To Say Nothing of the Dog

By Connie Willis,

Book cover of To Say Nothing of the Dog: Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last

Book description

Ned Henry is a time-travelling historian who specialises in the mid-20th century - currently engaged in researching the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral. He's also made so many drops into the past that he's suffering from a dangerously advanced case of 'time-lag'.

Unfortunately for Ned, an emergency dash to Victorian England is…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked To Say Nothing of the Dog as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

For someone who loves sci fi *and* historical fiction, this book was a perfect merge of the two, with the added bonus of stylistic homage to Jerome K. Jerome if you like that sort of thing (and I very much do). It is gently witty and full of personality; the characters are well filled out, and the frequent oscillations of the plot from the sublime to the absurd are delightful.

I love this book – and have read it at least four times – because it’s hilarious, with an interwoven plot that keeps the reader guessing. It mixes excellent historical scholarship (on England in the Second World War, in the 1880s, and in the mid-fourteenth century), with science fiction, a detective mystery, and two love stories.

The title deliberately echoes Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 classic, hilarious, and inimitable Three Men in a Boat (to say Nothing of the Dog) – but I didn’t re-read that book this year, so can’t list it here. (The original three men and dog make…

To Say Nothing of the Dog is a fairly brilliant time-travel novel about a temporal historian named Ned Henry. Whether you like it will probably come down to taste. It made me laugh out loud more than once. I loved Cyril the dog. I loved Baines the butler. I may have developed a bit of a crush on Verity. (That has never happened to me with a character in a book before.) This book, which has been described as a symphony of a novel, radiates intelligence and good humour and belongs on your reading list, at the very top, if…

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Book cover of Domesticated Magic

Domesticated Magic by Wendy Palmer,

Mateo Taurasi and his family fled their island home when their people turned to sorcery. Mateo’s own magic is tame but it’s still banned in the Vaeringan Empire...and his family still use it every day in their cosy teahouse. The last thing they need is an Imperial barging in to…

Connie Willis and Kage Baker are, in my mind, kindred spirits. Both are outstanding in their ability to capture human nature, both in its glory and with its pants down. And with sparkling humor. I love many of Willis’s books but this little one is so fun, clever, and intriguing that it has to be my favorite.

It also features time travellers - British historians from the future who are documenting historical events while trying desperately not step on that one butterfly that destroys history.

This book is doubly funny because it is inspired by an equally hilarious novel by…

From Jay's list on funny sci/fi fantasy.

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Book cover of Domesticated Magic

Domesticated Magic by Wendy Palmer,

Mateo Taurasi and his family fled their island home when their people turned to sorcery. Mateo’s own magic is tame but it’s still banned in the Vaeringan Empire...and his family still use it every day in their cosy teahouse. The last thing they need is an Imperial barging in to…

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