What do the movies:
- Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels (1989 & 1990)
- The Terminator (1984)
- The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) AND
- Groundhog Day (1993)
have in common?
They are all stories wholly or in part about time travel. When I searched for time travel movies I was overwhelmed by the number and shocked at how many I have not seen. Shocked because time travel is my favorite sub-genre of science fiction.
Because this is a beloved sub-genre I have read far more time travel books than I have seen movies.
For my reading life, the crown for Queen of Time Travel Writing is worn by two authors:
- Connie Willis
The first I read by her was Doomesday Book (1993). The story introduced me to a group of Oxford students traveling from the 21st century. In this book, Kivrin travels to the 14th century to witness life in this harsh time. While there are moments of lightness, joy, and humor in all of Willis's books, I find her attention to historic detail to be my favorite element. I originally listened to this book, one of my earliest audiobooks (perhaps even on cassette) and it was an excellent way to experience this adventure.
I next read To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998). This one is meant to be and is hilarious.
It has been far too long since I have read either of these, so they are on a list of books I intend to re-read. I don't re-read often because there aren't enough hours in the day for all the new books (the lament of avid readers the world over). But I will reread these.
The next I read was Firewatch (1984), a collection of short stories. I don't remember these as clearly as I would like, but the title story (1982) (or novelette, for which category it won both the 1982 Nebula and Hugo awards) (Willis has won many awards over the years, in a variety of science fiction categories.) is set in the same world as the novels I have discussed.
This brings me to the two books I consider Willis's masterpieces: Blackout and All Clear. Both take place c. 2060 (Oh, how I wish time travel were a possibility this soon.) and during World War II. The stories are so intricately crafted that you HAVE to read them twice in order to suss out all of the brilliant hints and connections Willis peppers about. I feel confident I saw the outer web, but am fairly certain I missed at least some of the inner web. Both of these are on my current TBR shelf because I will be rereading them in 2020. I read them the first time when they were released in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Even just a year apart, I know I forgot or missed details I will catch when I read them back to back this fall.
2. Jodi Taylor
I have read the first 8 titles in her The Chronicles of St. Mary's series:
Just One Damned Thing After Another (2013)
A Symphony Of Echoes (2013)
A Second Chance (2014)
A Trail Through Time (2014)
No Time Like The Past (2015)
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (2015)
Lies, Damned Lies and History (2016)
And the Rest is History (2017)
I will read the others as well:
An Argumentation of Historians (2018)
Hope For the Best (2019)
Plan For the Worst (2020)
Another Time Another Place (April 2021)
While time travel is of course serious business, this series is also hilarious, romantic, thrilling, and altogether delightful to read. There is a regular cast of characters who are irresistible in their humanity which includes strengths, foibles, and passions all carefully wrought by Taylor. I rarely read this many books in one series. As a side note, Taylor's website says: "the Chronicles of St Mary’s series [is] the story of a bunch of disaster-prone historians who investigate major historical events in contemporary time. Do NOT call it time travel!"
There is also a spin-off series afoot that chronicles the adventures of the Time Police who do appear from time to time (pun intended) in the Chronicles of St. Mary's.
I have read many more books featuring time travel, but I think a reader cannot go wrong starting with either of these two masters.
What are you favorite time travel books and movies?
