To Say Nothing of the Dog

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel #2)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16  ·  rating details  ·  12,288 ratings  ·  1,621 reviews
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest.He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump.It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral...more
Mass Market Paperback, 493 pages
Published December 1st 1998 by Bantam (first published January 1st 1998)

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Community Reviews

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Carol
If ever there was a symphony as book (Beethoven's 8th?), it would be this one. Like a symphony, To Say Nothing is a wonderful composite that is almost impossible to deconstruct. In many books, there might be a chapter that stands out, whether due to brilliance or failure; this is largely a harmonious, excellently written whole, with only one or two incongruous passages near the end. Then there's the writing: amazingly developed and interwoven, it takes a number of incongruous themes and juxtapos...more
Clouds  - (¿head-in-the?)

Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.

On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.

While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became
...more
Jon
3.5 stars.

Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book has been relocated to my blog and can be found in its entirety by following this link: http://bit.ly/XZlka2

 ~Geektastic~
4.5 stars, just to be clear.

Part time travel adventure, part comedy of manners and part mystery, To Say Nothing of the Dog is a little bit of everything I love about books.

To Say Nothing of the Dog takes its name (and much of its sensibility) from the famous novella by Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, To Say Nothing of the Dog. This choice is not incidental, but neither is it overwhelmingly important to the novel as a whole. The story is told through the eyes of Ned Henry, a time travell...more
Ron
Apr 11, 2009 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Ron by: Jon Moss
Shelves: science-fiction
Fantastic story; exquisitely told. The story engaged me from the first chapter. Many books--even good ones--take about fifty pages before they grip me.

Humor and romance help--not hurt--a story, but if the science fiction doesn't work, chances are the whole story falls apart. Willis' works, even though she tells us little about its mechanism. That's all right: this isn't that kind of science fiction.

A key to suspending belief willingly, I believe, is to create a setting in which the story unfolds...more
thefourthvine
First, know that I am deeply biased when it comes to this book: it's got time travel, which I love with a love that is more than love, and it's got Cyril, who I love with a love that makes my time travel love look like a Tuesday afternoon romance. Plus, it's inspired by - and references, oh my god, REFERENCES! - one of my favorite books, Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.

So, you know, I won't even attempt a qualitative review. I'll just say that this is fun, and funny, and it hits my narra...more
Corinna
Apr 01, 2011 Corinna rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Corinna by: Phil
Many people know that Three Men in a Boat: to Say Nothing of the Dog! is probably my favorite book. What many people don't necessarily know is that I first read it because I bought a very old copy of it at a book sale, and the reason I bought it was because I had read Have Space Suit-Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein, (to whom To Say Nothing of the Dogis dedicated) in which the main character, Kip, interrupts his father as he is reading HIS favorite book, Three Men in a Boat, in which, he claims...more
Lori (Hellian)
Ah, I was so bummed when this book was over, I would have gladly stayed with these characters for at least a month for, that's how delightful they were. Even when Willis writes about the more annoying characters, it's such with such bonhomie they become like irritating family members that you hope will leave soon but they are still family so you're stuck with them, and after they leave you can have a good laugh and roll your eyes at their antics. And I miss Cyril and Princess Amahajumed the most...more
Veeral
As you might have guessed from the name of this book, it was written as an homage to Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome and thankfully, it is as funny.

But the thing that impressed me most was the amount of restraint shown by Connie Willis. Here you are, writing a time travel story, and you have all the options open to you. Kill Hitler! Kill Anakin Skywalker! But nope! Willis does it her own way and she has a different and a more interesting story to tell. Although the book does not dwell m...more
Colleen
May 12, 2009 Colleen rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Colleen by: Goodreads Sci-Fi/ Fantasy Group
2 1/2

I picked up this book because it was the read of the month for the Sci-fi/Fantasy group here on goodreads. Time travel tends to hurt my head, and this was no exception, but that's not what dragged it down.

Honestly, I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't like it - but I'll try.

To start with, I felt like it took a long while for the book to actually start. I guess there was too much set-up, or it was belabored too much. I didn't feel like it really got going until well into 200+ pages.

