is gentleness and peace. When Montmorency meets a cat, the whole street knows about it; and there is enough bad language wasted in ten seconds to last an ordinary respectable man all his life, with care.

Goring is not nearly so pretty a little spot to stop... but it is passing fair enough in its way, and is nearer the railway in case you want to slip off without paying your bill.

(less)

22 likes · like · see review

Jul 19, 2011 mark monday rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-gave-up, these-fragile-lives

i have a friend named Albert. once, long ago, i was matched with him as a volunteer to provide him 'peer support'. our relationship as volunteer and client continued semi-happily for many years, until i started working for the agency that oversees these volunteer matches. although that match officially ended, we remained friends - although it is important to point out that the relationship continued within the same format: mainly me listening to him. Albert tells many uproarious anecdotes. he's...more i have a friend named Albert. once, long ago, i was matched with him as a volunteer to provide him 'peer support'. our relationship as volunteer and client continued semi-happily for many years, until i started working for the agency that oversees these volunteer matches. although that match officially ended, we remained friends - although it is important to point out that the relationship continued within the same format: mainly me listening to him. Albert tells many uproarious anecdotes. he's a funny guy - a senior citizen with many tales to tell, a bitchy queen with many hilariously scathing remarks at his disposal, an opera lover and antique-collector who has educated me on these two topics (ones in which i had virtually no understanding). Albert knows how to TALK. he calls me almost daily with incredibly long-winded but often very wry stories, and during my visits it is story after story after story. i don't begrudge him any of this in the slightest - he's a lonely old man and i'm glad to support him. i love him. but gosh, at times it can get a wee bit wearying.

Three Men in a Boat is like listening to Albert, except instead of an elderly gay man complaining about aches & pains and full of digressive but amusing anecdotes about life or whatever, the narrator is a young straight man complaining about aches & pains and full of digressive but amusing anecdotes about life or whatever. there are a lot of hilarious moments. there are even some moments that are moving or even full of beauty (well, two of them, prior to my page 100 stopping-point). but golly, it gets tiring. there is so little point to it all! just semi-amusing tale after tale, on and on and on, with virtually no movement. so very static. for example, over seven pages of 'amusing anecdotes' about tow-lines! really? Jerome K. Jerome, were you getting paid by the word?

so i am doing what i could never possibly imagine doing to my dear Albert: i am walking out of the room, i am hanging up, i am ending this one-sided conversation. Jerome K. Jerome seems like a charming, sweet-natured man, but he is not my friend and i refuse to continue to provide empathetic active listening to a nice guy who is also, at times, such a bore. Jerome - sad to say - you're no Albert. his stories are more entertaining and he has a whole lifetime under his belt. that reminds me, i should call him back now.

still, the writing in Three Men IS drily amusing, i'll give it that.

post-script: after reading miriam's comment below, i hustled back to the book to find this passage. it is about a page and a half, starting at the bottom of page 159. the three young men come across the body of a woman floating in the river and are later told her sad and moving story. it is a surprising change of tone for such a light-hearted, comedic novel of anecdotes. well worth seeking out, even if you are the kind of impatient reader, like myself, who gave up on the book.(less)

25 likes · like · see review

Apr 16, 2008 Whitney Archibald rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Whitney by: tamsin

If you're looking for a book with a plot, this is not for you. But if you'd like to take a leisurely trip down the Thames in good company, I can't imagine a better book. Jerome K. Jerome, is even funnier than his name. I kept catching myself smiling as I read his account of his trip down the river with his two equally lazy buddies and his dog Montmorency. The book was actually less about the trip itself than a collection of daydreams and random stories pulled together in much the same manner as...more

9 likes · like · see review

May 26, 2010 Praj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jkj

What a huge moron I was for not giving this book a chance. And now, I just can’t stop praising it. So here it goes…

