To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

And, to be completely honest, like a symphony, one needs to be in the mood and willing to pay attention, otherwise it just becomes so much soporific background noise. There are serious undertones, and a sense of urgency the characters need to achieve their personal mission, but are also extremely concerned about their detrimental impact on history.

Particular favorites include Ned's bemusement at hearing anarchoristic words ( 'poppycock' and 'drat'), unfortunate couples that end in disaster, Ned's inability to read a Roman numeral pocket watch ( 'I dozed off again at half past V') and the fickleness of cats. Like a flute soaring above the rest of the orchestra, there are playful little giggles throughout, largely due to reoccurring motifs. Then there's the writing: amazingly developed and interwoven, it takes a number of disparate themes and juxtaposes them.

In many books, there might be a chapter that stands out, whether due to brilliance or failure this is largely a harmonious, excellently written whole, with only one or two incongruous passages near the end.

Like a symphony, To Say Nothing is a wonderful composite that is almost impossible to deconstruct. If ever there was a symphony as book (Beethoven's 8th?), it would be this one. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic ( Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees ( Passage). Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story 'Fire Watch,' found in the short story collection of the same name. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado.

She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA). Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s. Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis