SFF Kit. May: Time travel

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SFF Kit. May: Time travel

1h-mb
Editado: Abr 16, 2021, 10:56 am

Hello,
Time travel is THE thing to do in May ! Here we go :



Here is the wiki : https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_SFFKIT#2021_SFFKIT

2whitewavedarling
Abr 16, 2021, 11:32 am

Honestly, I normally avoid time travel, but this year I've got a new release that I'm REALLY looking forward to: Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson. I got it in late February and set it so I could finish other things and have it for this challenge, but I can't wait to read it!

3Robertgreaves
Abr 16, 2021, 11:49 am

>1 h-mb: I'm thinking about another book by Jodi Taylor from the same series: A Trail Through Time

4spiralsheep
Abr 16, 2021, 12:31 pm

I have the Doctor Who novel The English Way of Death on my to read pile and am looking forward to it.

5majkia
Abr 16, 2021, 1:57 pm

6VioletBramble
Abr 16, 2021, 4:47 pm

>5 majkia: I loved that book. It started slow and took me nearly half the book to figure out what was really happening.

I had planned to read The Space Between Worlds for this, but it turns out it's more of a multiverse book than a time travel book. Instead I'll read Oona Out of Order.

7DeltaQueen50
Abr 16, 2021, 10:32 pm

I am finally going to read The Time Traveller's Wife which has been on my shelf for eons.

8chlorine
Abr 17, 2021, 4:10 am

Time travel is one of my favorite topics so I'm really excited about this month!
I'll probably read Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
Other books that are on my radar are Timescape by Gregory Benford and The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Timescape doesn't appeal to me all that much for the moment but I have my lifelong challenge to read all works having received the Hugo or Nebula award.

9JayneCM
Editado: Abr 18, 2021, 2:11 am

Time travel is my favourite!

I think I will finally read 11/22/63.

10msemmag
Abr 21, 2021, 12:16 pm

>5 majkia: Same! I'm super excited to start it :)

11christina_reads
Abr 21, 2021, 12:56 pm

Every time this topic comes up, I want to force everyone to read Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog! It's such a delightful romp. Doomsday Book is also great, but much (MUCH) sadder, so it all depends on what you're in the mood for.

I think I'm going to read A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones for this challenge. But I also have Dexter Palmer's Version Control on my shelves, so maybe that one too? We'll see how ambitious I'm feeling...

12NinieB
Abr 21, 2021, 2:13 pm

>11 christina_reads: I'm likely going to read Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis, since it's on the shelf. If it just doesn't work out (from the description I'm not sure it will) then I'll get To Say Nothing of the Dog from the library. Certainly Doomsday Book was wonderful, and yes, sad.

13christina_reads
Abr 21, 2021, 2:24 pm

>12 NinieB: Ooh, Lincoln's Dreams is on my shelves as well, so if you do read it, I'll be interested to see what you think!

14msemmag
Abr 21, 2021, 3:26 pm

>11 christina_reads: I just finished to say nothing of the dog! It was such fun read, so a hearty seconded on the rec :)

15Tanya-dogearedcopy
Abr 22, 2021, 1:50 pm

I have two contenders for this one:
Version Control (by Dexter Palmer) and;
Outlander (by Diana Gabaldon) - I revisit this one every few years, but this would be the first time in audio (narrated by Davina Porter).

16chlorine
Abr 24, 2021, 5:43 am

>11 christina_reads: Hmmm due to personal circumstances I am definitely _not_ in the mood for sad books. Maybe I'll read The time traveler's wife rather than Doomsday books... I still have a bit of time to think about it.

17msemmag
Abr 24, 2021, 6:44 pm

>16 chlorine: Yeah...maybe don't read Doomsday Book unless you feel up to dealing with grim medieval historical stuff, specifically descriptions of the Black Plague and a whole lot of people dying. As a friend told me to explain why she stopped reading it, "I KNOW THEY'RE ALL ABOUT TO DIE OF PLAGUE, BUT IF I DON'T KEEP READING, THEY WILL NOT."

18chlorine
Abr 27, 2021, 8:22 am

>17 msemmag: Yikes thanks for the warning. I read the first spoiler and that definitely is not what I need currently. Time traveler's wife it will be then! :)

19whitewavedarling
Abr 27, 2021, 12:36 pm

>16 chlorine:, I may be an outlier, but because you mention you're not in the mood for sad books--I have to tell you that I found The Time Traveler's Wife to be incredibly sad. I know a lot of people love that book, but it left me a sobbing mess--one of those rare books that left me mad at the author for writing it, I was so sad and found it so depressing. As I said, I may be an outlier, but I'd feel bad if I didn't say anything, given your note above.

