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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Ned Henry must find the bishop's bird stump. Or, perhaps more importantly, he must avoid Lady Schrapnell because he can't find the bishop's bird stump. So, he is sent back into Victorian England, where he accidentally sets into motion a series of events that could destroy the universe. If you love the combination of time-travel, victorian humor, hard sci-fi, and romantic comedy, this is the book for you.
Connie Willis is a mad genius. She an amalgam of mistaken identities, bedroom farce scenes, and Wodehousian dialogue and maintained sufficient hard sci-fi chops to provide explanation for it all that makes sense. The ending is both incredibly satisfying and a little bit frightening, which may be how all good books should end. Read this, you will not regret it.
Connie Willis is a mad genius. She an amalgam of mistaken identities, bedroom farce scenes, and Wodehousian dialogue and maintained sufficient hard sci-fi chops to provide explanation for it all that makes sense. The ending is both incredibly satisfying and a little bit frightening, which may be how all good books should end. Read this, you will not regret it.
are you for real. once again i have gone into a book having no clue what it was about, and this was SO fun. the plot is essentially a time travel mystery novel and the writing style is SO charming that i enjoyed every single chapter despite the fact that it mostly took place in victorian england. would have never read this had i known the premise, but im glad i did, omg
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
My favorite book so far this year. It is set in that pseudo-rural England of estates and vicars and class that in my head at least spans 1820-1920; in other words [a: Jane Austin|16907623|Jane Austin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] to [a: P.G. Wodehouse|7963|P.G. Wodehouse|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1198684105p2/7963.jpg]. Structurally, it is a time travel mystery as the protagonists run about Victorian England trying to avert the end of the universe by making sure history happens the way "it was supposed to". Mix in literary references (primarily to [b: Three Men in a Boat|4921|Three Men in a Boat (Three Men, #1)|Jerome K. Jerome|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392791656s/4921.jpg|4476508] but lots of others like [a: Alfred Lord Tennyson|13638502|Alfred Tennyson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1454788521p2/13638502.jpg], and [a: Lewis Carrol|17167314|Lewis Carrol|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]), a love story (with some great lines for wooing women), the best causality explanation ever, and a mystery that does keep you guessing (even if she does cheat). I heartily recommend this one to anybody.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After trying and failing to read Doomsday Book which one of my colleagues used to recommend for a church history course, I didn't consider reading this second book in the series. Encouragement from Grace made me try it, and I'm glad I did. With Coventry Cathedral pre-WW II, time travel, and a rather whacky mystery, good writing and engaging characters caught me this time. The author's attention to details can almost overwhelm but the humorous moments interspersed throughout, especially those with the dog, a cat, and spiritualism, keep things moving. Add in the overall concepts of life and mortality, the scope of generations, love, and hope, and this book is a classic.
This book is the most fun I've had in a while. It a riotous mix of science and humour in a time travel setting that ranges for 2057 to 1888 with serious issues in 1940 Coventry Cathedral. There is mystery and romance and kittens - what more could you want from a book. I was sorry to see this one end.
Read it in close succession with Three Men on a Boat and Have Spacesuit Will Travel. Each book is dedicated to, references, or is based upon Threen Men on a Boat.
Of course, this was my favorite of all three. And my introduction into Connie's time traveling Oxford series.
Of course, this was my favorite of all three. And my introduction into Connie's time traveling Oxford series.
Another book about time travel, this one light and amazingly funny. Many cultural references.
In all honesty, I read this back in the 90's and LOVED it. Always wanted to read it again and do the whole Oxford Time Travel group. I can say that it was every bit as good this second time around. It captured the slapstick of the original Three Men In A Boat and took it up a couple of notches with the time travel factor. In near future (2057) science comes up with means to travel through time. However, since it is impossible to bring back anything of value or to change history, business gets disgusted and walks away. It's left to historians to use the technology to travel back in time and study the past in depth. The first book, The Doomsday Book, was pretty heavy going. Great story, but not a lot of giggles. In this one, Lady Schrapnell is rebuilding Coventry cathedral and is running all the Oxford historians ragged sending them back to try to track down every authentic detail of the cathedral before it was bombed during WWII. This causes historian Ned to become time lagged, and he is sent back to Victorian England to return a cat and to rest after that. Much like the Jerome book, in spite of the best intentions, he does not get much rest. Now...read the darn story yourself for more!