‘Three Men in a Boat’ is an amusing account of three friends-Jerome(whom I’m in love with),Harris and George and of course their dog Montmorency; while on a little boating expedition. The three of them concur of being overworked and tired of the daily humdrum, are in a dire need of a vacation. After weighing options of a country trip and a sea voyage they settle down on a boat ride...more What a huge moron I was for not giving this book a chance. And now, I just can’t stop praising it. So here it goes…

‘Three Men in a Boat’ is an amusing account of three friends-Jerome(whom I’m in love with),Harris and George and of course their dog Montmorency; while on a little boating expedition. The three of them concur of being overworked and tired of the daily humdrum, are in a dire need of a vacation. After weighing options of a country trip and a sea voyage they settle down on a boat ride to a secluded and peaceful place. So, on a quiet Saturday they rent a boat from Kingston and while picking up George from his workplace they head out on a boating trip up to the River Thames. Right from hiring the boat to scheduling itinerary the story further propels into a comical sketch of various boating and camping mishaps. This is undoubtedly the wittiest and most entertaining book I have ever read. Jerome has a knack for creating even the utter sentimental pieces into this jubilation of jollity and intellect. Not a word passes by without giving a chortle or plastering a wide grin on the face. Every chapter brings with it a plethora of joyous moments and at times a series of wild laughter. The writing is sarcastic with a hint of sharp smartness to the core of my extreme liking.

The comic flavors can be tasted from the beginning, especially when the author introduces the three central characters:-
1. Jerome(the narrator):-Thinks of himself to be a ‘walking hospital’. Jerome a pharmalogical wreck has somehow concluded that he has been inflicted with all sorts of diseases that ever existed by reading various medical pamphlets and imagining their symptoms. What is even hilarious is the mere fact of Jerome being heartbroken for not contracting the Housemaid’s Knee and goes to an extent of calling his doctor a quack for not being able to give it to him.

2.George:- a banker and of whom Jerome says, “George goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two”

3.Harris :- “You can never rouse Harris. There is no poetry about Harris - no wild yearning for the unattainable. Harris never "weeps, he knows not why." If Harris's eyes fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions, or has put too much Worcester over his chops.”

In addition, episodes where the author recalls how his Aunt Podger used to take a week long refuge at her mother’s place when Uncle Podger donned the role of a handyman trying to fix “little” things in the house or how the making of Irish Stew from all the leftovers compelled Montmorency to add his bit by bringing a dead-water rat, brims with utmost hilarity.

Reading this book is such bliss that I am already onto its sequel –“Three Men on the Bummel”.
(less)

27 likes · like · see review

Aug 04, 2009 Christopher H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, british-literature, victorian-literature, read-in-2009

A thoroughly delightful little volume that should be required reading during the dog-days (no pun intended!) of each summer season. Full of wit and wry British humor, this novel with its mad-cap misadventures, funny twists and turns, and side-line streams of consciousness goes far in describing what it means to be English (and what it means to be an English fox terrier!). If you know someone a little under the weather, or out-of-sorts for whatever reason, present them with a copy; it is sure to...more

8 likes · like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british-britain, classics, comic-novel, library-book, read-in-2011

It was suggested that I read this prior to reading Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog. This is an amusing read. Some sections evoke out-loud chuckles even over 100 years after the original writing. This comedy of 3 men and a dog taking a river trip on the "sacred Thames", so-called, has lasted quite well. There are a few sections that seemed to labor but far more that hit their marks well. Now I will move on to Willis' book.

