I will never forgive Willis for Passages. Boring, cliche, vapidly trendy (Titanic, really?), with an insulting and meaningless payoff. It should have been used at Guantanamo.

Doomsday Book is great, though. Thanks for reminding me of her (and thanks, 1, for the warning about Passages).

@1 When "Passages" came out, I, too, was like--what? more Titanic? However, as a longtime reader of Willis, I bought it anyway and yes, the ending did leave me...wanting, but it wasn't that bad, could have been worse. I give her the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she'd been working on this long before Kate and Leo burned up the screens on Titanic and I, for one, wouldn't toss out pages and pages just because Cameron beat me to the punch.

I knew you were godlike, Paul, but to find out you adore Connie too is rapturous. Have you read "Bellweather"? Not time travel but still wonderful.

If you get to meet her tell she is adored. I have all her books, even the early ones written with someone else and "Marble Arch." Sigh. Paul, you are so lucky.

Oh, forgot to mention that here in Atlanta, "Doomsday Book" frequently gets picked as a summer reading book. Can you believe it? Where were these teachers when I was a student?

Connie Willis!!! Adding books to the to read list as I type!

"Passage" is my favorite Connie Willis novel. It's even one of my favorite novels of all time. This review expresses the things I like about it. But also is in good company: many people hate the book. My second favorite is "Bellwether". (The others I've read: "Doomsday Book", "To Say Nothing of the Dog", "Lincoln's Dreams", and "Impossible Things" (short stories).)