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)

Willis + Crossley = Wonderful

I have read this book several times, and found it hilariously funny, if sometimes tiresomely redundant (which I think is on purpose, as part of the plot). But I've never enjoyed it as much as listening to Stephen Crossley's narration. His characters' voices were absolutely perfect. I'll look for more audio books by him.

Good to listen while working on tasks.

Excellent narrator! The story bounces between the past and future, entertaining all the while. A fun cast of characters.

A little hard to follow but lots of fun.

I enjoyed the book a lot. The narration is fantastic, but the narrative was hard for me to follow. Who did what to whom and when and how that that affect the other thing to what effect on something else and then another thing and when? Like that. But it's a great book.

Charming

This was a fun and engaging listen. The plot is well put together, the characters are delightful and the narrator does a great job adding a little dash of extra humor on top.

I didn't find it as powerful as Doomsday Book, but of course that was never the point. This one gets into more of the quirks and wrinkles of the notion of time travel (something I must admit not being very good at following, so perhaps my "well put together" comment should include the caveat that any time-travel plot holes would likely escape me) and into a very sweet relationship story which adds a nice charm to the story without ever becoming the story itself. With all of that, I can see even more clearly in this book than in Doomsday Book where Jodi Taylor must have found the seed for her delightful St. Mary's tales.

Did not finish

For me this book failed to hold my interest. Not poorly written but I could not get into story.

An absolute favorite

The humor in this tale would keep me coming back even without the spectacular performance of the narrator, but how he brings it all to life is simply perfection. This is without doubt one of the best audible purchases ever; I cannot recommend it highly enough. Love it!

Another fabulous story performed excellently

Loved this book. It was my second book by Connie Willis. The author created an original story yet again based on time travel. I found the performance excellent. I couldn’t wait to sit and listen until I sadly finished. I will listen to another one as soon as I can.

Catholics only

The author assumes the reader is very familiar with Catholicism. Even being raised in a Christian society didn’t prepare me to understand many aspects of this story. If you’re unfamiliar with or dislike Catholicism, skip this book.
BUT it if that is your cup of tea, the time-travel portion of this story is engaging with a new take on the “mechanics” of it all.

Laugh out loud

Great book, had me laughing out loud as I listened at my desk. Wonderful listen.

Best narration ever!

The book is brilliant, and funny and deserving of any award they throw at it, yes -- all true. The only thing is, I never would have followed the story -- got all the humor, felt the emotions that the author conveyed or come to think of the main characters as close friends had it not been for the amazing job Steven Crossley did reading it. He clearly understood the work of Ms Willis and brought it to life for me. I listen to this book often as I drift off to sleep and am taken away each time.