(no subject)

[skygiants]

So last week I finally for the first time got around to reading Three Men in a Boat for the first time . . . which of course meant that immediately afterward I had to reread To Say Nothing of the Dog. THE PATH BEFORE ME HAD BEEN PREPARED, OKAY.

Anyway, it is pretty awesome reading them one after another like that because you get to see exactly how much Connie Willis stole straight from Jerome K. Jerome, and it is glorious. Ned's time-lagged rambling, for example? Straight out of Three Men in a Boat - J. is extremely prone to pausing to contemplate the immortal beauty of the stars and only pausing when one of his friends yells at him that they're about to run into the riverbank. (This is the cover of the edition I read and the expression on J.'s face is KIND OF PERFECT. Cover artist, I applaud you!) I should also say that I don't actually laugh out loud at books all that often, but I was seriously reading Three Men on a Boat and cracking up on the subway every other page. The tin of pineapple! The Hampton Court maze! LOLVICTORIANS ARE THE BEST.

Speaking of LOLVICTORIANS - I am beginning to realize that it is probably Connie Willis' fault that I have this fixed idea in my head that the Victorians automatically = HILARITY. The Victorian era was serious business in many ways! Industrialization, imperialism, Jack the Ripper, lots of unfun things! And yet, you say "Victorians" to me and I immediately go "THEY WERE REPRESSED BECAUSE THEY HAD TOO MUCH FURNITURE" and fall over laughing, because To Say Nothing of the Dog was incredibly formative and is going to shape my mental image of Victoriana for ever and ever. Connie Willis, I BLAME YOU. To Say Nothing of the Dog is also one of those books that if you do not watch it will immediately lead you straight down a path of other books so long that you will never escape, and it is taking lots of willpower right now to go back to my actual tottering pile of Books To Read instead of diving straight from Ned and Verity into rereads of Gaudy Night and The Moonstone, not to mention Doomsday Book.

(For those who have not read it, by the way, To Say Nothing of the Dog is a kind of time-travel-Victorian comedy of manners-romantic comedy-thirties mystery novel in which the fate of the space-time continuum is at stake and MORE IMPORTANTLY so is the fate of an incredibly hideous piece of Victorian statuary. In other words, read it!)

Comments

[newredshoes]

BEST DESCRIPTION OF GREATEST BOOK EVER EVER!

(Tea cozies! Seances! Poetry! All the Gladyses! Lady Shrapnel! WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE?)

[skygiants]

NOTHING. NOTHING IS NOT TO LOVE. *_*

(Have you read Three Men in a Boat yet? I kind of cannot believe it has taken me around 10 years from my first read of To Say Nothing of the Dog to get around to it!)

[newredshoes]

No, alas! I have an audio recording read by Hugh Laurie that I need to get on -- much like the audiobook of The Guernsey &c &c &c which is basically a radio play. PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT THAT TOO.

[skygiants]

I desperately want to listen to the audio recording too (and the Guernsey audio recording!) but somehow I never get around to listening to book-recordings! Clearly I need to make another road trip some time to fix this.

[sophistry]

YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO IT, it's hysterical. And also only something like two (and a half?) hours long, so it's perfect to pop on in the background if you're doing some srs housework or anything like that. I just. I mean.

It's Three Men in a Boat read by BERTIE WOOSTER.

[newredshoes]

When you put it like that, it does make it nigh on impossible to resist.

[nextian.livejournal.com]

IT'S A REALLY GOOD RECORDING. I just listened to it a week ago and it made me do ... exactly what Becca is describing here, to a somewhat hilarious extent. I even went out and bought Doomsday.

[newredshoes]

This is never an unsuitable reaction!

[tiltingheartand]

... have we discussed the fact that we both have read this book before? Because HI FAVORITE BOOK EVER (... that's a lie, but it's mos def in the top 10, mostly because I CANNOT CHOOSE). I have two copies by accident.

[skygiants]

I CAN'T REMEMBER but either way it is TOTALLY AWESOME and deserves to be squeaked about at all opportunity! Two copies is the best, then you have one to cherish and one for lending to everyone! I actually went into a panic on Sunday because I thought I'd lost my copy on the bus while I was in the middle of reading it and I was like 'noooooooo' and then . . . realized that I had in fact left it in my room. Under my pillow. GO ME.

[miseline.livejournal.com]

I love Three Men in a Boat! Like you I can't help laughing out loud when I read it. But I've never read (or heard about ) To Say Nothing of the Dog. Now I have to read it some time. Sounds like a lot of fun. Just please tell me that the Dog (if it's a real live one) is ok at the end of the book. :)

[skygiants]

Oh man, if you like Three Men in a Boat you are in for a treat! Connie Willis basically throws it into a blender with Dorothy Sayers and some screwball comedy and adds some time travel wackiness, and the result is BEAUTIFUL. And I can promise that no harm comes to the dog (or the cat, for that matter) in the making of the book. :D

[miseline.livejournal.com]

Even better. :) I love Dorothy Sayers' books too.

