Rating: 
Summary: Didn't like as well as Doomsday Book. still very good tale
Review: Set in 2057, a couple of years after Ms. Willis' previous effort "Doomsday Book", this book revisits Oxford University and its' time travel research porgram.
This time the story is that a rich widow, Lady Schrapnell, is rebuilding Coventry Cathedral (destroyed by fire in 1940 - the book never explains why she's doing it in Oxford)and running the History department ragged going back in time for research on a missing item that she wants in order to complete her task.
Historian Ned Henry has made so many trips in quick succession (cathedral dedication only days away) that he has developed severe time lag ( something that was only briefly mentioned in Doomsday Book)and is sent into the past, Victorian England, to recover. His time lag is so bad that he doesn't realize for some time that he had a mission to restore the time line. Supposedly objects cannot be brought foward in time (although Kivrin Engle returned to 2055 wearing 1348 clothing in Doomsday Book)but another historian has done just that, bringing a living cat that belonged to Lady Schrapnel's multiple greatgrandmother ( whose diary was the inspiration for the reborn Coventry).
The bulk of the book follows the adventures of Ned and Verity Kindle (the other historian)as they live in the past with that ancestor's family trying to reset history to it's proper order. I don't see the humor that some reviews and the book cover mention but I found it to be a great book anyway filled with lots of detail and interesting points.
The Victorians were cartoonish but I've read similar depictions in the past. I loved getting more details about how time travel "works" and the history of it's development but had trouble follwing the self correcting continuum bit. Nice idea about the restoration of lost things idea that Mr. Dunsworthy, yes he's back too, and others develop as a result of the cat coming forward.
I've gotten all three of Ms. Willis' time travel stories now (I understand that she's writing another one), no regrets on any of them.
Rating: 
Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Review: I read Doomsday Book and it was superb but serious; then I found this book set in the same time and it isn't serious at all! It is laugh out loud funny but still superb. It has the dual timeframes, and very covoluted multiple plots as found in Doomsday Book but turned inside out. I strongly recommend this book ( as well as the more serious Doomsday Book). After that, reread Alice and then go on to Thursday Next.
Rating:
Summary: A truly creative and captivating book, unlike any other!
Review: This is the kind of book that defies the reader to put it down. I read the entire second half in one sitting, staying up until about 4:00 in the morning. I had the same experience when I read Connie Willis's "Doomsday Book" and was glad to find "To Say Nothing of the Dog" equally captivating. It is a hard book to categorize. It is science fiction, but at the same time it is historical fiction, and thrown into the mix are elements of satire, comedy, mystery, and romance. It is hard to imagine any author combining all of these successfully, but Willis pulls it off without a single hitch.
The protagonist, Ned Henry, is an historian from the year 2057. He spends his days traveling back and forth between 2057 and 1940, where he has been sent to investigate a hideous vase known as the bishop's bird stump that disappeared when Coventry Cathedral was destroyed during an air raid. The cathedral is being re-built, and patroness Lady Schrapnell is a stickler for accuracy, wanting everything in the new Coventry Cathedral to be just as it was immediately before the bombing. But Ned is exhausted, suffering from a condition called time-lag, brought on by excessive time travel. His superiors decide that the best thing would be to send him back in time to 1888, the Victorian era, for a rest. But they have an additional motive as well. Fellow historian Verity Kindle has brought an item from the Victorian era back to the present, something which is not supposed to be possible, and which could alter the course of history. Ned, therefore, is instructed to return this item to its owner in 1888, and then spend the rest of his time recovering. But Ned is already so time-lagged that he misses half of his instructions and arrives in Victorian England with no idea what he is carrying or what he is supposed to do with it. Meanwhile, the entire space-time continuum may be in jeopardy.
The story is just as complicated as it sounds, and for a while I had doubts about whether Willis would be able to tie all the various threads together into a satisfying, plausible whole. But I should not have worried. Though some parts of the plot stretch the imagination a bit, the resolution makes everything fall perfectly into place. I am generally not a big fan of science fiction mainly for the reason that I find it hard to suspend my disbelief, but Willis is one of the few authors I've encountered who manages to make time travel seem entirely possible and absolutely logical. Her use of chaos theory as a framework for the events of the story is fascinating. If you're at all interested in themes like this, "To Say Nothing of the Dog" will suit you perfectly and keep you thinking long after you finish reading.
Despite the complexity of the plot, the story is also choc full of humor. Ned has not studied the Victorian era in much detail and does not have time to do so before being hurriedly shipped there to escape Lady Schrapnell. It is highly amusing to watch him fumble along, trying to figure out the detailed etiquette of the period. And at the same time Willis pokes fun at these rigid social customs. Some scenes are almost farcical and it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. This is definitely a book for any reader, on any occasion. It is thoughtful, it is funny, it is well-written, and Willis's characters are some of the most likeable you could hope to find. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Well-Plotted, Original--
Review: I truly enjoyed this book. Although the plotting was complex, it was presented in such a way that it could be followed effectively. It was fun, funny, had a bit of romance, a bit of sweetness (particularly surrounding the cat), and a great mystery element. The time/chaos theory behind the book was great! Do read this...and then go on to the Thursday Next Series.
