Book Recommendation – The Ministry of Time

I waited a long time for The Ministry of Time to come out as an audiobook. On a recent trip to Barnes and Nobel, I found it and bought it. Shortly after I bought it and began to read it, the audiobook was released.

I read the first 3/4 of it, and listened to the end of it. Before I go further, here is the Goodreads Synopsis:

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.

This was unlike any other time travel book I have read in that the time travel has already happened when you begin the book. The main character is one of the chosen agents to watch these “expats.” They are people from the past who have been brought to present. They must learn how to live in this new environment.

The story was actually pretty good. There was a section of the story that went into a bit too much detail about a sexual encounter. I could have done with out that, and I’m not sure it was important to the story.

The way it is described above is fairly accurate. It is like a spy thriller that has some romance to it. There were twists that I didn’t see coming and the story wraps up in a way that there could be a sequel if the author is inclined to write one.

3.5 Stars out of 5

Book Recommendations – Before the Coffee Gets Cold

I was in between books, knowing that one I had on hold would arrive in a day or two. I normally would wait to start a book in that situation, but the title of this one caught my eye. When I read the synopsis and saw it involved time travel, I picked it up. The book is “Before the Coffee Gets Cold.”

This was no ordinary time travel book. This was time travel with a set of rigid rules. In most stories, a character goes back (or forward) in time and stays awhile. There is usually some thing they are trying to change (like in 11.22.63) or someone they want to see (like in Bid Time Return – aka Somewhere in Time). In this book, the travelers are well aware that whether in the past or future, they can’t change the present. That is just one of the rules.

Before I go further, take a look at the Goodreads synopsis:

What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

As a coffee drinker, my first thought was, “Just how long does it take the coffee to get cold?” I tried with a cup this morning and it was about 20 minutes. I Googled it and the response was:

“A freshly brewed cup of coffee will take roughly 30-60 minutes to cool to room temperature. This time can vary based on the coffee’s initial temperature, the size of the cup, and the room temperature.“

I think it is difficult to do anything when you are under a time constraint. If I had to go back and time for whatever reason, 20-60 minutes would be gone in a blink of an eye. Would it even be worth it? I’m not sure, I guess it would depend on what I was going back for or who I wanted to see. This is difficult with the set of rules, however.

You wouldn’t be able to go to and watch the Gettysburg address or any other historical event because you can’t leave the cafe. If I wanted to go back to see my mom, the only way that could happen is if she’d ever been to the cafe. Even if things fell into place for you to go back, there is still the time factor. I’m not sure I could focus on anything except that time was ticking away.

With all that being said, it seems like I am really dissing this book. I’m really not, because really, the people who do time travel in the book all get something out of their visit. Maybe it is closure, a last wish, a resolution, or just an answer to a question. They all get something out of it, and it is not a bad book.

The book is apparently the first in a series of five. Will I read the others? Perhaps.

3 stars out of 5 (because I didn’t care for the rules!)

Book Recommendation – Oona Out of Order

Books are a lot like music. “If you like _____, then you might also like _____.” Thanks to some book blogger friends and the Goodreads app, there are always suggestions for books to read. I have read my share of time travel books, and this one was certainly different.

This is the first book I have read by this author. If I am being honest, I almost stopped after the first chapter. I had to remind myself that sometimes the things in that first chapter often are necessary to be the springboard for the rest of the book. That was the case here. It was all a little too – sappy teen love storyish for me. But I pressed on.

Before I explain, here the Goodreads synopsis:

A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order…

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.

That first chapter sets the stage for everything else that comes at you. From the moment Oona wakes up as a fifty-one year old, the chaos begins. Panic, fear, and the unknown face Oona as she navigates through the year, never really knowing if what she is experiencing is real. But when she leaps again at midnight on New Year’s Eve, she knows it is either real or a really bad nightmare.

