There Will Be Time

The final book in the time travel series for February is Poul Anderson's There will Be Time . This book did not make the 23 Best Time Travel Sci-fi book list that I've been using, off and on. 23 seemed like a very strange number, so I added a few to my own list. I had chosen There will Be Time because another of Anderson's time travel books did make the list - Tau Zero .

One of the more unusual twists in the novel is that the protagonist, Jack Havig is able to travel through time, not by use of a machine or device, but due to his having a genetic mutation that allows him to move through time.

As a time travel novel, the book is about average.....not especially good, nor especially bad. I'd rate it on a par with The Anubis Gates ; not the best I've ever read, although it is much better than either The Thief of Time or Time Enough For Love .

Jack Havig travels thru the past, present and future. However, after 70% of the story, he leaves Earth, never to return and the story continues with the non-time traveling Maurai Foundation. I really couldn't get into this last 30%. I found the whole Maurai Foundation story boring. I would have preferred that Anderson left the Maurai out of this novel altogether. 

My time travel series for March will begin with Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife . This story also deals with a man who travels through time due to a genetic disorder. My next post will feature the entire list for February.

The Thief of Time

Continuing along the time travel route, I've come to Terry Pratchett's The Thief of Time. As usual, I looked for a copy of the book's cover to go along with the blog post for the novel. I know that one can't always judge a book by the cover, but I should have known by this cover that this book was not for me.

I really could not get into this book. The story rambled on and on and on.....but going nowhere. It all seemed so very pointless to me. I couldn't make it through 30% of the ebook before I put it down to go on to something different. I've too many books on my list to drudge on through a book I can't enjoy.

I'm giving this one a rating of 0 out of 5 stars.....even lower than Time Enough For Love ,which I hated.

The Time Ships

Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships is a sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine , officially authorized by the Wells estate to mark the centennial of the classic novel's publication. I've no information as to the how or why of their decision, but the Wells estate could not have made a better choice.

Baxter's novel is absolutely wonderful.

Baxter managed to write the novel from the prospective of a Victorian writer. I could feel Wells' spirit guiding his writing style. Baxter picked up the story where Wells stopped and he took the story to amazing heights. The novel is full of surprise twists and turns......going places where I never could have imagined.

One of the minor flaws in the original story was the lack of understanding on Wells' part of the various paradoxes brought about by time travel. Baxter takes care of that.

Of course, one of the advantages Baxter had over H.G.Wells is the advancement of scientific knowledge since the Victorian era. The Time Machine was written well before the work of Albert Einstein, and the later understanding of the science of Quantum Mechanics and String Theory.

I highly recommend that anyone thinking of reading this great Sci-fi novel read (or reread) The Time Machine before hand.

I'm giving The Time Ships a rating of 5 stars out of 5.

A Volkswagen Update

This afternoon I went with 3 American friends to have lunch at Cubiertos Restaurant in Sibulan. It was the first time I had visited this particular restaurant in quite some time......it's probably been more than a year.

Something new has been added.

My regular readers know that whenever I come upon a VW Beetle in the area, I will photograph said Beetle and post the photos to my blog. (now "blogs"). In Oct. 2018 I took photos of a VW parked at Cubiertos Restaurant that was basically serving as a large flower pot. One of the photos from that time is posted below.

 

Today, I find that that VW has been updated. Looking closely at the body, I'm sure it is the same VW....only now it's painted yellow and is no longer holding flowers.

I've no idea why the change was made. I'm simply reporting it.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Before I write on my latest time travel read, I want to say something about the list I've been using. While I was reading The Anubis Gates I found a list of 23 time travel books. Being a contrarian by nature, I decided to start reading at #23 (To Say Nothing of The Dog ) rather than #1.

I was so impressed with To Say Nothing of The Dog that I added the three additional books in Connie Willis' Oxford time travel series to my reading list.

When I had finished the four books by Connie Willis I went back to my list. That put the next time travel book as Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein. The less said about that piece of #@^%, the better.

Planning for the end of the month, I looked at the next four or five books on the list. I eliminated Time and Again by Jack Finney. This one is an illustrated novel which doesn't hold up as a mobi file for my Kindle. The next four on the list are Thief of Time by Terry Pratchet,The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter, and The Time Machine by H.G.Wells.The Time Ships was authorized by the H.G. Wells estate in 1995 to mark the centenary of the original publication of The Time Machine.

I last read the H.G. Wells classic in June of 2017, and I wanted to read it again before reading the sequel. I wanted to make sure that those two made it into February, so I bumped them ahead of Thief of Time and The Time Traveler’s Wife.

The Time Machine is truly a classic Sci-fi novella. It is the sine qua non of time travel books. Wells, for what ever reason, did not speculate on the paradoxes of time travel (which is taken care of in Baxter's sequel) but the novel doesn't suffer from that omission.

