To Say Nothing of the Dog
1 journaler for this copy...
I read this years and years ago but I don't remember anything about it so when I saw it for sale in Aqua Books for $4.00 I decided it was a book I would have to reread.
I adore Connie Willis. Well, since I've never met her I guess what I really adore is her writing. However, I am quite sure that if I met her I would adore her. She is always witty but in this book she outdoes herself.
This is book 2 in the Oxford Time Travel series, the first book being the fabulous Doomsday Book. In this book the time historians are shuttling between 1940 and 1888 trying pin down what happened to the Bishop's bird stump, a particularly awful example of Victorian art which was in the Coventry Cathedral on the night it was bombed. Lady Schrapnell was so moved by her great-great-grandmother's account of seeing it in the church in 1888 that Lady Schrapnell, who is immensely wealthy, decided to rebuild Coventry Cathedral in Oxford down to every detail, including the bird stump. Ned Henry has been combing jumble sales and digging through the rubble so much that he has become time-lagged. The supervisor decides that what he needs is a jaunt back to 1888 to rest and if he can somehow find out what about the bird stump so changed Lady Schrapnell's ancestor's life that would be a help. Ned, an Oxford student called Terence St. Trewes, and his tutor, Professor Peddick, along with Terence's bulldog Cyril end up taking a boat down the Thames. Terence is anxious to get to Muching's End because he met a young woman from there when she was searching for her lost cat. Ned vaguely remembers that he was instructed to go to Muching's End to meet his contact. And Professor Peddick just wants to go anywhere he can fish. These are not the original Three Men in a Boat from Jerome K. Jerome's book of that name but their adventures are equally amusing.
I have not read Three Men in a Boat but I can tell that I shall have to now.
This is book 2 in the Oxford Time Travel series, the first book being the fabulous Doomsday Book. In this book the time historians are shuttling between 1940 and 1888 trying pin down what happened to the Bishop's bird stump, a particularly awful example of Victorian art which was in the Coventry Cathedral on the night it was bombed. Lady Schrapnell was so moved by her great-great-grandmother's account of seeing it in the church in 1888 that Lady Schrapnell, who is immensely wealthy, decided to rebuild Coventry Cathedral in Oxford down to every detail, including the bird stump. Ned Henry has been combing jumble sales and digging through the rubble so much that he has become time-lagged. The supervisor decides that what he needs is a jaunt back to 1888 to rest and if he can somehow find out what about the bird stump so changed Lady Schrapnell's ancestor's life that would be a help. Ned, an Oxford student called Terence St. Trewes, and his tutor, Professor Peddick, along with Terence's bulldog Cyril end up taking a boat down the Thames. Terence is anxious to get to Muching's End because he met a young woman from there when she was searching for her lost cat. Ned vaguely remembers that he was instructed to go to Muching's End to meet his contact. And Professor Peddick just wants to go anywhere he can fish. These are not the original Three Men in a Boat from Jerome K. Jerome's book of that name but their adventures are equally amusing.
I have not read Three Men in a Boat but I can tell that I shall have to now.
I passed this book on to my sister some time ago and I think she released it after she read it. So it will be marked travelling now.