20msemmag
Abr 27, 2021, 12:42 pm

>18 chlorine: Glad to help! But I would definitely echo christina_reads recommendation of To Say Nothing of the Dog (which is the second book of the Oxford Time Travel series). It is VERY different in tone from the first, and you don't need to have read the first book to understand what's happening in the second (other than there are time-traveling academicians at Oxford). It's set in a very...I would hesitate to say 'idealized', but definitely 'more genre-standard than accurate' Victorian era, and other than a few scenes from a WWII German air raid (trust me, it makes sense in the book!), this is about two idiots trying to find an extremely ugly vase that had been lost to history, getting entangled in romantic misunderstandings/comedy-of-manners, and boating on the Thames. There is some fantastic exploration of unintended consequences featuring cats and dogs, and the romance between the two main characters is EXTREMELY cute, ditto the happy ending. I strongly recommend this if anyone likes Three Men In A Boat or lots of callbacks to Agatha Christie novels and Lord Peter Wimsey

21christina_reads
Abr 27, 2021, 12:44 pm

>20 msemmag: You just explained it so much better than I could! YES to this entire comment. :)

22MissBrangwen
Abr 27, 2021, 4:04 pm

>19 whitewavedarling: I second that. I didn't find it downright depressing, but I definitely cried a lot and it still breaks my heart to think about it. I couldn't read it at all right now (pandemic and all).

23chlorine
Editado: Abr 28, 2021, 10:53 am

>19 whitewavedarling: >22 MissBrangwen: Thanks for the warning! Actually since writing my post I completely changed my mind and started Jodi Taylor's Just one damned thing after another which so far seems exactly what I currently need. :)

I know it's not technically May yet but I figured I'm allowed to start it as it also part of a series so it fits April's theme. ;)

24chlorine
Abr 28, 2021, 10:55 am

>20 msemmag: I should have mentioned I already read To say nothing of the dog a few years ago, and I really enjoyed it! My only small gripe with it is that the first chapter is so much more funny than the rest that I felt a bit let down by the remaining chapters, though they are very good. :)

This is actually why I was considering reading Doomsday Book, because I thought the two books would be similar.

As I said in the previous post I started Just one damned thing after another which seems to have a somwhat similar vibe and seems free from heartbreak from what I read in the reviews.

25Tanya-dogearedcopy
Editado: Jun 3, 2021, 11:54 am

I've started Outlander (Outlander #1; by Diana Gabaldon; narrated by Davina Porter. It's 32.50+ hours long so I should wrap up somewhere in May! I first read this one in the year in which is was released (1991!) and have revisited every few years. And every time, I'm like, "I don't remember that!" This time I'm listening to it in audio. It's a favorite of an audiobook blogger-friend so I put it in my audible library and but just now decided to queue it up.

I'll also be starting Version Control (by Dexter Palmer) this weekend. :-)

I love Just One Damned Thing After Another (by Jodi Taylor)! I made it through to book seven in the series, Lies, Damned Lies, and History and all the shorts until I stopped. They are light-hearted, fun, humorous, and full of adventure; but at #7, I twigged that there was going to be emotional distress ahead ("heartbreak") and after checking in with others, it was confirmed-- So, I quit while I was happy! The great thing is that you can really stop anywhere you want as there aren't cliffhangers; but you can't read them out of order :-)

I've always been a bit wary of Connie Willis after trying to listen to Crosstalk (narrated by Mia Barron). I don't remember much now (it was five years ago) other than I just couldn't get through it. But this talk about The Doomsday Book has piqued my interest, so I may give the author another shot after Version Control.

26chlorine
Abr 29, 2021, 3:05 am

>25 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Version Control seems fantastic! I'll be looking forward to your opinion but I've already wishlisted it.

Thanks for the feedback on the Just one Damned Thing after another series! I ran into a few distressing events but they're treated in such a light way that they're not distressing to the reader at all. It's good to know that I have 6 more fun books to read! And hopefully if I make it to book 7 I'll be past the point where I want to avoid sad books so I'll be up for the sequel! ;)

27DeltaQueen50
Maio 4, 2021, 12:23 pm

I have completed my read of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Time travel just isn't my thing so, unsurprisingly, this book didn't quite work for me.