What was interesting about this story was thinking about what it would be like if you had to live your life out of order. One year you would know people, while in other years they are strangers. In one year you have one set of friends, while in another a totally different set. In one year, you might witness a tragedy and in another it hasn’t happened yet. What could you do with the knowledge you have (or lack of it) as you lived from day to day knowing that you’d be off to another unknown year next? How would you live your life differently?

In the book, every so often a character will tell Oona, “No Spoilers,” and so I will not offer any here. There are many surprises and times I found myself yelling at the characters! LOL At the same time, I certainly took a few nuggets of wisdom away from this story.

3.5 out of 5 stars (only because I had some lingering questions at the end)

Book Recommendation: The Day Tripper

Slowly, but surely, I am working through my “Want to read” list. I just finished one that I almost stopped reading after the first chapter. It begins with a couple in their 20’s who are in the early stages of their relationship. Their cheesy “lovey dovey” exchanges were a bit over the top for me. However, once the story gets going, I was hooked.

The book is by James Goodhand and it is called The Day Tripper.

“Another time-travel book, Keith?! Really?!” Well, yes, but it has a very unique spin on it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

The right guy, the right place, the wrong time.

It’s 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames.

He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight.

After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river.

But what exactly is going on? Why does his life look nothing like he thought it would? What about Cambridge, and Holly? In this thrilling adventure, Alex must navigate his way through the years to learn that small actions have untold impact. And that might be all he needs to save the people he loves and, equally importantly, himself.

This reminded me a bit of Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place, Wrong Time in the sense that it was not your typical time travel story. In Wrong Place, Wrong Time, the main character just keeps going backwards in time. With The Day Tripper, the main character has no idea where or when he is going to be when he wakes up. He is living the days of his life – just not in chronological order.

One of my favorite quotes in the book was “The worst our enemies can do is turn us into them.” This quote really struck me and plays into the plot of the story. Reviews I read before picking it up compared the story to the Twilight Zone and Quantum Leap. I think you will enjoy it.

Book Recommendation: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Not too long ago I posted about two books by Anthony Horowitz (Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders) which were truly unique in that there was a book within a book in each one. The whole idea of a murder mystery connecting with another murder mystery story was such an interesting concept. The stories were very intriguing and enjoyable at the same time.

I love your typical whodunit mystery stories where somebody gets killed and a detective, private investigator, or some innocent person gathers clues and finds out who did it in the end. The formula has worked for some of the great mystery writers like Agatha Christie, Earl Stanley Gardner, and others.

I remember reading a book about the TV series Columbo. One of the things that TV networks were concerned about was the fact that they show who the murderer is right from the get-go. They didn’t think anyone would want to watch a detective try to figure out who did it, when the audiences would already know the guilty party. That changed up the presentation of the murder mystery format.

The book that I just finished reading changes it up even more so. In all honesty, it goes against all mystery logic, but that’s what made it a fun read. Let me tell you a little bit about Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

“Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened?

Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed.

You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.

That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.

Until you wake . . .

. . . and it is yesterday.

And then you wake again . . .

. . . and it is the day before yesterday.

Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime–and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . .“

What an interesting way to solve a crime! Each time she wakes up the main character finds a different piece to the puzzle. Along the way she finds out things aren’t as the seem in the present. As she continues to go back day by day, week by week, she discovers more of the events, characters, and clues that led to the murder.

The fact that I enjoy time travel stories is known to anyone who reads this blog. Using the “forced” time travel aspect in this story brought about some extra suspense. The character has no idea how long she will travel back in time OR for how long. She also has no idea if she will ever make it back to the present or just go back so far that she stops existing.

There were times during the story that my jaw actually dropped open because of something I didn’t see coming. It was a great story that at times caused me to pause and reflect on things the main character was feeling. There were things that really made me think about how I approach each day as well.

Does she figure it out? Does she stop the murder? Does she save her son? Does she ever make it back to the present? I highly recommend this book!!

5 out of 5 stars from me!

