Book review: To say nothing of the dog

I've read three notable novels lately -- all highly recommended.  (And a few short story collections -- not recommended.)

It all started, several weeks ago, with Connie Willis' 1997 book To Say Nothing of the Dog: Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump.

Somehow, and I can't remember where, I read an enticing review of the book, and so I requested it from the library.

If it helps anything, this long-named book is a fun, futuristic, comedy-mystery-romance, time-traveling historical novel set (mostly) in Victorian England.  It's further complicated by two things (1) it takes most of the book to even find out what the Bishop's bird stump actually is, and (2) the main character is often an unreliable narrator.

But despite the complications, it's a very readable and thoroughly enjoyable story.

The basic plot is that in 2057 a wealthy American is pushing to rebuild Coventry Cathedral, bombed during the Second World War.  It's essential that every last detail of the Cathedral is exactly the same as it was on the night of the bombing, and this includes the Bishop's bird stump.

This is where the time travelling comes in, and for most of the story we're following Ned Henry, the unreliable narrator (dazed and confused by too many time travels), sent back to 1888 to return a cat, restore the timeline, track down the Bishop's bird stump, avoid the overbearing wealthy American, recover his mind, and romantically pair off the right people.

It's fun and funny all the way along, as we, like Ned, are trying to figure it out.

At one point Ned is boating along the Thames with a couple of other men, not to mention the dog.

Those more literary-minded than me will immediately click that this is an affectionate reference to Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 book Three Men in a Boat To Say Nothing of the Dog!  (Ned even bumps into Jerome, Harris, George and Montmorency along the way!)

This led me to get curious about Jerome's book, so after finishing Willis' book (yes, it all ends happily, with the timeline restored and the bird stump found -- but I'm not going to tell you what the bird stump is) I started on Jerome's book.

Three Men in a Boat is a bone-dry-witted social commentary in the form of a travel story/misadventure.  Jerome's numerous storytelling digressions are just as fun as the travels themselves, as he comments on the idiosyncrasies of Victorian middle classes.

As with any travel story, I found myself reading with a map alongside me, following their journey along the Thames.

The particular edition I borrowed from the library was also bundled with Jerome's follow-up story (1900), Three Men on the Bummel.

On the Bummel reintroduces us to the three men several years later (minus the dog, who sadly probably died of old age).  Jerome and Harris are now married with children, and desperate to get away from their families (their families are similarly desperate to get rid of them).

They, with George, take off to Germany for a bit of biking through the Black Forest.  Once again, their semi-competence frequently fails them, and they get into trouble (but always in a chipper, thoroughly-English way).  And once again, Jerome uses the travel format to take frequent narrative digressions to comment on English and European customs.

I finally finished On the Bummel a few days ago, coincidently while the family was on the bummel in Taranaki.

What does it mean to be on the bummel?  I'll get on to that next when I write about our little summer travels.