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 03, 2013 Apatt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It looked like a breezy read, a good natured gently comical novel. Certainly it is not at all hard to read but nevertheless this book was a grind for me to get through. Humorous novels suffer a great disadvantage in that I tend to expect to find something to laugh at on each every page. This is quite a tall order and very hard for most books to accomplish. P.G. Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett often make me laugh with their fiction but generally I try to avoid comedy nov...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 09, 2012 Miz Moffatt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, favorites

Originally posted on Across the Litoverse

As Three Men in a Boat opens, J. airs out his various ailments with his fellow invalids (re: closest friends), George and William Samuel Harris, and with his canine companion, Montmorency. According to a book J. discovered in a library, he is a veritable hospital packed with every disease known to mankind—with the notable exception of housemaid's knee, much to his chagrin. As a remedy, the gents decide to head out on the River Thames for a fortnight's wor...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2012 Tanu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, excellent-prose, really-good, favorite-protagonist, hilarious

The image of Uncle Podger hanging a painting and Harris singing the comic song will forever be etched in my mind. Hilarious novel!
Even better the second time round.

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 26, 2010 Laurele rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2009, audible

Filled with a kind of humor that never turns stale, this rollicking tale of a trip on the Thames is a celebration of stories of all kinds--tales from family and school days, the classic fish story, travelogue, history, the yarns of a local tour guide, the quintessentially British operetta, and to round it out, lest one think that all stories are funny, a man-in-the-street--make that stream--view of a tragic local news story.

6 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2011 Mith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, funnies, i-needz-moar, wishlist, slice-of-life

The ridiculously short review - Three hypochondriacs - JKJ, George and Harris - (and their dog, Montmorency) decide to go on a boating holiday on the Thames in order to recuperate from all the maladies in the world that, they firmly decide, have manifested in them. Hilarity ensues.

The "slightly" longer review - This gem of a book is laugh-out loud from start to finish. JKJ reminds you of P.G Wodehouse a bit, in his style of writing (I know JKJ was before Wodehouse, but I read the latter's works...more

8 likes · like · see review

Dec 18, 2007 Joshua rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

H I L A R I O U S. Reminds me a little of Wodehouse and Thurber and Keillor, but is somehow unlike any of those guys. I can't remember the last time I came across such perfectly pitched sarcasm on the page. Lots and lots of silly fun.

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 12, 2013 Sandra Feierābende. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Darbs "Trīs vīri laivā nerunājot nemaz par suni" ir tapis gandrīz pirms simts gadiem, taču joprojām cilvēkiem tas škiet jautrs un spirgts un uzmundrinošs. Grāmatā var izjust angļu īpatnējo humoru un tas ir lasītāja paša ziņā vai lasītājs to saprot, vai nesaskata tajā neko smieklīgu.

Angļu humorists un dramaturgs Džeroms K. Džeroms (1859-1927) pasaules slavu ieguva ar ceļojumu romānu "Trīs vīri laivā" (1889). Autora darbs ir aktuāls, jo mūsdienās lielākā daļa pasaules iedzīvotāju labprātāk lasa g...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 05, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, humor

This book puts me in mind of the time my friends and I decided it would be a great idea to go to my mother's house in the Poconos during spring break.

It was back in the late nineteen-hundreds, and we were a college cadre of Dungeons & Dragons players who had a great campaign going. "Spontaneous Combustion" we called ourselves, because of our habit of blowing things up at any opportunity. Not a weekend would go by that we didn't burn, destroy, incinerate or otherwise defile something in our i...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 23, 2007 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Basically, it's a narrative of three men (and a dog) taking a boat trip down the river in the late 1800s. Filled with flashbacks and tangential stories that range from the hysterically funny to tragic and heartwarming.

There is so much going on, so much jumping around that it (occassionally)is hard to keep track of where you are (in the main story or in a tangent...). So there were probably things I missed, and I may go back and read it later, because it was truly well-written and very engrossin...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Laura by: Laurele

Shelves: victorians, audio-books, read-2011

Available at Libri Vox.

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over, to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages now seem like an unnecessary distraction to the essentially comic novel...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 12, 2012 Sundeep Naidu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, humor

Extremely humourous...

Like the name of the book suggests - three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog) - it is the story of three men - or rather, crazy men - with a dog on a boat, in Thames. They flow along the river and there are many interest bits of fact and history of the towns along the river. The travel is only just a part of the story. The best part of the story is the recollections of the funny incident author experienced in his life...

