Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.5 stars; 70 reviews)

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over, to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages now seem like an unnecessary distraction to the essentially comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers. The jokes seem fresh and witty even today.

The three men were based on Jerome himself and two real-life friends, George, and Harris. The dog, Montmorency, however, was entirely fictional, but, as Jerome had remarked, "had much of me in it." (Summary from Wikipedia)

(6 hr 38 min)

Chapters

Chapter 01 22:18 Read by Geetu Melwani
Chapter 02 14:27 Read by Betsie Bush
Chapter 03 16:05 Read by Betsie Bush
Chapter 04 22:59 Read by Jim Mullins
Chapter 05 19:10 Read by Linton
Chapter 06 21:26 Read by Brooks Seveer
Chapter 07 18:00 Read by Cori Samuel
Chapter 08 22:38 Read by Chip
Chapter 09 19:42 Read by Chris Hughes
Chapter 10 22:37 Read by Marlo Dianne
Chapter 11 23:03 Read by Cori Samuel
Chapter 12 24:21 Read by Jim Mowatt
Chapter 13 28:03 Read by Peter Yearsley
Chapter 14 21:37 Read by Matthew Walton
Chapter 15 36:08 Read by Peter Yearsley
Chapter 16 8:31 Read by Kim Braun
Chapter 17 16:58 Read by Asaf Bartov
Chapter 18 15:45 Read by Betsie Bush
Chapter 19 24:56 Read by Peter Yearsley

Reviews

Best story every

(5 stars)

Old J is a genius

Not a very funny story and the "humor" gets old fast

(2 stars)

I had seen quite a few recommendations to listen to this book on the Librivox forums, but it just didn't cut it for me. I made it through chapter 6, thinking it might get better along the way, but it didn't. The "humor" is an exaggeration of how awful or absurd the rest of the world is compared to the perfectly reasonable (not) narrator. It got old fast. For those who enjoy this author or book, the readers that I heard did a fine job. It's a collaborative project, with different people reading each chapter, so you get a variety of accents and reading styles. They were clear, moderately paced and with good sound quality on the recordings.

Has humour and a poetic feel

(4 stars)

I'm enjoying hearing this book read. I has portions of humour and some of it is poetic in language and cadence. The book came recommended by a friend of mine.

(4 stars)

Very funny even by today standards. Some of the references I didn’t get but that is to be expected. The Author honestly could’ve been a pretty good standup comedian.

Makes me chuckle every time!

(5 stars)

I adore this author. His style of humor and the times when he gets very contemplative make for an enjoyable read.

(5 stars)

Wonderful book. I enjoyed the various readers although it hurt the continuity some. This author is one of my new favorites!

(2 stars)

A few tracks were hard to hear. More likely to make you fall asleep than keep you awake with interest.

good book well narrated

(4.5 stars)

A funny classic in its own right, well narrated by most readers.