An...more
Michael
Not exactly a sequel to "Doomsday Book" but a novel set in the same universe with the appearance of several minor characters from the original. Ned is suffering from time lag, a condition brought about by making too many jumps to the past to try and find the bishop's bird stump. In the future, a rich benefactor is restoring the Covington Cathedral at great expense and wants every detail perfect. She has promised the University funding if she can utilize their time travel technology to make sure...more
Hannah Grace
Feb 02, 2008 Hannah Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Hannah Grace by: John
This is my absolute favorite book. A perfect blend of sci-fi, historical fiction, mystery, comedy, mistaken identity and romance; this book has it all.

Its the not-too-distant future, but time-travel has been around for awhile. Oxford historian Ned Henry is trying desperately to find a hideous Victorian object, the Bishop's Bird Stump, shuttling back and forth between World War Two and the Victorian Era. Meanwhile, another historian, Verity Kindle, accidentally brings something back from the pas...more
Laurele
Jolly good fun! I love all the allusions to my favorite books and poems. I guessed early on who "C" was, but that was probably in the grand design of things. I was very much worried about the extinction of cats and very happy with the ending.
Lightreads
So, it’s 2057, and a time travel device has been developed. But the corporate sponsors and big researchers gave up the project in disgust when it was discovered that, though people can go back to most times, they can not bring anything forward. History is profitless, and so it is left to the historians. When we begin, the project has been overrun by Lady Schrapnell and her enormous donation to reconstruct the cathedral of Coventry, destroyed in a 1940 German bombing. Ned Henry, a historian, and...more
Tiffany
Loved this - I fell in love with the characters, the writing style, the settings (all of them, even 1395), and actually slowed down reading toward the end because I didn't want it to end. The ending was kind of lovey-dovey, but not in a cheesy way. I haven't read a book with so much sarcasm in awhile, SO GREAT!

I feel like Connie Willis just made it to my favorite authors list.
Kaethe
1998 Dec 21
1999 June 7
2004 Apr 09
1999 May 15

I read it again, and I loved it. this is definitely a comfort read for me. Ah, the madcap chaos of it all. The naughty cat, the charming Cyril, the annoying people. Total love.

Algernon
A most entertaining adventure where Oxford dons get to meddle with time travel and a chance for the author to exercise her wit and to pay homage to great British authors. Everything is thrown into the pot - from ancient Greek battles to the decisions that sealed the fate of Napoleon at Waterloo, from Shakespeare to Tennyson, G K Chesterton to P G Wodehouse, Victorian morals and artistic expressions, boating on the Thames or the raid that destroyed the Coventry Cathedral in World War II, Lord Pet...more
Our Intrepid Heroine
I finished this book about five minutes ago. I've been practically unable to put it down since I picked it up yesterday morning (screw all your practical reasons for not reading like work, socializing, food... I mean, who really needs to sleep, anyway?).

Basic premise: In the year 2057, a domineering aristocrat has financed the reconstruction of Coventry Cathedral to its prior glory (it was decimated in a Nazi blitz in 1940). To make the cathedral historically accurate, she's shanghaied every his...more
Mike
Dec 30, 2011 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone
Recommended to Mike by: A very good real life and goodreads friend
TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG, or How I stopped worrying about the space-time continuum and learned to love discontinuity

This review about a novel concerning time travel is a bit of an exercise in time travel, itself. I had gone to add a book to my to-read shelf and there sat To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis as big as life. Now that can't be right, I thought. I read this in 2010. I loved this book. I'm sure I even reviewed it. I thought. Therefore, there are no read dates I can assign to t...more
Cindy
Part of my March 2010 Hugo Award winner bonanza.
________________

Wow that was really a fun mash-up of historical fiction, time travel and humor! All lovers of time travel and its implications should give this a go. Certainly if you enjoy the zany humor of Douglas Adams, you should give this a go. I might even suggest that if you're a fan of Victorian England and its foibles, you should give this a go. And most certainly, definitely if you know what a penwiper is, you have no choice but to read th...more
Richard
Jun 27, 2009 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Richard by: SciFi & Fantasy Group 2009-05 SciFi Selection
This was the Sci-Fi selection for the Goodreads SciFi and Fantasy Book Club for the month of May 2009. Visit this link to see all of the discussions, group member reviews, etc.

I am not a fan of sustained silliness. Actually, I'm not a fan of silliness at all unless it has an undertone of something clever, such as satire or irony. Monty Python and Wallace and Grommit are usually — although not always — easily tolerated, while Bean and Benny Hill are execrable.

Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the...more
Laura
Well, I finally found out what a penwiper is.
She started to write and then stopped and frowned at the pen. She pulled an orange dahlia penwiper out of her pocket.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"Wiping my pen," she said. She stuck the pen into the dahlia and wiped it off between the layers of cloth.
"It's a penwiper," I said. "A pen wiper! It's used to wipe pens!"

So obvious, in hindsight, and possible in foresight as well, but that's penwipers for you.
That's Willis for you, as well, because her fo...more
Jared
This is a great book, although it's so thick with literary and poetic allusions that it made me feel ignorant. O, for a classical education!

The story centers around a time-traveler/historian, whose time traveling research group is being ordered about by a Lady who is obsessed with recreating a cathedral that was bombed in World War II. Of course, too much time travel results in serious side effects, akin to jet lag. The main character is under orders to locate the Bishop's bird stump, a hideous...more
Chris
Yes, it's a Connie Willis Time Travel Double Feature! And in this book, we are introduced to the lighter side of time travel - something that was sorely lacking in The Doomsday Book. I mean, it's not that the Black Death didn't have its lighter side, it's just the overall it's not so much fun.

This book is a follow-up to The Doomsday Book. Not a sequel, really, but it's in the same world, and some of the main characters make appearances in this one. But whereas The Doomsday Book was all about how...more
Belarius
Feb 10, 2008 Belarius rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People Who Consistently Travel Forward In Time
If you're like me, you hate Jane Austen, not because she's a bad writer but because you want to throttle all of her characters. You could say that Jane Austen wrote smart depictions of an era of profuse ignorance and stupidity. So imagine my delight when author Connie Willis comes to the rescue with To Say Nothing Of The Dog, a razor-sharp time-travel-themed comedy that playfully takes the stupidity to task.

The premise behind the story is a technology that allows operatives to be inserted into t...more
Janis
2nd after "The Doomsday Book", but a seperate story - do not need to read "The Doomsday Book" first. A lighter read, fun story involving time-travel. One of the few books I try to get all my friends to read because I enjoyed it so much.

Edit - January 31st, 2010 -

I've read this book twice, and now just finished listening to the audio version. I love this story. It has time-travel, Victorian England, London during the Nazi air raid, literary references, historical references, humor, romance, a bi...more
Brownbetty
Aug 12, 2007 Brownbetty rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone
A marrow is a sort of squash; imagine a zucchini. I mention this because you may otherwise be distracted from the delightful opening of this book. I wouldn't spoil you on the mystery of Mr. Spivens. When you discover it, you will feel delighted at having been deceived. But I'm fairly certain there was not meant to be any mystery about the marrows.

To Say Nothing of the Dog is my favourite novel written by Connie Willis. I love almost everything she writes, so this is not faint praise. The back pi...more
Claire
Mar 19, 2007 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People too rational to have survived in Victorian England.
If you know a lot about Victorian England from literature, this book will be a hundred times funnier. I haven't read Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men In a Boat," to which this book apparently owes a great deal, but it's still plenty hilarious. I cannot overstate the comedy genius of this story about a snarky time traveler forced for research purposes to live in Victorian England, amid seance-crazy mothers, jumble sales, idiot village curates, and swoony young men smitten with nitwit girls. You'll k...more
Sarah
When two of your friends, both of whom have excellent taste in books, say "you haven't read that?!" it's a good idea to pick up the book in question. So thank you, Sarah and Charlotte, for suggesting this to me, because it's great fun. After all, who doesn't love a novel that references not only Dorothy L. Sayers and various Victorian novels (especially Wilkie Collins), but also The Princess Bride? And, of course, Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, which was part of the inspiration for the...more
Sarah
I’ve just finished reading TSNOTD for the second time and could start all over again right away! This is definitely one of my favourite books ever:) Take time travel and the space-time continuum, add some Victorian screwball comedy, throw in a bit of P.G. Wodehouse here and some Agatha Christie there, cast a cat and a dog as two of the main characters, mix well and you get this one of a kind story only Willis could come up with. Reading doesn't get much better than this!
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To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last (Hardcover)
To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last (Hardcover)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Kindle Edition)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (ebook)
To Say Nothing of the Dog: Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last (Audiobook)

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Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.

She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more
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“Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats” 68 people liked it
“The reason Victorian society was so restricted and repressed was that it was impossible to move without knocking something over.” 19 people liked it
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