Time Travel discussion

From time to time, we've had book nominations that sounded great, but they weren't quite time travel. So this is your chance to choose something from those fringe genres. You will find our guidelines for what constitutes "not quite time travel" in item #2 below.

GUIDELINES FOR NOMINATIONS:
1. Theme: Not Quite Time Travel
2. The book can be about anything from cryogenics to reincarnation to parallel universes -- anything that involves people somehow being out of time or place or being able to experience large spans of time. If you choose to nominate something about immortals, please, for the love of god ... no vampires or zombies!
3. The book must be a full-length novel or novella (not a book of short stories)
4. The books being nominated must currently be in print or available as an eBook.
5. You can nominate any book within the theme, but please only vote for a book that you would read.
6. You can nominate your own book, but you cannot recruit people to vote for your book.
7. No more than two nominations per group member.
8. Please use "add book/author" at the top of the comment box to create a link to the cover and/or the book that you nominate along with information about the book or about why you want to nominate the book. Be sure to provide a link to the book and not just to the picture since some Android & iPhone apps don't pick up on the book cover links.
9. Sequels cannot be nominated unless they can stand alone without the previous book/s.
10. We are sorry but you must be a member before the date of this post in order to vote during the polling stages. This is to avoid any unfair flux of "recruit" votes that do not reflect the desires of the our faithful group members and authors. However, please do nominate a book and enjoy taking part in the group read discussions.

Nominations: August 13 - 20
Voting: August 21-27
New Book Discussion: September 16

UPCOMING SCHEDULE OF THEMED READS
*October 2013: No theme
*November 2013: No theme
*December 2013: Classic Time Travel

Books that have previously been read by the group and are not eligible for nomination include:
August/September 2013: The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May
June-July 2013: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
June 2013: The Legend of the Bloodstone by E.B.Brown
March/April 2013: The Time Machine by HG Wells
February/March 2013: Time's Twisted Arrow by Rysa Walker
January/February 2013: Io Deceneus - Journal of a Time Traveler by Florian Armas
December 2012/January 2013: The Kronos Interference by Edward Miller and J.B. Manas
November/December 2012: The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
October/November 2012: The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlen
August/Sept 2012: The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
June/July 2012: 11/22/63 by Stephen King
May 2012: Towards Yesterday by Paul Jones
Apr 2012: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Mar 2012: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Jan-Feb 2012: Map of Time by Felix J. Palma
Dec-Jan 2011/12: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Nov-Dec 2011: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
Oct-Nov 2011: The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser
Sept-Oct 2011: TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow
Aug-Sept 2011: Up the Line by Robert Silverberg
July-Aug 2011: The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold

Nomination #1:
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

"On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization. Wildly inventive, darkly comic, startlingly poignant — this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best, playing with time and history, telling a story that is breathtaking for both its audacity and its endless satisfactions."

OOh, Yay! I love this theme! I hope Amy's Life after Life ends up being the choice. That looks like a good one. But, I shall nominate the non-zombie, non-vampire novel
as well as The thought provoking

Debbie wrote: "OOh, Yay! I love this theme! I hope Amy's Life after Life ends up being the choice. That looks like a good one. But, I shall nominate the non-zombie, non-vampire novel [bookcover:The Taker|77660..."

I hear that Madonna bought the movie rights to the Gretta Wells book, so I'm curious about that one.

Madonna? Really? Strange. I remember years ago hearing that Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt bought the rights to The Time Traveler's Wife. Apparently that didn't work out : )

I go with Amy's pick.

I've read it and can actually contribute like a productive member of the group if it gets picked!

E.B. wrote: "Debbie wrote: "OOh, Yay! I love this theme! I hope Amy's Life after Life ends up being the choice. That looks like a good one. But, I shall nominate the non-zombie, non-vampire novel [bookcover:..."

Tennyson's Poetry as not quite time travel? Err ... uh ... did something strange happened before you pressed the "post" button?

Does nobody have a parallel universe novel to nominate? I have one I've already read in mind if nobody else has one. Actually, I have 2 in mind, bit I'd be breaking rules to have 3 nominations. Anyone?

Amy, as Paul's EXTENDED JOURNEY relates to an altered history would it qualify?



There is Time Travel but things then parallel.

At any rate, excellently written holding great phrasing & flow as I told him when we discussed at length the similarities & differences of our take on the genre.