Wells was a Socialist, and there's a bit of the ol' class struggle in The Time Machine. The Time Traveller stops in 802,701 A.D. and concludes, from what he discovers, that Communism has at last been achieved. Oddly enough, the future looks a bit dystopian coming from a writer who advocated Socialism. In spite of the political slant, I'm giving this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating.

According to wikipedia several sequels have appeared over the years. The Time Ships is the only authorized sequel, so I'm not sure if I'll be adding others to my already substantial list.

Time Enough For Love

Continuing in my quest to read only Sci-fi novels dealing with time travel for the next few months, the next one on my list, following the four novels in Connie Willis' time travel series, is Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein.

My rating for this book will based on 3 criteria:
1) It's value as a Sci-fi novel
2) It's worth as a Heinlein novel
3) It's ranking as a "time travel" novel

Sad to say, Time Enough For Love fails on all three counts.

Prior to this, it had been fifty years, give or take, since I last read anything by Robert Heinlein. As a teen, I had read the three novels that many consider Heinlein's best - Stranger in a Strange Land , The Moon is a Harsh Mistress , and Starship Troopers . This book nowhere approaches the level of those three. Every character - and there are many - all have the same basic personality. Although they have different bodies, different genders and appear to be different people, Heinlein didn't waste much energy on character development. All conversations between the characters sound like the same person talking to himself.
Heinlein was obsessed with sex when he wrote this novel and no sexual act appears to have been off limits for Heinlein. Not even incest.

As a Sci-fi work, the book is below par. Sure, there's space travel, talking computers and assorted advancements in science, but in many parts of the book, it felt as if I were reading a Zane Grey shoot 'em up. Covered wagons and all.

I'm not sure why this was included in the list of the 23 Best Time Travel Science Fiction Books. Time travel seems to have been an after thought with this novel.Time travel doesn't even become part of the plot until the last 25% of the book. I suspect Heinlein used time travel as a way for his main character to have sex with his mother when they were both 35 years old.

Toward the very end of the book, it looked as if the protagonist was going to be killed. I've never looked forward to any character getting killed off as much as I did Lazarus Long. But, this was time travel, so his family managed to save him. According to wikipedia, Lazarus Long makes an appearance in a number of Heinlein's books. I'll be sure to skip those.

All Clear

After reading The Anubis Gates  the first of February, I decided that I'd read only Sci-fi novels focusing on time travel for the next few months. I've just finished my fifth novel on this subject - All Clear by Connie Willis. All Clear is the 4th of Willis' so-called, "Oxford Time Travel series", the first three being The Doomsday Book ,To Say Nothing of the Dog , and Blackout .

All Clear is essentially the second part of a two part novel, Blackout/All Clear , which tells the stories of time traveling historians who've gone to the past in order to research World War II.

Willis has done an excellent job chronicling the lives of Brits living through those difficult times. The novels feel as if they were written during the war.

Being a time travel novel, there are, of course problems involving the numerous paradoxes brought on by time travel. A good deal of the two novels focus on the difficulties the time travelers have trying to return to 2060.

All four of Willis' time travel novels have been awarded the Hugo Award - making Willis the first author to win Hugo awards for all books in a series.

Earlier, I gave To Say Nothing of the Dog a rating of 5 stars out 5......a perfect score. Of the four, "the dog" is my favorite. I'm giving each of the other 3 novels in the series a rating of 4.9 stars out of 5. I've enjoyed all four, but I can't give the others an equal rating with my favorite.

Blackout by Connie Willis

As I've mentioned before, I first came upon To Say Nothing of The Dog by Connie Willis when I started looking for Sci-fi novels on time travel and found it listed among "23 Best Time Travel Science Fiction Books". I hadn't realized at the time that the novel was the 2nd in a four part series by Willis.

I then went on to read the first in the series, The Doomsday Book .Fortunately, reading the 2nd book first, and the 1st book second didn't disrupt the flow of the series.

The same cannot be said of books three and four - Blackout and All Clear . Although published as two novels, the two are essentially one novel. The events in Blackout remain unresolved at the end of that volume.

The events chronicled in the two volumes take place during World War II. According to Wikipedia,Willis worked on the story for almost eight years - 2 years longer than the actual war. I'm on the second volume now. The two volumes together run more than 1,100 pages. I'm hoping it takes me less than eight years to finish. 

Obviously, I'll more to say once I've read the second volume.

The Doomsday Book

As I've mentioned earlier, starting in February, and continuing on until perhaps past March, I'll be reading Sci-fi novels pertaining to time travel. I had come upon a website listing 23 time travel novels, and I added seven, making my list 30.

I've just finished #3 - The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. When I had read Willis' To Say Nothing of The Dog a few days ago, I hadn't realized that that novel was # 2 in a four part series about Oxford time-traveling historians. I loved that novel, and decided I'd read the entire series. Fortunately, reading the 2nd novel first, and the 1st novel second doesn't cause a problem.

