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70th out of 1,969 books
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To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel)
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 Cathe...more
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 Cathe...more
Mass Market Paperback, 493 pages
Published
November 18th 2009
by Bantam
(first published December 1st 1997)
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This was a reread. So glad I reread it, this book always makes me laugh. I love this story of two time lagged historians stumbling about in the Victorian era trying to correct an incongruity. Its one absurdity after another as they try to corrall events within a chaotic system in which anything can affect the course of history, a kitten, ugly bric a brac, a flirtatious curate or a fancy goldfish.
At the same time, its not just a farce, the people are real people with real feeling...more
At the same time, its not just a farce, the people are real people with real feeling...more
view all 5 comments
3.5 stars.
This was a very enjoyable jaunt through time in search of a missing bishop's bird stump for the Coventry Cathedral's restoration. It's 2057 and Lady Shrapnell (very aptly named by the way) is restoring the Coventry Cathedral exactly as it was before it's destruction in 1940 in a German air raid. She commandeers the services of Oxford's space-time continuum researchers and lab to travel back in time and solve the mystery of the bird stump's disappearance.
In...more
This was a very enjoyable jaunt through time in search of a missing bishop's bird stump for the Coventry Cathedral's restoration. It's 2057 and Lady Shrapnell (very aptly named by the way) is restoring the Coventry Cathedral exactly as it was before it's destruction in 1940 in a German air raid. She commandeers the services of Oxford's space-time continuum researchers and lab to travel back in time and solve the mystery of the bird stump's disappearance.
In...more
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...more
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...more
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 h...more
So, you know, I won't even attempt a qualitative review. I'll just say that this is fun, and funny, and it h...more
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 claim...more
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
± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ±
rated it
Recommended to ± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± 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 ...more
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 ...more
Michael
rated it
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 t...more
I vacillated between four and five stars for this one, and eventually settled on four. Not because it's not a brilliant, warmly hilarious book--because it is. But because it didn't also thrill me with its scientific ideas and a sense of peril like Passage.
This book brims over with humour, affection for its characters, and that underlying sense of compassion that's often found in Willis's writing. Modest historian Ned Henry is trying to track down a mysterious item called "the...more
This book brims over with humour, affection for its characters, and that underlying sense of compassion that's often found in Willis's writing. Modest historian Ned Henry is trying to track down a mysterious item called "the...more
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 ...more
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 ...more
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.
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
Kaethe
rated it
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.
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.
Our Intrepid Heroine
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone who enjoys a good tale
Shelves:
2010,
books-about-books,
clever-ladies,
sci-fi-and-speculative,
mystery,
reviewed,
rereads,
2011,
simply-delightful
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...more
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...more
Mike
rated it
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 date...more
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 date...more
Cindy
rated it
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 cho...more
________________
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 cho...more
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...more
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...more
Well, I finally found out what a penwiper is.
So obvious, in hindsight, and possible in foresight as well, b...more
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, b...more
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 st...more
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 st...more
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 a...more
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 a...more
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 i...more
The premise behind the story is a technology that allows operatives to be i...more
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,...more
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,...more
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....more
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....more
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 gir...more
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 inspiratio...more
Oh, dear. Every time I see the title of this book it makes me feel anxious. I am almost ashamed to say this in public, but I will be brave: I didn't like it.
I know. Everyone loves it and I can't explain why I don't. Normally I love all the elements that make up this book: time travel, romance, the 19th century. Just to be sure about it I have read it twice over the years; once in traditional book format and once as an audio book. *sigh* It makes me feel defective but there you are. ...more
I know. Everyone loves it and I can't explain why I don't. Normally I love all the elements that make up this book: time travel, romance, the 19th century. Just to be sure about it I have read it twice over the years; once in traditional book format and once as an audio book. *sigh* It makes me feel defective but there you are. ...more
Candace Burton
added it
Jasper Fforde. Terry Pratchett. PG Wodehouse. Maybe even Charlaine Harris. If you like any of these authors, this book will be right up your alley--especially if you also happen to appreciate Brit-speak/humor. I won't try to explain the setting, as it jumps around through time a good bit, but I will say that the read offers excellent hilarity in an intelligent way. Ned and Verity are "Historians", time travelers who are sent about the past checking on things, verifying accounts, review...more
It took me a little while to get into this book. It has a very distinctive, unusual, fast-paced, breathless, bordering on ludicrous, sort of style, and just figuring out what’s going on can be a weighty task -- but that’s okay, because the main characters can’t figure out what’s going on either. (Time travel always complicates things!) Once you sit back to enjoy the ride, and take it as the romp it seemingly is intended to be, it’s great fun. Don’t worry about the fact that the "strict Vict...more
One of my absolute favorite science fiction novels. This tells the story of Ned Henry, an "historian" (who studies history by travelling to the past), conscripted by Lady Bracknell, who wants to rebuild Canterbury cathedral and is sending anyone and everyone to the past to reconstruct the cathedral as accurately as possible. However, because of too many "drops" in too short a time period, Ned has developed time lag, an unfortunate condition that makes one more than unusually ...more
Connie Willis is a genius! I loved "To Say Nothing of the Dog." TSNOTD is fantasy/science fiction focused on time travel,one of my favorite genres (see my reviews of 11/22/63 and Time and Again). Henry (Ned) is traveling around time (mostly in the Victorian era, 1888) trying to find the bishop's bird stump to put back into Coventry Cathedral to avoid some great catastrophe that will mess up the future. He meets Verity, another time traveler, and off they go to try to get people in the ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time Travel: TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG (*spoilers*) | 28 | 29 | Feb 06, 2012 11:08am | |
| Yes indeed. | 5 | 46 | Feb 04, 2012 08:17pm | |
| The Story of Pi | 1 | 28 | Apr 19, 2009 05:03pm |
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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 S...more
More about Connie Willis...
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 S...more
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