Jerome is the most ridiculous, I've read, so fa...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 29, 2011 Simeon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comedy, favorites, literature, classic

The funniest book of all time. That is all.

8 likes · like · see review

Dec 07, 2010 Kirsty Darbyshire added it · review of another edition

For some reason I'd always thought this was an American book and when Darren recommended it to me (by way of putting it in my Christmas stocking, always a good way to recommend books!) I was surprised to find that the boat in question, and the three men in it, are on a voyage up the Thames to Oxford.

For a book that was written 113 years ago in 1889 it's stunningly readable today and it's definitely well worth a read. Short episodic chapters mean that it's the kind of book that you can keep pick

...more

like · see review

Mar 19, 2013 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, humor

In a very British vein of humor rather similar to Wodehouse's style, Jerome recounts what sounds like a rather unpleasant vacation. In the best passages, such as a hilarious description of the trials of multiple people trying to pack together, the text crackles with wit even as you breathe a sigh of relief that this all-to-familiar scene is not currently happening to you. However, the best humor relies on understatement. I personally found Jerome to be far too repetitive. He never uses one anecd...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 02, 2013 Becky B rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: P.G. Wodehouse fans, Connie Willis fans, those who speak sarcasm fluently

Shelves: humor, historical-fiction

It is highly advised not to try and consume food or drink while reading this, that could prove hazardous to your health when you inadvertently find your laughter and consumables fighting for the same passageway in your body. This is a classic, rollicking, tongue-in-cheek tale of three men (and a dog) who decide to take a fortnight's holiday on the Thames. J. (Jerome) narrates the story of this journey, gives some background information on the countryside they pass, and relates stories various ar...more

like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing-com, humor, travel, fiction

An entertaining read as one follows Jerome, Harris, George and Montemorency (the dog) along the Thames in a boat. I found out that this truly was intended as a late 1880's travel guide but that the humor overshadowed its intentions. I must say that the humor in the book is timeless and quite English. I loved it! I liked the fish tales towards the end. I live in an area of the country where fishermen are quite willing to exaggerate their catches and so it hit home.

Note: This was a book that I re...more

like · see review

Oct 03, 2012 Smcleish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in November 2000.

Three Men in a Boat may be one of the best known classics of English language humour, but bits of it have dated quite seriously. The novel tells the story of a short holiday taken by three bachelors (and a dog), rowing a boat up the Thames from Kingston to Oxford and is part commentary on the ludicrous misadventures which are part of the trip and part parody of Victorian travelogues. It is the second aspect which has dated; modern travel writ...more

like · see review

Sep 26, 2012 Ella Belakovska rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People with a daft sense of humour

Having joined the kindle revolution I have downloaded as many classics as possible, what with them being free and all, with the express intention that I WILL one day be familiar with all the 'books you should read before you die'. Ergo, Three Men in a Boat slotted into my e-collection and, knowing absolutely nothing about it, I gave it a try.

I really was pleasantly surprised. In trying to explain it to a friend I realised that there is no plot to speak of and nothing really happens for the entir...more