The Doomsday Book was first published in 1992 and the "present" in the novel is the winter of 2054/2055. The time traveler, Kivrin Engle goes back to the early 14th century.

One of the things I liked about To Say Nothing of The Dog was the humor. Although there is the occasional humorous episode in The Doomsday Book it is far more dramatic than "the dog". Never the less, I loved the The Doomsday Book just as much.

Written well before our current COVID pandemic, Willis writes of an influenza epidemic in Oxford in 2055. There is also mention of an earlier pandemic - although the specific year of the pandemic isn't given. Willis' prediction of how people will act during the 2055 influenza epidemic is quite similar to how many acted in our real (current) pandemic.

The final 2 volumes in the Oxford time travel series are Blackout and All Clear. I'm starting #3 today.

To Say Nothing of The Dog

It was while reading The Anubis Gates , by Tim Powers that I decided that, for the next few months, I would concentrate on reading Sci-fi novels dealing with time travel . I had done something similar last year when I spent a month reading dystopian novels and a couple of months reading only mystery novels written by Agatha Christie.

I had happened upon a website containing "23 Best Time Travel Science Fiction Books"......a good place to start. I also added seven additional time travel novels, making my list thirty instead of 23. While still reading the Powers' ebook, I looked over the online list and decided my next time travel book would be To Say Nothing of The Dog  by Connie Willis. I had two reasons for picking this one. 1) It was the last one mentioned on the online list, and 2) I was especially impressed that the title of this book references another favorite of mine - Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men In a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

There's time travel back to the Victorian era with three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog) and to the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940. It's part Sci-fi, part Mystery novel à la Hercule Poirot. One reviewer calls the book "hilarious". It is funny, and charming and witty although I rarely call anything "hilarious".
 

 I  had found a good deal of The Anubis Gates heavy,but quite the opposite with this book. I had given The Anubis Gates a rating of 3 stars out of 5, I'm giving To Say Nothing of The Dog ,the top rating of 5 stars out of 5.

The Anubis Gates

As I mentioned in my post covering my January 2022 reading list, the first book to be included in February's list would be Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates . Up until just a few days ago, I had never heard of Tim Powers; it was thanks to a post by a Facebook friend (whom I haven't actually met, face to face) who had just finished reading one of Powers' novels. There were four additional novels by Powers mentioned in the comment section, which I made note of.

Going to one of my favorite websites, I was able to download the five novels. Not knowing which novel to read first, I did a little research and learned that of those five novels, The Anubis Gates was the earliest written. The book's dealing with time travel was a point in it's favor as well.

However, I'm giving the novel a rating of 3 stars out of a possible five.

Powers seems to have gone full kitchen sink with this novel. Not only is there time travel to the early 19th Century, with appearances by Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but sorcery and a bit of body-snatching are thrown in for good measure. There are far too many characters making their way through out the novel, and the story seems more complicated than it needs to be. After 3/4 of the way through the novel, I was hoping that the book would finally come to an end.

On the plus side, while reading the book, I was reminded of another time travel adventure that I had read several years ago. While searching for that sci-fi novel, I came upon a list of the 23 best time travel sci-fi books. Why the number 23 instead of say, 25 or 30? I've no clue. At any rate, I've downloaded those 23 books - and a few others as well - and I plan to read exclusively "time travel" novels for the next couple of months, much like I did last year with Agatha Christie novels. It's too early to give out my entire list, but I will say the next time travel novel is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.

January 2022 Reading List

As January was coming toward an end, I was hoping I could manage to read 12 books this month; the graphic accompanying this post would have looked much more balanced with an even number of books. As I write this post, it is still January 31, but with still 37% unread, it's unlikely that I'll finish reading Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates in time to make the list. At any rate, it will be the first on the Feb. 2022 reading list.

Of the 11 books read this month, 10 were ebooks and one printed hard-cover edition. This month, as a change, I will provide links to each ebook listed, so anyone interested can locate a copy.

I've reviewed a few of the books on the list, but not all. I'll also be giving a rating for all the books. Of course, that will be based on my personal opinion and anyone is free to disagree.

As a side note, with 11 books in January 2022, I'm one book ahead of January 2021.

Buddhism and Abortion                   Damien Keown (editor.) 5 stars
Fancies and Goodnights                  John Collier 4.5 stars
Hannibal and Me                             Andreas Kluth 3.5 stars
Das Boot                                           Lothar-Günther Buchheim 4 stars
Hannibal                                          Ernle Bradford 4.5 stars
The night in Lisbon                           Erich Maria Remarque 5 stars
Scipio Africanus:                               B.H. Liddell Hart 3 stars
A Long Petal of the Sea                     Isabel Allende 2 stars
Living Buddha, Living Christ           Thich Nhat Hanh 3.5 stars
The Way of Chuang Tzu                    Thomas Merton 2.5 stars
Zhuangzi: Basic writings                  Burton Watson (TL) 2.5 stars