Rating:
Summary: Ah, such fun
Review: Willis's best, period.
While not as emotionally poignant as "Doomsday book" (with which it shares a couple of minor characters), TSNOTD is all but guaranteed to make you smile.
A time traveling story taking place (mostly) at an idyllic version of late Victorian England, sporting a cast of eccentric yet lovable characters, the book never takes itself too seriously. The 21st century hero and heroine are almost as silly as their 19th century compatriots, and the mission they are sent to perform is (at least initially) almost ridiculously trivial.
Importantly, this book avoids a pitfall that plagues many of Willis's works - namely, an uneven mood that makes some of the comic moments seem grating or inappropriate. It's probably the lightest and least cynical book by the author to date, and quite simply - it's funny throughout.
For sheer "feelgood" factor, TSNOTD is hard to beat. Very readable, even for the non-SF crowd. Can't recommend it enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Would be great with 100 fewer pages
Review: Mark Twain once wrote of attending a sermon by an up and coming evangelist. Only a few minutes into the sermon and Twain vowed to put a $10 gold piece (no small sum in those days) into the collection plate. But the evangelist talked on and on and by the time the plate finally did come around, Twain stole a quarter from it.
Hysterically funny to begin with, the desire to make this book all things to all people (and, one suspects, the publisher's demands that this book be some minimal length) soon reduces this tour de force to a colossal bore.
Bring back the short novel!
Rating:
Summary: A stitch in time
Review: This story takes off from the same setting that Willis used in her earlier novel, "Doomsday Book", about Oxford historians who travel back in time to investigate past events and occasionally recover artifacts. But the main characters from that book aren't re-used, and the style and themes are entirely different.This is a light novel, with elements of a romance and a comedy of manners. Ned Henry is suffering from time lag, having been run ragged by Lady Schrapnell, a wealthy heiress who is providing most of the funds to keep the research going. Lady Schrapnell is a stickler for detail in her elaborate reconstruction of the Coventry Cathedral, and insists that the historians provide the Bishop's bird stump, a strikingly ugly work of art that was lost when the Cathedral was bombed in 1940. The only way Ned can escape from Schrapnell is to go back to before she was born, so he is given a simple courier assignment to make a delivery in the Victorian era, where he can rest up for a few weeks after his task is completed. Unfortunately, Ned is too time-lagged to be able to understand his instructions, so he is left wandering about the 1880s uncertain what he is delivering to whom, and never quite aware of whether he is preserving the proper time line or undermining it. He does know that Tossie, the distant ancestress of Lady Schrapnell whose family home he is a guest in, is supposed to fall in love with her future husband in a few days, but he doesn't know who that is - only that it definitely isn't Cyril, the young gentleman he accidentally introduced to her, who is now wooing her with marked success. The plot is complex and worked out in great detail - many apparently random details are ultimately brought together in an ending that is almost too clever. The characters, major and minor, are nicely drawn. All in all, thoroughly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: In a word: Funny!!
Review: Very enjoyable book - Connie Willis takes you on a ride through time to the Victorian Age and back. Very lighthearted, but not simple-minded. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Victorian satire
Review: Ned Henry has been thrown around in time from one jumble sale to the next, looking for a bizarre object named the bishop's bird stump. This is all in an effort to rebuild the Coventry Cathedral, at a time when religion is pretty much obsolete, but money buys everything. Lady Schrapnell is intent on rebuilding the Cathedral, the site where her great-great-great-grandmother had an epiphany when she first laid eyes on the bishop's bird stump. On one of Ned's return trips, he runs into Verity Kindle, another time-travelling historian, and is instantly enchanted by her. Verity has a problem, however. She brought back an item through the time-travelling portal, and in doing so, could have changed the course of history forever. Now it's up to Ned and Verity to bring the item back, and straighten out any incongruities that might have resulted from her impulsive move, in order to save the world as we know it. TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG is a humorous science fiction story, with a Victorian twist. As Ned and Verity spend a lot of their time in the Victorian era, a lot of the conversation centers around Victorian poetry and literature. English Majors will be thrilled to understand the references to some of the poetry and literary works quoted, while other reads will be left shaking their heads in wonder. The satire on the Victorian era is very well done, however, and all readers should be able to appreciate that. The characterization is superb, which makes up for the slow-moving plot. Ms. Willis' writing style is full of British wit and humor, making this a very funny read. For fans of Ms. Willis' DOOMSDAY BOOK, this might come as a surprise, since TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG doesn't contain the same level of emotional involvement and satisfaction as the aforementioned novel. Still, a fun read if you have the patience.
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