[skygiants]

The best part about it is that so do the characters! Thus proving their good taste.

[miseline.livejournal.com]

LOL.

[mawombat.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the movie of Three Men in a Boat? It has Tim Curry, Hugh Laurie and Michael Palin in it!!!!!

My reaction reading the first line of the book (which is "There were four of us.") was: (with a quick look at the title) "Is this a trick?"

Connie Willis is brilliant; but she does sad really well too (see Doomsday Book and Passage): *sniff*.

GEEK MOMENT: Yay! You read this too! I love Connie!

[skygiants]

I have not seen the movie but now I feel it is necessary! Though Amazon tells me they also add random love interests? Or is that a different film version?

Hee! I love how Connie Willis totally stole the first line, too, which I never would have realized if I hadn't read them back to back.

(Oh, yes. The great thing about her more tragic books is that she really has a handle on how to start with comedy and satire and ease her way into the darker stuff before you know what's hit you - authors who know how to blend humor and tragedy like that tend to be my favorites.)

SHE IS AWESOME.

[areyoumymemmy.livejournal.com]

Three Men In A Boat is totally my happy place book. I just. *squeezes it*

[areyoumymemmy.livejournal.com]

WAIT. I meant to say To Say Nothing Of The Dog! But together they are a happy place jumble in my head, so that was mostly accurate!

[skygiants]

*cracks up* IT STILL TOTALLY WORKS. I was actually going to recommend Three Men in a Boat as a happy-place book to you when I finished it, if you hadn't read it! Then I forgot because I am awesome.

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

OKAY YES THIS SOUNDS KIND OF INCREDIBLY AWESOME. (But I should probably finish White Castle first.)

I actually bought a first-edition copy of Other Colours at the secondhand bookstore FOR THIRTY DOLLARS. (Even though I can get it at three of the local libraries and in fact still have it checked out from one of them before I picked it up at the bookstore.) . . . Because it was there.

[skygiants]

INCREDIBLY AWESOME IS THE WORD FOR IT YES. It is one of the books that I toted back and forth from me every year when I was at college, because I wanted it on hand for comfort reading!

:O :O :O *JEALOUSY* If I had to pick one book to own a first-edition copy of . . . okay it might not be Other Colours specifically, but Other Colours would be WAY up there.

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

I have thirty library books on my floor waiting for me to read them, but . . . but but but. *torn*

And the store owner said the guy who brought it in met Orhan Pamuk and got him to sign some of his other books. Thankfully not my copy of Other Colours, or someone else would have snatched it up ages ago. :D

[skygiants]

Hahahahaha see above re: tottering to-read pile oh man. I felt a little guilty taking time for the reread, but: IT WAS NECESSARY.

Oh man, I would be TERRIFIED to meet Orhan Pamuk. But having a book signed by him would be pretty amazing!

[agonistes]

Okay, so, I'm the heathen who doesn't like Connie Willis, BUT I JUST HAD TO SAY

THE PATH BEFORE ME HAD BEEN PREPARED, OKAY.

If Mikage had made people read Connie Willis instead of stabbing them with black roses, that Utena arc would have turned out a lot differently...

[skygiants]

Even if you don't like Connie Willis . . . IMAGINE A LOLVICTORIANS UTENA ARC.

No seriously, just - just pause and imagine it.

*_* *_* *_* *_*

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

Hi! I friended you based on your Yuletide letter, and I just have to pop in to say you're ONE HUNDRED PERCENT RIGHT about To Say Nothing of the Dog. I don't think I even know anyone else who's *read* it, although I am constantly recommending it to friends & family. So I'm overjoyed to find other people who like it as much as I do!

[skygiants]

Oh hi! :D I always welcome new people to dork out about books with. ESPECIALLY AWESOME BOOKS LIKE TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG. (I am super excited for the high probability of Connie Willis Yuletide fic, too!)

[sandrylene.livejournal.com]

Yay, I love Connie Willis so much, and am pleased to find you do as well, and will definitely have to read the Jerome K. Jeromeness.

And it is late and there are run on sentences.

But wow. Connie Willis Yuletide fic... it could be great, or it could just make me sad. Hm. I'll probably find out in a few months.

Sometimes fandom is hard.

[skygiants]

You totally do! I would lend it to you if, uh, I actually owned it. *sheepish*

I have read good Connie Willis Yuletide fic in the past, and the prompts I have seen this year are pretty excellent, so I am hopeful! *keeps fingers crossed* I don't remember having read any that made me cry . . .

Of course now that I have said that, I know it is a fact that someone is out there earnestly writing their Dunworthy/Terence BDSM magnum opus.