To Say Nothing of the Dog
Wheeeee! I loved this book!
Someone told me I should try this book after I'd finished Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). But I had no idea that I should have read at least some of the Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane, Sherlock Holmes, and Hercule Poirot canon books first, too. I wasn't lost without that knowledge, but I'm sure I missed some subtle homages to all three in this book. (I'm griping about my own literary shortcomings here, not anyone's lack of advice or anything like that.) I do have some background on Jeeves, though, so I did catch the nods in Wodehouse's direction, and boy, were they fun to see!
I want Cyril and Princess Arjumand. They're a little too intelligent to be real, but that's what makes them so fun to read about.
Even though I'm sure I missed quite a few inside jokes, I adored this book. I haven't read any of Connie Willis's other works, so when the book launches into Ned's narrative without any backstory of what he's doing or why he's doing it, it's a little confusing at first, but I caught up eventually. There's a lot of tension in the book because of their deadlines and how seriously they're messing up the time line, but it's always balanced by humor and a delicate love story. (Ned and Verity are daffy and charming when time-lagged.) I wanted to smack Terence, Tossie, and Tossie's mother more than once ... maybe even more than I wanted to smack Mrs Bennet, and that'd be a new record in my book! A good chunk of Terence's dialogue was literary quotes, which was fun.
Verdict: I love this book. I must buy this book. (Thank heaven for public libraries.) And I must read Connie Willis's other books that take place in this world.
Next up: The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. Should be pretty quick, and than I can start Lord Peter Wimsey's adventures with Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers.
Someone told me I should try this book after I'd finished Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). But I had no idea that I should have read at least some of the Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane, Sherlock Holmes, and Hercule Poirot canon books first, too. I wasn't lost without that knowledge, but I'm sure I missed some subtle homages to all three in this book. (I'm griping about my own literary shortcomings here, not anyone's lack of advice or anything like that.) I do have some background on Jeeves, though, so I did catch the nods in Wodehouse's direction, and boy, were they fun to see!
I want Cyril and Princess Arjumand. They're a little too intelligent to be real, but that's what makes them so fun to read about.
Even though I'm sure I missed quite a few inside jokes, I adored this book. I haven't read any of Connie Willis's other works, so when the book launches into Ned's narrative without any backstory of what he's doing or why he's doing it, it's a little confusing at first, but I caught up eventually. There's a lot of tension in the book because of their deadlines and how seriously they're messing up the time line, but it's always balanced by humor and a delicate love story. (Ned and Verity are daffy and charming when time-lagged.) I wanted to smack Terence, Tossie, and Tossie's mother more than once ... maybe even more than I wanted to smack Mrs Bennet, and that'd be a new record in my book! A good chunk of Terence's dialogue was literary quotes, which was fun.
Verdict: I love this book. I must buy this book. (Thank heaven for public libraries.) And I must read Connie Willis's other books that take place in this world.
Next up: The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. Should be pretty quick, and than I can start Lord Peter Wimsey's adventures with Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers.