Book description
Ned Henry is a time-travelling historian who specialises in the mid-20th century - currently engaged in researching the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral. He's also made so many drops into the past that he's suffering from a dangerously advanced case of 'time-lag'.
Unfortunately for Ned, an emergency dash to Victorian England is…
Why read it?
4 authors picked To Say Nothing of the Dog as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
For someone who loves sci fi *and* historical fiction, this book was a perfect merge of the two, with the added bonus of stylistic homage to Jerome K. Jerome if you like that sort of thing (and I very much do). It is gently witty and full of personality; the characters are well filled out, and the frequent oscillations of the plot from the sublime to the absurd are delightful.
I love this book – and have read it at least four times – because it’s hilarious, with an interwoven plot that keeps the reader guessing. It mixes excellent historical scholarship (on England in the Second World War, in the 1880s, and in the mid-fourteenth century), with science fiction, a detective mystery, and two love stories.
The title deliberately echoes Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 classic, hilarious, and inimitable Three Men in a Boat (to say Nothing of the Dog) – but I didn’t re-read that book this year, so can’t list it here. (The original three men and dog make…
To Say Nothing of the Dog is a fairly brilliant time-travel novel about a temporal historian named Ned Henry. Whether you like it will probably come down to taste. It made me laugh out loud more than once. I loved Cyril the dog. I loved Baines the butler. I may have developed a bit of a crush on Verity. (That has never happened to me with a character in a book before.) This book, which has been described as a symphony of a novel, radiates intelligence and good humour and belongs on your reading list, at the very top, if…
From Joe's list on time travel for people keen to change the past.
If you love To Say Nothing of the Dog...
Aggressor
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Connie Willis and Kage Baker are, in my mind, kindred spirits. Both are outstanding in their ability to capture human nature, both in its glory and with its pants down. And with sparkling humor. I love many of Willis’s books but this little one is so fun, clever, and intriguing that it has to be my favorite.
It also features time travellers - British historians from the future who are documenting historical events while trying desperately not step on that one butterfly that destroys history.
This book is doubly funny because it is inspired by an equally hilarious novel by…
From Jay's list on funny sci/fi fantasy.
If you love To Say Nothing of the Dog...
Aggressor
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Want books like To Say Nothing of the Dog?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 94 books like To Say Nothing of the Dog.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,212
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like To Say Nothing of the Dog, you might also like...
Pinned
“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…
Reddy
This is for those readers who like unusual settings and independent female characters in mid-life.