I vote on Howard's nom qualifying, even if barely but we need more books dont we!

Sorry I havent contributed any noms yet, I'll scour around for something, or Amy, whats your third? I'll make it my nom :)

I'll let The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko be my second nomination.

John Rayburn thought all of his problems were the mundane ones of an Ohio farm boy in his last year in high school. Then his doppelgänger appeared, tempted him with a device that let him travel across worlds, and stole his life from him. John soon finds himself caroming through universes, unable to return home—the device is broken. John settles in a new universe to unravel its secrets and fix it.

Meanwhile, his doppelgänger tries to exploit the commercial technology he’s stolen from other Earths: the Rubik’s Cube! John’s attempts to lie low in his new universe backfire when he inadvertently introduces pinball. It becomes a huge success. Both actions draw the notice of other, more dangerous travelers, who are exploiting worlds for ominous purposes. Fast-paced and exciting, this is SF adventure at its best from a rising star.

Tej:
The other one I was thinking of nominating was (view spoiler)[ The City and the City (hide spoiler)]

Amy wrote: "Tej:
The other one I was thinking of nominating was The City and the City "


Ok I found this book, looks to be a nice length, not too long, not too short at 315 pages.

Its called The City and the City and is made in China...no wait its written in China...no no its written by China Miéville

[i]wink wink to Amy.[/i]

I tell you what. For my second nomination, I will go for

A Wrinkle in Time

Now I actually dont rate this book very highly but it seems I am in a minority. Also, having it read it, I can say with absolute certainty that this only falls in the "Not Quite Time Travel" category, contrary to its labelling as a time travel novel which it is absolutely not. It involves travelling in space time but not time travel in the classic sense.

Its a book for children so a relatively short read.

I actually hope this wins because despite my 3 star review, there is much to discuss about it and I would like to hear your views on it, if it happens to win the groupread.

This was my review for it:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Tej wrote: "I tell you what. For my second nomination, I will go for

A Wrinkle in Time

Now I actually dont rate this book very highly but it seems I am in a minority. Als..."

You know, I tried to read this book again as an adult and just didn't love it like I did as a child.

I will add one more nomination before the deadline.
Pivot Pointis about someone who can see into the future, and use this information to make current decisions. I don't know anyone who has read it, but it has gotten pretty good reviews on Goodreads.

I'm currently enjoying Borrowed Lives and I think it would fit this theme and be fun to talk about.

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "I'm currently enjoying Borrowed Lives and I think it would fit this theme and be fun to talk about."

That one did look interesting. Reminds me of a favorite book of mine called This Body: A Novel of Reincarnation.

Hm, not so much, really, Crouch's book, at least this far, is much lighter than This Body looks to be.

This might be to late or too Young Adult for the groups liking...but might fit the theme this month perfectly...and as a YA novel it would not take much time to knock out.

I remember it being great when I was like in 7th grade and I reread it recently and it still holds up as a fun book.

The poll is now up for this theme.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/8...

I might change my vote a few times before the end since everything sounds so interesting.

In the "almost time travel" category, my 30-METER (EQUIVALENT) EYEBALL might fit, except it's only 10,983 words, which might disqualify it, and I'm nominating my own work, which is suspicious.

This extra-long story poses a hypothetical. Suppose the Universe was about to end (in the 2nd Coming of Christ type of ending). Perhaps astronomers & astrophysicists would get a preliminary “heads up.”

Cheers!

@hg47

Harv: I'll go ahead and add it, but I'm closing nominations thereafter.

Lincoln wrote: "This might be to late or too Young Adult for the groups liking...but might fit the theme this month perfectly...and as a YA novel it would not take much tim..."

I've enjoyed a couple of other books by her, both supernatural and one of them was a time travel book too. Will vote for this one as I really want to read some shorter novels and in particular, complete standalone novels, not books which are "first" in a series. I'm reading too many books lately which are have unwrapped endings.

Is our next book selection finalised? Or will their be another poll?

I should be able to participate in this one, as I am caught up in other obligations.

Heather wrote: "Is our next book selection finalised? Or will their be another poll?

I should be able to participate in this one, as I am caught up in other obligations."

Yes, it's finalized. It's listed on our main page at the very top with the dates that we're starting it. I'll start a discussion page within the next few days.