It is inevitable that I start by comparing To Say Nothing of the Dog to Doomsday Book, the other Connie Willis novel I recently reviewed. Though very much related in that involves the same delightful Oxford time travel team, this is a very different story, much more a light-hearted romp through Victorian England with references to mystery novels of that time (and later times). In spite of how very different the tone of the book is, I loved it as well. It’s like Doctor Who–some episodes are fun and […]
Deeply dysfunctional people with the coolest job ever!
St. Mary’s is a project funded by a fictional university that sends historians back in time to observe significant events in contemporary time. The work is incredibly dangerous and all-consuming, but for history nerds it is an amazing opportunity. The lead character, Max, is an orphan (convenient!) incredibly tough (useful in the Cretaceous Period) and so emotionally dysfunctional that she’s probably a sociopath. Not that she’s portrayed that way. Instead she is the capable, but accident prone, slightly nerdy, slightly overweight romantic lead. There […]
Time Travel With Heart (and Heartbreak)
I’ve read this book before (maybe twice before) but it had been so long that I felt it was due for a re-read and review. Obviously, I’m a fan. Connie Willis can be a bit verbose and repetitive here and there, but I eat it all up anyway. (I also love J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, T.H. White, and George R.R. Martin, so I can deal with a bit of verbosity and lengthy description). The story starts at Oxford University in the year 2054 in a […]
I just wasn’t into this multi-Doctor meet-up :(
I don’t remember where I heard about this comic, just that I did, and immediately reserved it at my library. Watching the 50th Anniversary special a couple of years ago was one of the best fictional experiences I’ve ever had, so I was looking to recreate the feeling a little. Alas, this comic does not manage to convey the feeling of a Doctor Meet-Up, and honestly for me it didn’t even convey “Doctor Who.” I suppose if this had been a TV episode or even […]
The book that would never end.
This book covers the adventures of the extended Fraser-McKenzie clan through the years 1772-1776, and oh God, you feel every one of them. I picked up this book in late August 2015. I just finished it last week. For those of you as bad at math as I am, that is NINE MONTHS. I coulda grown a whole baby in the time it took me to read this book. If I was a cat, maybe dozens of babies. A rabbit . . . at least a […]
Vonnegut’s little war book.
There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.” So basically everyone I’ve ever talked to has read this book before me, and I’m kinda pissed off about that. Why didn’t y’all tell me I needed to read this? I know most people had to […]
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