To Say Nothing of the Dog: Connie Willis (S.F. MASTERWORKS)

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She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.

And the book doubles as a guide to where not to stay if you ever find yourself time-traveling through that part of England: 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. The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list". The Guardian. 12 October 2003 . Retrieved 6 June 2017. While I was reading this 19th century novel about three men on a boat trip, I traced the course of their journey on a map. They started out from Kingston-on-Thames just outside London and rowed up the river all the way to Oxford, stopping at many places on the way. Each time a place name was mentioned, I plotted it on my map, and so, little by little, I began to see that section of the river Thames as a long piece of rope curling itself into many twists and turns as it stretches half-way across England. Here's what my rope river looks like:Hubbard, Frances. “Thriller Set on Middle Peninsula Plays Out Parents’ Worst Nightmare.” Daily Press, 23 July 2017, www.dailypress.com/news/gloucester-county/dp-nws-evg-mid-say-nothing-book-20170630-story.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017. Tossie's reformation is doubly significant as she overcomes the expectations she has acquired from her society for her sex and the prejudices taught her as a member of her class. Before her change, Tossie frequently reminds Baine that he is a servant. To Ned's non-contemporary eyes, the Merings' treatment of their butler is ridiculous. They treat him nearly as subhuman. They changed his name to suit their convenience, and never consider whether their demands of him are reasonable, often giving him multiple Herculean tasks to accomplish simultaneously. In fact, Baine, as a servant, is not even allowed to express his opinions without permission. Ned notes that this attitude is why Karl Marx wrote his Manifesto. Baine's curiosity about America and its opportunities for people of lower classes also serves as a challenge to the novel's earlier seeming Anglocentrism. When Baine and Tossie flee to America where their mismatched class status will not be objectionable, and Baine will be able to pursue a different career, America's advantages become obvious. (Humorously, Baine considers movie acting to be the best way to capitalize on his considerable intelligence and skills.) In another example, the Merings discourage Terence's infatuation with Tossie until Mrs. Mering discovers that he is from a titled and wealthy family. England's traditions and connection to the past turn out to be a potential burden as they inhibit change that could bring about beneficial, progressive transformation; America's comparative social openness allows greater personal freedom. It is 2057 (thus, a few years after the first book) and here, Mrs. Schrapnell, a rich and very eccentric (if not to say gaga) American lady is pouring money into rebuilding Coventry Cathedral exactly as it was before the Nazi Blitz during WWII. She has therefore conscripted the Oxford history department to help her and, in addition, to find the Bishop's Bird Stump, a decorational piece from Coventry Cathedral. Finally, in 2057, just in time for the celebration of the cathedral reconstruction, the location of the Bishop's bird stump proves to the historians and scientists that, in certain scenarios, objects can be brought forward in time which heralds a renaissance in recovery of historically lost, destroyed, or extinct objects.

Eternal English: Averted. Ned mentions near the beginning that he initially had trouble with World War II-era English while working on jumble sales during the Blitz. He manages to follow upper-class English of the 1890s easily enough (except for some of the slang) but finds lower-class and regional dialects to be almost impenetrable. Then at one point he finds himself transported to Coventry Cathedral in the 1300s and he only catches the occasional meaningful word in the locals' Middle English, represented phonetically. Oh, it's definitely hardcore SF, but it's also a tribute to Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat and the spirit is very much alive and well. 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.Anne Youngson wrote Three Women and a Boat (Penguin, 2021), about three middle-aged strangers setting off on an adventure in a narrowboat. [28] The novel was chosen for BBC Radio 2 Book Club [29] See also [ edit ]

It's a time-travel/mystery/romance which is consistently witty and often downright hilarious. Books which are simultaneously literary and humorous are hard to come by - but here, Willis succeeds amazingly well.Now there was one book that my grandmother suggested I read that I've always had mixed feelings about: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Why is this important? Because the subtitle for this much-loved classic is To Say Nothing of the Dog. Yes, this is where Connie Willis got the title for her book. Jerome's story plays a very important part in Willis' book, too. And Willis' book could be considered a homage to Jerome's. I can't recount how many times I've read Three Men in a Boat in a desperate attempt to love it as much as everyone else does. Sometimes I think it's boring as hell, sometimes I think "hey, I think I get it now" but most times I just find it meh. Now that I've just reread To Say Nothing of the Dog I feel like giving Jerome's book another try. Obviously. I wonder how it will go this time. I'm not keeping my hopes up. Anyway, this was Famous Three Things #2: humorous British Lit. Finch, Dunworthy's clever and efficient secretary. He eventually joins the other time travelers in 1888, masquerading as the butler at the estate of the Chattisbournes, who are neighbors of the Merings. He finds the role easy to play, as he excels at organization and service. Once for Yes, Twice for No: In the seance scene. Since Ned and Verity are trying to make the "spirit" give totally different answers than the "spiritualists" who are the reason for the seance in the first place, Hilarity Ensues. The story begins by introducing George, Harris, Jerome (always referred to as "J."), and Jerome's dog, Montmorency. The men are spending an evening in J.'s room, smoking and discussing illnesses from which they fancy they suffer. They conclude that they are all suffering from "overwork", and need a holiday. A stay in the country and a sea trip are both considered. The country stay is rejected because Harris claims that it would be dull, and the sea-trip after J. describes bad experiences his brother-in-law and a friend had on previous sea-trips. The three eventually decide on a boating holiday up the River Thames, from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford, during which they will camp, notwithstanding more of J.'s anecdotes about previous mishaps with tents and camping stoves.