To Say Nothing of the Dog

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

By: Connie Willis

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 20 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1999

"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)

Hard to follow at times

I think it was more the story its self however at times you had to gloss over some of the details to know where they were in time talking to. Would make a good movie or tv series. Visual would help.

This book is hard to classify but is a fun read

This is an unusual book. Although it does have a story about "historians" traveling back in time, the majority of the story occurs in Victorian England and World War I.
As far as the time travel elements, the story is just the very ordinary thoughts about doing something in the past that might alter the future.
A cathedral that had been bombed in WWI is being rebuilt by an excentric wealthy woman. She is fixated on finding the "Bishop's Bird Stump" as her GGGgrandmother had written about it. I never found myself caring about what the object was or if it was ever found.
The majority of the story concerned how people acted, dressed, ate, traveled, etc. in the long past years.It was a bit excessive for my tastes (I don't care about jumble sales, pen wipes, ruffles, etc.) but I'm sure readers that like Victorian England may really like it.

My favorite characters were Cyril (the bulldog) and Princess Arjiman (the cat).

Since I commute long hours, I finished the book easily. However I won't be looking up books by this author to read compulsively.

Terrific!

I love this book. It's one of those books that are written for books lovers because it mentions worlds of other books.

Charming characters and lively story line.

Cute jump to book 2 and pleasantly unexpected. I am glad this is a series.

Victorian Science Fiction fun- Fantastic Narrator!

The book is fun. The narrator is fabulous, and it leaves you feeling good. What more could one ask for?

If you are a Connie Willis fan I rank this above 'The Doomsday Book,' and only slightly under 'All Clear' and 'Blackout.' I think the only reason I rank it slightly lower than the other two is because I prefer World War II history. The book is a perfect piece for Victorian England. It is full of class structure, ladies having the audacity to want to read books and become modern rather than focus on the latest gossip at tea and discuss the creation of a new frock. While you are experiencing this it is also being experienced by time traveling historians on a chase to find an artifact and return items that should not have been removed from the past. It could or could not disturb the balance of the space time continuum.

...think period piece/mystery novel/science fiction. Sounds fun, right? Well, it is. Not so science fiction that you would liken it to Dr. Who but you do get to play around with the "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" stuff. There is a lot of Brittish humor and the book makes fun of its self. This is something I appreciate in an author.

Steven Crossely really did a fantastic job. This one I had with whispersync and I would definitely go audible. Tossie is a bit annoying and silly but Connie Willis intends her to be so and his interpretation of Dunworthy is award winning.

A bit of a warning, however, if you don't particularly like brittish humor or get bored with period pieces this may not be for you.

Narrator Stephen Crossley is amazing

Would you consider the audio edition of To Say Nothing of the Dog to be better than the print version?

Yes

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He is amazing. One if the very best narrators - right up there with Davina Porter & Jom Dale

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

No

Wow Connie Willis' historian series are the Best

Amusing, witty and charming.
Connie Willis' characters and plots and twist, in this book, are extremely entertaining.
And to get a glimpse of these parts in history told by 'actual' characters just makes her Historian books some of the best to read...to say nothing of the dog.

Delightful, rollicking, and well-researched

Apart from one or two quotation mistakes, and a fraction too much elderly female outrage, I found nothing to quibble with in this romp of a time-travel story. Loved the historical interactions and the complexity that went into the time travel theory. I'm not a huge fan of slapstick, but even I had to chuckle at many of the ridiculous situations; most of the humor is wry, and the story flows well despite the sudden jumps of place and time. I've become quite fond of some of the characters, too, especially the cat, to say nothing of the dog. The story involves a cathedral and is respectful of religion, and there's nothing in the relationships more graphic than kissing (and not in a way that would embarrass families enjoying the book together). I have not listened to the other books in the series, but I wish Steven Crossley had narrated them all; his performance was top drawer. It's rare to find a good book that entertains, educates, and elevates, but this one does it successfully.

Like time travel?

This is my favorite time travel book, I have listened to it at least 3 times over the past few years. Witty, engaging, with lots of plot twists and literary jokes. I also recommend any other book by Connie Willis.

Listened at least five times. It's that good.

The beginning is a bit confusing, but it is supposed to be. Stay with it. This is Connie Willis at her best. Good sci-fi, with humor, and a bit of mystery novel for good measure.