28nrmay
Maio 4, 2021, 1:10 pm

I finished Recursion by Blake Crouch. Complicated but interesting.

29casvelyn
Maio 4, 2021, 10:10 pm

>28 nrmay: I read Recursion last year. Very good, and thought-provoking.

30spiralsheep
Maio 5, 2021, 11:11 am

I read The Dream Years, by Lisa Goldstein, which is a fantasy (or sf) novel about surrealism, art, revolution, and time travel, set in Paris in 1924 and 1968 and The Future (allegedly 2012 but bear in mind this was published in 1985). 4*

31Kristelh
Maio 5, 2021, 2:39 pm

I am using the short story collection; The Illustrated Man by Bradbury. Two stories in the collection deal with time travel; The Fox and the Forest and The Visitor

32msemmag
Maio 7, 2021, 4:14 pm

>31 Kristelh: I liked The Illustrated Man! I think the story I liked the most (even if it couldn't be called the best-written in the collection) was "The Exiles"- the setting is just so bonkers and fun. Even if the ending was a little...let's call it "pointed" for politeness's sake.

33msemmag
Maio 7, 2021, 4:17 pm

>22 MissBrangwen: Completely the same. I think that the two books that were on my 2019-2020 TBR that I'm REALLY -bleep-ing glad I read before...the entirety of 2020...would be Doomsday Book and The Stand. Just a bit too close to reality to be enjoyed much at all.

34majkia
Maio 8, 2021, 8:42 am

Just finished Jack the Bodiless. This is a re-read for me. My favorite series ever.

35chlorine
Maio 13, 2021, 6:48 am

I finished Just one damned thing after another a while back and it was a fun and entertaining book.

I also read Time was by Ian McDonald. It's a novella about a bookseller inadvertently discovering in the pages of a book a love story between two time traveller soldiers.

I found it very well written and engaging, although I did struggle to understand some parts (probably because English is my main language but apparently that's not the only reason), and the novella format was perfect for this story.
This is my first read of a McDonald book and makes me want to read more.

36Tanya-dogearedcopy
Maio 13, 2021, 12:50 pm

Outlander (by Diana Gabaldon; narrated by Davina Porter) in audio is turning out to be a slog-- so much so that I'm thinking of ditching it. As I've mentioned before, I've reading this several times over the years; but this is the first time in audio and I find myself avoiding it.
On the flip side, I finally made it over the hump with Version Control (by Dexter Palmer) and will probably wrap it up this weekend! The first half moves rather slowly, with character and background building, but now things are happening!

37NinieB
Maio 15, 2021, 8:05 am

June thread is posted!

38threadnsong
Maio 15, 2021, 7:18 pm

>36 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I first got to know Outlander by the audio version and it turned me off from the series for quite a few years. When a friend gave me the first 4 as a birthday present I was amazed at how much I liked them. So, you're not alone in the audio vs. printed version of this classic!

39Tanya-dogearedcopy
Maio 15, 2021, 10:26 pm

>38 threadnsong: So good to know! I think I stayed with it longer than I would have otherwise simply because it has so many rave reviews and especially strong recommendations from a couple of friends.

I did finish reading Version Control (by Dexter Palmer though! This is a story about a woman who has been hollowed out by a tragedy in her life, the loss of her young son. Her husband, an emotionally distant but brilliant physicist has been struggling in his lab with a "Causality Violation Device"-- something akin to time travel. The first half of the novel is sloooooow; but patience has it rewards as the action picks up in the second half. The CVD isn't as sexy as a Tardis or as fun as a Magic Treehouse but the author manages to present a new and interesting twist on time travel-- one that I don't really agree with but it does make for a great story!

40spiralsheep
Editado: Maio 16, 2021, 7:32 am

It's a bit of a spoiler naming this title on a time travel themed thread so spoilerphobes should take this as fair warning.

...

I read Aetheric Mechanics, by Warren Ellis and Gianluca Pagliarani, which is a metafictional, late Victoriana, science fiction / detective comic. The early mentions of Ruritania and Grand Fenwick (roar!), and "intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic", etc, clued me in to what the story would be about although not the precise detail of the plot twist ending. 3.5*

...

41msemmag
Maio 17, 2021, 12:17 pm

>40 spiralsheep: Just so you know, you can hide spoiler-y text in comments: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Basic_HTML_/_How_to_do_Fancy_Things_in_Y...

Hope it helps!

