Who remembers the WABAC Machine? This was from Peabody’s Improbable History, a show-within-a show 
during the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons of the 1960s (disclaimer: I watched the re-runs!). Peabody would set the WABAC machine to a date in the past, and give unsuspecting viewers a history lesson! For a blast from the past, read the Wikipedia article on the subject.
A few weeks ago I bought the July/August 2008 issue of Bookmarks magazine, which had an extensive article on Time Travel in a cover-grabbing article called “Great Science Fiction”. Science fiction, moi? Apparently, oui, as several books on my bookcase involve the subject of time-travel.
In the past few months I’ve reviewed Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, a fun novel about a 
present-day Los Angelean who wakes up in Regency-period England, and Miss Alcott’s E-Mail (here), a clever biography of Louisa May Alcott.
Other time-travel books on Bookmarks’ list include:
- Time and Again by Jack Finney (I’ve read this one, too!)
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
- “A Sound of Thunder” a short story by Ray Bradbury
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
What other time travel books have you read? Are there other suggestions for a non-science-fiction reader like me? I enjoyed the three that I’ve read because they focus on the result of the time-travel, not the technical process of getting there …
There’s always A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. It uses time travel as a means of commenting on particular social concerns.
(Or at least, I think it does. I read it about six years ago, so I could be completely misremembering everything).
I also very much enjoyed Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander, in which a magical cat transports his owner to a variety of different historical periods. It’s very much a children’s novel, but it’s still entertaining.
YA book I really enjoyed, that seems to be out of print: Another Shore by Nancy Bond.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (first of a series, but I think it also works as a stand alone title).
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is mostly historical fiction/romance, with a time-travel set-up. There are also other good books by the authors you’ve listed already – Connie Willis has To Say Nothing of the Dog, and many of Madeleine L’Engle’s books involve time travel – my favorite (and one of my all-time favorite books in general) is A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
There’s also a variety of YA books that I love(d) that have time-travel elements without getting sci-fi-ish-y technical. Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck and Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer are two that are springing to mind.
Another Connie Willis book would be To Say Nothing of the Dog. It’s so witty and just a great story. I never would have thought I’d enjoy that but it was one of my favorite reads last year!
I’ll have to keep that Jane Austen book in mind for when I’m in the mood for some time traveling
Memory, icedtea, fyreflybooks and iliana – thank you so much for all the suggestions! I had no idea there were so many time-travel books out there. Quite a range as far as intended audience, too, from children’s to YA to adult.
You hit the nail on the head, fyrefly, “time travel elements without getting sci-fi-ish technical”, that’s what I’ve enjoyed in the three books I’ve read.
Actually, I can’t think of any time travel books I’ve read that actually are sci-fi technical… Outlander she trips over Stonehenge and falls back 200 years (well, more or less), Charlotte Sometimes is a magical bed, in Time Traveler’s Wife it’s a genetic disorder, Ghosts I Have Been she’s a psychic, and in Swiftly Tilting Planet it’s a unicorn. Connie Willis’s books have the most technology in them, but don’t let that scare you off… the science isn’t really the focus.
I shouldn’t admit to this, but I watched Professor Peabody and the wayback machine when it was originally aired. Now I feel ancient.
Definitely the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. It is my absolute favorite! They are very long but well worth it.
fyrefly and Bree – OK, I’ve officially added *Outlander* to my wish list!
bermudaonion – no, don’t feel that way! Sesame Street started when I was in Kindergarten, and Oscar the Grouch was ORANGE then. My kids didn’t believe me, but I confirmed it with a Google search (like the Oracle, the font of knowledge … Google and Wikipedia
)
Hi, Dawn–thanks for this intriguing list. I look forward to reading some of them when I’m finished writing the sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (and thank you for putting out the word about my book; you are so sweet).
I do want to see those Peabody cartoons, though. Right now!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen those before.
Here is my offering to your list. Not a novel, but fascinating if anyone’s interested in the scientific foundation of time travel fantasies (and I certainly am): Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos. He’s a physicist but writes in a very accessible manner. Does things like uses Simpson’s characters to tell a story that illustrates how wormholes work. Fascinating stuff.
Laurie – yes, Courtney Stone herself could have watched the re-runs of Mr. Peabody! It’s one possible explanation for how she ended up where she did.
I like the re-decorating over at the *Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict* site (www.janeaustenaddict.com); I’ll have to pop back over to get an update on the sequel/parallel/companion story of Jane Mansfield in Courtney’s world. I can’t wait to see what challenges (and fun) she encounters in Los Angeles.
You should visit http://la-mitchell.blogspot.com/ as she is not only a expert on time-travel, but an author in that genre.
I, too, loved Rocky and Bulwinkle. However, for me, I watched the originals. Ah, the days of great Saturday morning cartoons.
Doomsday Book is one of my very favorites.
You should also check out My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time by Liz Jensen. It’s tons of fun with time travel from Victorian Denmark to modern day London.
Oh – and Beauty by Sherri Tepper has a lot of time travel elements too.
[...] 26, 2008 by Dawn (SheIsTooFondOfBooks) Earlier in the week I posted about time travel in books, and introduced it with a reference to the WABAC machine in Mr. Peabody’s Improbable [...]
Sandra – check out the YouTube link in my post of 8/26!
Lenore – thanks for the additional suggestions; these should keep me for a while
I enjoyed Timeline by Michael Crichton. Outlander (as has been suggested already) was good. I know I’ve read others…but can’t think of them right now. will ponder this and get back to you if anything comes to mind.
Gail – thanks! I’m pleasantly surprised by the number of time travel books that have been recommended that fit my need for ‘light’ science fiction.