Read it or Weep

It’s Always “Time” for a Great Book! June 18, 2008

Some people find the notion of time travel troubling. Not me. Whether or not time traveling is scientifically possible doesn’t really interest me. I just love the idea that if you can go back in time, you can change what happens in the future.

It’s not surprising then that one of my favorite movies is 12 Monkeys with Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis. In this film, Bruce Willis travels back in time on a dangerous mission to collect information on a virus that killed five billion people and drove everyone else to live beneath the Earth’s surface. This film is action packed with genius plot lines and, did I mention that Brad Pitt is in this movie?

Two of my favorite books involve time travel too!

Octavia Butler’s classic novel Kindred might just be the best book ever. Butler’s blend of science fiction and historical fiction really works in this story about Dana, a modern African American woman in the 1970s who is whisked to the antebellum South. There, she meets Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner who Dana quickly learns it is her duty to save. Dana is unfortunately mistaken as a slave. This novel is a quick read, packed with historical info and full of surprises.

I also love The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This is a sweet story involving Henry (a librarian) and Claire. Life couldn’t be more perfect for these two, except for Henry’s unplanned time traveling. Unfortunately, Henry’s affliction is one he cannot control. Ultimately, this book is an adorable love story, a little bit of a tearjerker, and-dare I say it-timeless!

                -Carol