42spiralsheep
Maio 17, 2021, 12:47 pm

>41 msemmag: Yes, thank you for the helpful reminder, I'd already hidden the more spoilery text on other talk threads but here it would involve hiding the title and author. I figured that if people are reading a time travel themed topic then they're prepared to be spoiled for which books have time travel content, but I'm polite so I added a warning anyway.

43spiralsheep
Maio 18, 2021, 9:52 am

I read Momo, by Michael Ende, which is a 1973 children's fantasy novel by the author of Neverending Story. I'm not sure how children today would react to this fable as their social conditions have changed somewhat since 1973. However I can say that this is a perfect story for GenXers and I suspect middle age is as good a time to read it as childhood. 5*

44whitewavedarling
Maio 20, 2021, 10:31 am

Just finished Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson--I think this is the first time travel novel I've ever read that ended up being a five-star read for me!

Full Review:

ANOTHER 5-star read in a row for me!!!....

34. Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson (for the SFF Time Travel Kit)

Yesterday is History is a contemporary love story, a novel of time travel, and a tale about a young gay black man at the center of a fairly unconventional love triangle. On paper, this isn't a book I should even have picked up simply because it doesn't sound like my kind of thing--but then again, some books just aren't done justice via a list of themes, subjects, or genres, and this is one of them.

Normally, I tend to avoid time travel. Normally, I don't read YA romance at all, and I avoid love triangles whenever possible. But when I stumbled across Kosoko Jackson on social media and saw him talking about the book, I couldn't help but get hooked on the idea. A teen who needs a liver transplant, and gets it, but accidentally gets the ability to time travel along with it? In the realm of time travel, that sounded both strange and weirdly obvious enough that, if time travel were to exist, that *would* be how it would show up in an unsuspecting teen's life. And as much as it seemed to fit into the real world, I couldn't remember ever seeing the concept being explored like this. When you add in the fact that I'm always on the lookout for speculative works with LGBTQ representation that I can pass on to teen readers, I decided I had to read the book even if it might not be quite up my alley.

And then, of course, it turned out that I loved the book, and it's made me a fan of Jackson's for life.

On top of the concept, and on top of a fantastic main character who's as believable and flawed as he is engaging, the strength of this book lies in how much it works to accomplish. It doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties of time travel as related to race, specifically, and it doesn't shy away from big questions. But at the same time that it tackles the otherworldly question of time travel and very real world issues of equality, it leaves room for the mundane. A teenager who's working on finding his way in life without disappointing his parents; a family struggling with a loved one's serious illness and recovery; a couple of boys who have no experience with romance and aren't necessarily looking for one...but then have one, whether they like it or not. This is a short book--I read it in three sittings--and it reads fast, even for contemporary YA. But it is so full, and so rich, it's worth twice its page count in story and heart.

If I could magically place a copy of this book in every teen's English classroom and in every library, all across America, I'd do it in a heartbeat. This is the kind of book that teens ought to be reading in book clubs and in classrooms, bridging divides of recent history and conversations about equality and socio-economic justice even as they tell a story that celebrates diversity without shying away from the hard questions.

This is a book worth reading, and worth passing on. Absolutely recommended.

45Robertgreaves
Maio 20, 2021, 10:43 am

>44 whitewavedarling: It does sound very tempting

46whitewavedarling
Maio 20, 2021, 10:56 am

>45 Robertgreaves:, I hope you'll pick it up. It didn't even sound tempting to me, and I adored it!

47susanna.fraser
Maio 21, 2021, 12:36 am

I read Alice Payne Arrives and Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield. Fun, twisty novellas with constantly changing timelines due to a time war from the 22nd century with factions fighting to fix the past.

48chlorine
Maio 22, 2021, 1:01 am

>47 susanna.fraser: I thought Prudence's story was really interesting in these books!

49Kristelh
Maio 22, 2021, 6:51 pm

I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which is tagged time travel. The part where she moves through the darkness and space must be the time travel.

50Robertgreaves
Maio 29, 2021, 3:24 am

COMPLETED The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.

Starting Time Travel by James Gleick, a history of the subgenre.

51NinieB
Jun 1, 2021, 8:43 am

I finished Lincoln's Dreams on Sunday. The book can be categorized as time slip--one of the characters, Annie, is reliving the American Civil War in her dreams. The twist at the end left me a little bit baffled; I'm still trying to sort it all out in my head. I may end up rereading just to try to understand the book from the perspective of the twist.

52fuzzi
Jun 1, 2021, 9:24 am

Thanks to everyone for contributing to the May challenge!

June's thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/332210