like · see review

Aug 19, 2012 VaultOfBooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By Jerome K Jerome. Grade A+
I have never laughed till tears have started rolling, or maybe stomach starts aching, but by God this novel brought me close, too close. There is only one reason one can hate it, and that is if the person does not like humor or came looking for a serious read. This book has a British air about it, it smells British, so anyone who is incompatible with the trademark dry, in your face British humor, steer clear of it.
“It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like...more By Jerome K Jerome. Grade A+
I have never laughed till tears have started rolling, or maybe stomach starts aching, but by God this novel brought me close, too close. There is only one reason one can hate it, and that is if the person does not like humor or came looking for a serious read. This book has a British air about it, it smells British, so anyone who is incompatible with the trademark dry, in your face British humor, steer clear of it.
“It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
The humor rings true because of its relevance, but the beauty of the novel resides in its style, in the meandering way it is written, as if to match the meandering way in which people think. There is nothing much to write about the book, but then there is nothing much to write about any humorous novel. But let me try to get this review straight.
“Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.”
I am inching closer to my idea of a respectable length, so let’s talk about the book. It is about three friends who decide to go on a cruise in their own boat to get away from the humdrum of life. It talks about the places they visit and the things that go wrong (quite inevitably considering it’s a comedy). The book was originally meant to be a serious travel guide, something that we were thankfully spared of and got this charmer of a novel. The author says that he did not know that he was funny, it was only during the course of this novel that he discovered so. This novel written during the Victorian times was obviously trashed by critics, some being paranoid to the extent that they called it a conspiracy against the Crown and others thinking that this novel has suspicious tendencies to form a new class of comedy. The novel nonetheless succeeded and was a commercial hit. This is undoubtedly the funniest novel I have read, rest in peace Bill Bryson who held this position for long. The thing that separated it from commonplace C.B. humor is the depth of all the innate facts and truth in it, the feeling of being in the situation before, the ability of the author to look through a funny lens. The author rarely tries to be funny, but it is the uncanny situations that always have you rolling on the floor.
“I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.”
Read this book and laugh, and remember no situation is dull, or too serious, all you need is a funny lens!

Originally reviewed at http://the-vault.co.cc (less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Farmertom rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a major hit when first released more than 120 years ago, and has never been out of print. It has been translated into a blizzard of languages, including Chinese (badly) and Russian. This book was the precipitating cause of my being thrown out of the main branch of the Chicago Public Library, when reading it for the first time I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair-- twice.
From Wik:
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog),[Note 1] published in 1889, is a humorous account by...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 19, 2012 Ozaru rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humour

A light read -- the type you can dip into at any time for a few paragraphs. It's not really LOL funny, but is full of gentle humour in a nice old-fashioned way that needs no vulgar language or acerbic sarcasm to keep the reader amused. As a record of one river trip it's rather strange, though, as most chapters consist of a number of "I recalled a funny thing that once happened to…" episodes strung together, so it often feels less like a carefully crafted book than a Reader's Digest magazine.

A co...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Tara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an interesting and largely enjoyable book that felt a bit like it was struggling to find a consistent tone. At some points, it was witty and irreverent, at other points it was darker or more melancholy in tone, and then in still other points it took on an uplifting, poetic note. Very hard to describe.

It might be worth knowing a bit more about this book's history. I know that it was begun as a travelogue, and there are clear signs of that throughout in the book's descriptions of points a...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Three Men in a Boat - the funniest book of all time?	10	67	Apr 20, 2013 02:47pm
Indian Bookworms: 'Three Men in a Boat'- January Group Reads (Humor)	68	63	Jan 21, 2013 09:01am
Goodreads Librari...: Merge "Three Men in a Boat"	2	154	Dec 18, 2012 08:00am

combine
Other Editions (294)

More editions...

Genres

Classics

495 users

Humor

313 users

Humor > Comedy

65 users

Travel

60 users

European Literature > British Literature

60 users

Humor > Funny

51 users

Literature

43 users

Literature > 19th Century

43 users

Novels

30 users

Book Club

25 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome Klapka Jerome (May 2, 1859 – June 14, 1927) was an English author, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_K...

More about Jerome K. Jerome...

Books by Jerome K. Jerome

Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Três Homens Num B...

13 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Three Men in a Boat

“I can't sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can't help it.” — 102 people liked it

“I don't know why it should be, I am sure; but the sight of another man asleep in bed when I am up, maddens me.” — 63 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog!
avg rating	preview: Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog! Goodreads rating: 3.94 (13598 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77225.Three_Men_in_a_Boat?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304126191l/77225.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77225.Three_Men_in_a_Boat?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog! by Jerome K. Jerome[/url]

Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog!

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website