To Say Nothing of the Dog cover art

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last

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To Say Nothing of the Dog

By: Connie Willis
Narrated by: Steven Crossley
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About this listen

 Connie Willis' Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Doomsday Book uses time travel for a serious look at how people connect with each other. In this Hugo-winning companion to that novel, she offers a completely different kind of time travel adventure: a delightful romantic comedy that pays hilarious homage to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.

When too many jumps back to 1940 leave 21st century Oxford history student Ned Henry exhausted, a relaxing trip to Victorian England seems the perfect solution. But complexities like recalcitrant rowboats, missing cats, and love at first sight make Ned's holiday anything but restful - to say nothing of the way hideous pieces of Victorian art can jeopardize the entire course of history.

Delightfully aided by the perfect comedic timing of narrator Steven Crossley, To Say Nothing of the Dog shows once again why Connie Willis is one of the most talented writers working today.

©1998 Connie Willis (P)2000 Recorded Books Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Time Travel Witty Funny Cats

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Critic reviews

"Willis effortlessly juggles comedy of manners, chaos theory and a wide range of literary allusions [with a] near flawlessness of plot, character and prose." ( Publishers Weekly)
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This is an engaging tale, but no English person EVER says "suspenders" when they mean "braces" (for trousers), "schedules" when they would say "timetables" (for trains) or "marrows field" for "a field of marrows", and it's a fishing "rod", not a "pole" in the UK.

These errors jar, which is a shame, as this is good fun!

Entertaining, despite the Americanisms...

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Where does To Say Nothing of the Dog rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love this book - it is right up there with Connie Willis' best - and loved this audio version of it too, which is perfectly read. It possibly helps in grasping the background, but isn't essential, if you have already read Domesday Book ... this is much lighter hearted but every bit as gripping.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh yes!

Perfect listening

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Loved this book! Didn’t want it to end! I’ve become a huge fan of Connie Willis!

Brilliant!

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Loved it, although without spoiling the ending for anyone I found myself quite affected by it. The fate of one character in particular staying with me for weeks after. Would highly recommend the series to anyone with an interest in historical fiction

Unexpectedly emotional

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Fantastic book with even better narration.
Loved the characters, the mystery of it and the written colour of the English Victorian Era.
Would recommend to everyone.

Thoroughly enjoyed

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I found the opening section confusing - I nearly ditched it then - and the sections set in 2057 were quite dull. I loved the Victorian section - the characters were a hoot - but all in all, I think the book was overlong: too much time was spent discussing the Continuum and other "scientific" elements and this greatly slowed down the pace.
The narrator was brilliant at giving voice to the eccentric Victorian characters!

Odd

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If you like mystery stories (Agathe Christie) and Sci-fi this is the best book

The best Sci-fi since the time travellers wife

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Stick with the first couple of chapters, where you'll be nearly as confused as the narrator, Ned Henry. He's a Historian who is suffering from Time Lag after being sent back to 1940 to search for an artifact known as The Bishops Bird Stump). Action, adventure, comedy, rowing, art, jumble sales, croquet, Victorian manners, Oxford, Coventry, the Blitz, Spiritism, a cat addicted to goldfish, a dog called Cecil and a butler who can out-buttle Jeeves…. prepare to be gloriously entertained.

Time travel adventure romance - for starters!

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Man in soot
meets girl in river.
They fall in love

with a dog,
and a cathedral,
and each other (finally!).

(But not with jumble sales)

Does it work as a time travel novel?
Yes.

Whimsical time travel fun with a warm heart.

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Jerome K Jerome meet, among others, Wodehouse. Lots of details, a ‘cunning’ plot and the cat, to say nothing of the dog...

Love this

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