Top Ten Tuesday: Time Travel

a.k.a. TTT: TT

December 5: Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

I wanted to find stand-alone stories that are not alternate history.

How do you find time travel stories by authors you have never heard of? You take a deep dive on Goodreads lists.

If you have read any of these, please let me know what you think of them.

1

Backward Glass by David Lomax

•First published October 1, 2013 •271 pages, Kindle Edition

When Kenny Maxwell moves into his family’s new yet falling apart Victorian home in 1977, he makes a shocking discovery in the carriage house. Buried inside the wall is a baby’s mummified body wrapped in old newspaper, along with a handwritten plea for help. Soon after his gruesome finding, a beautiful girl named Luka introduces Kenny to the backward glass, a mirror that allows him to travel in time. Through it, he meets other “mirror kids” from past and future decades. But the more Kenny learns about the mirror, the more he realizes that Prince Harming—a dangerous urban legend who kidnaps and kills children—is hunting him. Somehow he must use the backward glass to confront his destiny, save the baby, and stop Prince Harming before time runs out.

goodreads

2

The Devil’s Arithemtic by Jane Yolen

•First published October 1, 1988 •175 pages, Kindle Edition

Hannah dreads going to her family’s Passover Seder—she’s tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she’s transported to a Polish village in the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this “Chaya” that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await.

goodreads

3

The Eternity Project by Jeff Schanz

•First published September 20, 2021 •464 pages, Kindle Edition

When Reid Walton, an unacclaimed community college history professor and obscure conspiracy author, is invited to join a billionaire’s mysterious science project as a history expert, he has no idea why they chose him, or what to expect. Sequestered in a secluded mountain laboratory, he is introduced to their mind-blowing venture: stable time travel, safe enough for a public attraction.
And they already have a working vehicle!
On the heels of this staggering revelation comes another. The time travel technology is suspected of being stolen property.

goodreads

This looks like a wild ride.

4

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

•First published April 8, 2014 •417 pages, Kindle Edition

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. “I nearly missed you, Doctor August,” she says. “I need to send a message.” 

goodreads

I am amazed at all the good time-travel books I’ve never heard of before.

5

Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine

•First published January 1, 1986 •587 pages, Kindle Edition

Lady of Hay explores how Jo, a journalist investigating hypnotic regression, plunges into the life of Matilda, Lady of Hay—who lived eight hundred years earlier. As she learns of Matilda’s unhappy marriage, her troubled love for Richard de Clare, and the brutal treatment she received from King John, it seems that Jo’s past and present are hopelessly entwined. Centuries later, a story of secret passion and unspeakable treachery is about to begin again

goodreads

6

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

•First published January 1, 1994 •382 pages, Kindle Edition

The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew at once that it was her house. Now, twenty-five years later, by some strange chance, she has just become the new owner of the sixteenth-century Wilshire farmhouse. But Julia soon begins to suspect that more than coincidence has brought her there. As if Greywethers were a porthal between worlds, she finds herself abruptly transported back in time. Stepping into seventeenth-century England, Julia becomes Mariana, a beautiful young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love for Richard de Mornay, handsome forebear of the present squire of Crofton Hall. Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past, falling ever deeper in love with Richard…until one day she realizes Mariana’s life threatens to eclipse her own

goodreads

Sounds a bit like Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

7

Reply by Ken Grimwood

•First published January 1, 1987 •276 pages, Kindle Edition

Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn’t know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again — in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle — each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, …

goodreads

Makes you wonder how the story ends, yes? 🤔

8

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley 

•First published April 15, 2011 •329 pages, Kindle Edition

When Eva’s film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall, where they spent their childhood summers, to scatter Katrina’s ashes and in doing so return her to the place where she belongs. … the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who had lived there in the eighteenth century. When Eva finally accepts that she is able to slip between centuries and see and talk to the inhabitants from hundreds of years ago, she soon finds herself falling for Daniel Butler, a man who lived – and died – long before she herself was born. Eva begins to question her place in the present, and in laying her sister to rest, comes to realise that she too must decide where she really belongs …

goodreads

9

What Was I Thinking by Ellen Gragg

•First published April 29, 2014 •251 pages, Kindle Edition

Mired in a stagnant career and the lonely, faceless slog of modern life, at first Addie Hull doesn’t quite know what to make of handsome, chivalrous Bert Roland and his oddly old-fashioned mannerisms. Deciding to be reckless in her life for once, Addie lets herself be swept off her feet. But mere weeks into their romance, Bert announces that he must return home to St. Louis… in 1904.

goodreads

I just love this title; it would make a great title to a memoir.

10

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

•First published July 14, 2009 •210 pages, Kindle Edition

By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, and they know who to avoid. Like the crazy guy on the corner.
But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know.

goodreads

I’m not sure when the time-travel comes in, guess I will have to read it. 😁

Thoughts