# Book suggestions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 30, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017 "2007-05-30T02:56:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/1 "2007-05-30T02:56:48Z")
A friend wants book suggestions. She is really into time travel stories and I don’t know all that many books about time travel. Any suggestions would be useful.
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### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/2 "2007-05-30T03:16:20Z")
I thought that The Time Traveler’s Wife was actually a pretty good read. It’s not, strictly-speaking, hard Sc-Fi, but it handles the time traveling really well, and its character relationships are pretty touching.
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### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/3 "2007-05-30T03:18:19Z")
Tim Powers, _The Anubis Gates_.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/4 "2007-05-30T03:22:04Z")
I second Skip’s rec and will add Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield which isn’t strictly about time travel but does involve travelling through great swaths of time and TimeShips by Stephen Baxter which is a sequel/prequel/retelling of The Time Machine by HG Wells.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/5 "2007-05-30T03:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk]
Tim Powers, _The Anubis Gates_.
[/QUOTE]
That’s in my TBR, thanks (probably) to a Doper.
I’ve read and recommend these:
Replay by Ken Grimwood
A Shortcut in Time by Charles Dickinson
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Mammoth by John Varley
A few others, but they were romancey.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/6 "2007-05-30T03:23:21Z")
[The Anubis Gates](http://www.amazon.com/Anubis-Gates-Tim-Powers/dp/0441004016/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-4036630-1198244?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180495135&sr=8-2) by Tim Powers is incredible. A ripping yarn involving time travel within time travel, Byron and Coleridge, Egyptian magic, monsters and many other things. It’s really entertaining.
I’ve heard good things about [Kage Baker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kage_Baker), but I haven’t read her yet.
(On preview I see **Hunter Hawk** beat me to it. I figured someone would.)
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/7 "2007-05-30T03:25:11Z")
Connie Willis: **The Doomsday Book** and **To Say Nothing of the Dog**. The first one is long and emotionally exhausting (and really, really good). The second one is something of a sequel, but is hilarious (and also really good).
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/8 "2007-05-30T03:28:55Z")
Jack Finney’s books, _Time and Again_ and _From Time to Time_ – did I get the order right? The first one is great, and the second one is good if you enjoyed the first one, but not as good. _About Time_ is a collection of his short stories.
Connie Willis has _The Doomesday Book_ (serious) and _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ (hilarious).
If she doesn’t mind reading kids/young adult books, a fairly recent one that I ADORED is _Drift House: The First Voyage_ by Dale Peck. It’s about a magic house that turns into a ship that sails on the seas of time. Sadly, the sequel was not so hot.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/9 "2007-05-30T13:40:48Z")
Thanks to all who replied. I will pass on your suggestions to her. Thanks, again.
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/10 "2007-05-30T13:57:18Z")
Why are we assuming the OP doesn’t want romance time travel? If his friend does likes romance, there are tons of time travel romance books. My mom likes Lynn Kurland’s books, for example.
One of the best time travel/historical fiction/romance series I’ve read is Diana Gabaldon’s series that starts with the novel **Outlander**.
I’ll third the Connie Willis suggestion.
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/11 "2007-05-30T15:02:37Z")
_The Man Who Folded Himself_ by David Gerrold is probably the definitive novel _about_ time travel (as opposed to just using time travel as a vehicle to get the protagonist into a particular milieu).
My favorite is probably the classic _Lest Darkness Fall_ by L. Sprague de Camp.
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### Author:  [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/12 "2007-05-30T17:06:40Z")
Not exactly time travel but “The Confessions of a Max Tivoli”-who is born at the age of 70 years old and ages backwards.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/13 "2007-05-30T17:28:20Z")
[The Book of Kells](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Kells-R-Macavoy/dp/0553252607/ref=sr_1_11/102-4509460-2209754?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180546047&sr=1-11)
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/14 "2007-05-30T17:29:29Z")
Slaughterhouse Five
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/15 "2007-05-30T17:34:06Z")
Heinlein’s _The Door Into Summer_.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/16 "2007-05-30T17:37:19Z")
Phillip Jose Farmer’s _Riverworld_ series, while not about time-travel per se, is about the coexistence of people from different times.
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### Author:  [@JackaRoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackaRoe)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/17 "2007-05-30T17:58:09Z")
“The Proteus Operation” by James Hogan, deals with a group of people trying to go back and help Hitler win the war.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/18 "2007-05-30T18:29:56Z")
[QUOTE=BayleDomon]
Heinlein’s _The Door Into Summer_.
[/QUOTE]
Seconded.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/19 "2007-05-30T18:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine]
Why are we assuming the OP doesn’t want romance time travel? If his friend does likes romance, there are tons of time travel romance books. My mom likes Lynn Kurland’s books, for example.
[/QUOTE]
There are, and I like them too. (Green Darkness by Anya Seton, and Melanie Jackson’s stuff)
But how many times have we seen a general book rec thread where someone says “I need something to read, but no romance or westerns, please”? They usually add “no SF” too, but since the OP requested time travel, that didn’t apply this time. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestions/406017/20 "2007-05-30T22:20:51Z")
The Time Wars series by Simon Hawke is pretty fun I think.
Another vote for _The Man Who Folded Himself_.
_The Time Traders_ series by Andre Norton.
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