Rating: 
Summary: Funniest book in the English language
Review: My mother wasn't much for reading, and this is the only book she ever bought me, having loved it herself as a child in the 1930s. I must have read it a dozen times, and every time it literally brings tears to my eyes. Which is no small feat. Those who find the book "too old" (!) might like to try Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island. You'll immediately see the kinship across the years.
Rating:
Summary: Still Relevant
Review: One of the truly classic satirical novels of all time, Jerome K. Jerome's tale of three men's (to say nothing of the dog!) boat trip may take place in 19th Century England, but his hilarious, sarcastic, amazingly precise insights into the human nature make it as relevant in any time and any place (scratching some of the jokes about the technicalities of boating itself). Jerome saw into the absurdities and ironies of life, and put them to paper with wit and venom. Three Men in a Boat is one of the earliest signs of modern English humor, and Jerome's influence is everywhere in the works of satirical authors from P.G. Wodehouse to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, not to mention English comedians like Monty Python and Lenny Henry. Essential reading, a real classic.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Fun - And Check Online
Review: Other reviewers have noted the wonderful properties of this book. I, too, love it.And, you can enjoy this fine edition, from Amazon.com. Since it is a century old, if you want it even faster than Amazon can deliver it, you can check it out on Project Gutenberg where the complete text, out of copyright now, is available to download (free). Cheers!
Rating:
Summary: Read the book that introduced me to Connie Willis
Review: Other reviewers mentioned that they came across this book after reading Connie Willis' 'To Say Nothing of the Dog'. In my case it was the other way around, and it was a blurb on the cover of Terry Pratchett's 'The Colour of Magic' that made me pick up 'Three Men in a Boat' when I came across it at a used bookshop. Who would have thought that life in the 1890's was so, well, modern? From obsession with health and the body, to the difficulties of opening tins with random objects, and the happy oblivion of courting couples, this book could have been written yesterday. Almost yesterday anyway, there's no getting away from the language and lack of aeroplanes. But the language, instead of being a stuffy hindrance, is crackling sharp, and hilariously funny. This book is a gem you should share with anyone you come across (and will be if you are foolhardy enough to read it in public).
Rating: 
Summary: Three Incompetent Men in a Boat
Review: Parts of this book read like Sarah Orne Jewett. Parts read like Thoreau's "Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers." Those parts contrasted oddly with the humorous parts, which drew forth an occasional chuckle and told of the adventures of three ill-prepared men on holiday traveling up the Thames because they thought a week on the water in a boat would be a pleasant excursion. The trip was not an idyllic one, though it had its moments. The misadventures suffered by our three incompetents are what give the book its chuckles. I like Jewett, Thoreau, and an occasional chuckle, and this book gave me a couple of entertaining evenings. The subtitle of this book is "To Say Nothing of the Dog." I don't know why the dog was dragged into the story. He added nothing, and I found the parts about the dog annoying. At least, the dog parts were few.
Rating:
Summary: Harry Hill's "favourite book"
Review: Per an interview by John Koski in the "Books" section of the Sunday Daily Mail April 2004, Harry Hill's reply to the question, "What's your favourite book?" was:
"'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K Jerome. Although written at the turn of the 20th century, it has a very contemporary tone. It still makes me laugh out loud."
Rating: 
Summary: have read his other work - a wonder
Review: Perhaps I break the rules, having not read the book, but I know the praise all too well. I found Jerome's "Idle Thoughts of and Idle Fellow" in a box of discarded booxs. It is the finest thing I ever read. Why isn't this old Englishman a household word - that's what I want to know . . .
Rating:
Summary: Beware - you might choke laughing :)
Review: The above title refers to the book itself, not to the following review of course. I run along my predecessors in the latter, meaning that I do share their opinion of the book as the most hilarious and funny piece of [English] literature to hit the press by the end of XIX century.
It IS extremely funny. It IS hilarious. But it is not only funny -it is sweet. It is sweet with the sweetness of Victorian/Edwardian age, with its peculiar (I may even use beloved term of Dr. Watson - singular) language and dear old expressions. I've read and reread it many times, and even though I always know the next joke to follow, I can't help giggling under my mustache (not that I have one, it's just an idiom :))
If you have never been to England (that is, like yours truly), this book is enough to make you fall in love with English countryside. The Thames riverside is described in a lovely, charming way making you wish you were richer man able to afford the journey there.
This book was one of several which formed my mental image of England in my childhood, along with Sherlock Holmes stories, Wind in the Willows, Donald Bisset and some more. I love that image, with dear old gentlemen in top-hats and frock-coats, and ladies of exquisite upbringing, all folks addressing each other 'sir' in mostly polite way and so forth
Surely, you won't regret reading it :)
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: The author in his inimitable style has managed to make me laugh even in the technology crazed days of today ( as opposed to gliding down the Thames in a simple boat). It is truly one of the most entertaining comic capers of our times (and presumably those times as well !). To be read when depressed, lonely, sad, happy, cheerful, angry, scared, horrified, feverish... just about any mood ( even when you're moodless!)
Rating:
Summary: A true classic
Review: The single funniest thing to come out of England before the BBC.
| 
