Book Review #11 - To Say Nothing of the Dog

Sometimes, not always and not really all that often, I read a book without reading the book jacket summary or anything about it on Goodreads. For some reason, perhaps the small print on this small paperback, I simply relied that it was a favorite of a friend of mine, was reportedly funny (I love funny books) and its title and author seemed British. It's a horrible and undoubtedly untrue stereotype but there is something inherently more "classy" about a British comedy compared to an American one.

Why in the world I assumed Connie Willis was a British male I have no idea, but it turns out SHE is American, born and living in Colorado and is a major science fiction author. These realizations set me back a bit when I learned that To Say Nothing of the Dog involved time travel, a whole lot of details about historical wars, literature I had not read and an exhausting, book long search for a repeatedly described bird stump that I still could never accurately visualize or imagine because I have no idea what a bird stump is. It was set in Great Britain so maybe I need to add to my flawed sterotype that brits put things weird and ugly things for birds to land on inside their great cathedrals. Whether this adds to their class or humor, I have no idea.

Regardless of my ignorance, I still found this story to be complex, engaging, confusing, entertaining and very, very funny. I loved the characters - extreme and one sided as Willis portrayed them. It's not a particularly easy book to read and I admit that reading a few summaries would have helped a great deal in my ability to get into this book at its beginning but I'm glad I read it. Combine Back To The Future with Time Traveler's Wife and you'll be head scratching and smiling at the same time.