Another Good Read: This Time Tomorrow

If it seems like my blog has become a lot of book recommendations, I’m sorry. I’m doing more reading than I have ever done. I suppose my desire to read comes and goes, but every book I have read lately has had something in the plot summary that peaked my interest. It’s been fun to read stuff from new authors, too.

I literally just finished This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. She is not a “new” author in that she has written many other books. I did find it interesting to know that her and her husband own their own book store in Brooklyn, New York.

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, I have mentioned my love for time travel stories. The thought of being able to go back in time and visit some famous event or to the future is intriguing. The Back to the Future movies, The Twilight Zone, Time Tunnel, and even the short lived series Timeless will always be fun to watch.

This book has a bit of time travel in it (and coincidentally, so does my next read). Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

“What if you could take a vacation to your past?

With her celebrated humor, insight, and heart, beloved New York Times bestseller Emma Straub offers her own twist on traditional time travel tropes, and a different kind of love story.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?“

What I love about the premise of the story is that even though she wakes up on her 16th birthday, she is very aware that she just turned 40. This is an important part of the story. It is kind of the “If I knew then what I know now” sort of thing. Tiny Spoiler Alert: There is a “Groundhog Day” feel to the story as she repeats the same day more than once. Knowing that won’t spoil too much for you.

The love story eluded to in the synopsis is not the ordinary love story. It is the love between a daughter and her father. That love is really what drives the story.

It really wound up being a thought provoking story. I could easily see this being something that would be a good Book Club read or even something that would make a great movie.

Life Turns On A Dime

Just what does that even mean – “Life turns on a dime?” A quick Google search will offer up some explanations for folks unfamiliar with the phrase:

“Since a dime is the smallest U.S. coin, the ability to “turn on it” is a figure of speech meaning you can change direction very quickly in a very small space. In this case, it means that life can change course very quickly. Depending on the circumstances, it can be either good or bad, but either way it will be rapid.“

To “turn on a dime” means turning sharply and/or suddenly. To say that “life can turn on a dime” means that a person’s life can change radically in an instant (or very quickly). It’s more often used to mean someone going from a “good place” to a not-so-good place, but it can also mean suddenly taking a turn for the better.

Turn on a dime is an English idiom meaning change dramatically, suddenly and without warning or coming out of the blue unexpectedly. It usually results from a single event that dramatically alters the course of events either as a negative or a positive.

Stephen King uses that quote quite a bit in his time travel book 11.22.63. It is almost like a theme throughout it. One thing can change history (as in the case of the book) in the blink of an eye. I guess another way of explaining it is that life can change just like that (imagine a finger snap here.)

I had totally prepared to work on my article for the next round of Turntable Talk today, but some things have been tossed into our path that has led to this one instead. I write this as a reminder to you and myself to take nothing for granted. I write this as a reminder to live each day to it’s fullest. I write this as a reminder that life is a fragile thing.

In the baseball game of life, we are thrown many curveballs. Some of those we see coming and some brush us off the plate. Some of those we get ahold of and can knock them out of the park, while many of them we swing at – and miss.

Enjoy every moment. Never miss an opportunity to say “I love you.” Life is too short to hold grudges. These are all things that I have said in one way, shape or form in previous blogs.

It has been hard for me to scroll Facebook lately. So many of my friends are hurting because of sickness, death, grief, or struggle. I pray for each of them daily. Sure, there are plenty of happy moments shared on social media, but in amongst those things are people I care about – hurting. Life turned on a dime for them. Factor in some other news that we’ve been made aware of over the past few weeks and we see life turning on a dime again, this time closer to home.

The storm is off the coast. It is clear as day on the radar. Heading toward us. We will watch it’s course and the skies. We will prepare the best we can. We will do our best to be ready for it. In the meantime, we will enjoy the moments and savor each one.

Your Wish Is My Command

I can’t remember what site I saw this on, but thought it was interesting to see the responses. If you had one “genie wish,” what would you wish for?

I think what makes the question tough to answer is that whenever we think of a genie, there always seems to be three wishes. That’s not the case here. Before you give your answer, let’s just rule out the wish for “more wishes,” too!

Here were some of the answers given by participants in the piece I read:

The ability to be fluent in all languages – past and present

I can see where this would come in handy.

Teleportation ability.

I can totally see wanting to do this! The money we’d save on gas alone would be worth it!!

Money

Well, you knew someone would wish for money. While it would come in handy, if it were me, I’d wish for just enough to get by. No need to have boatloads of it – it is the root of all evil after all.

Time Travel/Live Life Over Again Knowing What I Know Now

These two were separate answers, but I think they both kind of are the same. The problem I have with this wish is all it would take is one major change to your life (knowing what you know now) to change the rest of it. That would mean a whole different time line, as Doc Brown illustrates in Back to the Future II.

The Power To Be Invisible At Will

This reminds me of the “I’d like to be a fly on the wall” cliché. I think the reason someone would want this power would be to be able to spy on someone primarily. Personally, I have found that I’d rather NOT know what others are saying about me…

The Power of Shapeshifting

This one goes along with the invisibility thing. As a matter of fact, the person who answered mentioned that if they could shapeshift, they would become a dog or a fly or a cat or something that would go unnoticed when getting close to whatever they wanted to observe.

The Ability to Do Everything Perfectly

Wouldn’t this get old? Sure, I can see it being nice for some things, but for EVERY thing? This just sounds like the plot line to a Twilight Zone Episode.

Free Healthcare World Wide AND A Cure for Cancer

These two were actually part of the same wish – but is it really two wishes? Anyway, Free Healthcare would be nice and I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want a cure for cancer!

Knowing the Answer to Any Question

As most people know, having ALL the answers isn’t always the best thing. Sometimes it is best NOT to know all the answers. I could see where this could work for good – and bad.

Never Having to Feel Anxious or Depressed

In other words, being happy? I can relate! While most of my anxiety and depression is gone, there will occasionally be a bout now and then. It’s not easy to be happy all the time, because sometimes life throws those curveballs at you. It would certainly be nice, though, to get rid of anxiety, depression, anger, and those other emotions that bring you down.

That Every Person Holding a Position of Power Would Have Empathy For Others

Wow! Yeah, that’s a good wish.

Two more and I’ll turn it over to you. One is silly and the other struck a chord.

A Magical Fridge That Always Gave Me Whatever I Was In The Mood For When I Opened the Door

This made me laugh. I also feel like who ever had this wish wanted a whole lot of alcohollic beverages in there …

I Wish I Never Had a Reason to Wish

Let that one run around in your head for a bit. THAT is a powerful wish!

Now – What would YOU wish for if you had just one “genie wish?”

Back in Time?

All writers get writer’s block. I am hardly a “writer”, but sometimes stare at the blank page and wonder what to write about. Since I began blogging, I have stumbled on blogs written by others who share some of the same interests as me. I have followed blogs that feature movies, TV, music, nostalgia, positive thoughts & quotes, and more. There have been many instances where I read another blog and an idea will pop into my head. My friend Max and I tend to “borrow” ideas from each other often.

Many ideas I adapt from those blogs. For this blog I am literally stealing the idea, and giving credit, and creating some rules for it. The Anxious Teacher wrote a blog after watching Back to the Future III. You can read it here:

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/94480307/posts/2458827458

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What a great idea for a blog! If you had a time machine – where would you travel? As I thought about this, I wanted to limit myself to a few things. First of all, because I have watched the Back to the Future movies, I know that if you go back and change something in the past – it will affect the future. So Limit #1: If I go back, I am simply there to observe. Many of the things I thought I would like to go back and witness happened over a period of time, so Limit #2 – no real time limit. Limit #3 – wherever I go, I will be dressed appropriately as to not raise suspicion. I know, it’s silly, but it’s my blog and my rules.

I actually thought about adding what I would call the “Ebenezer Scrooge” element to this. What is that? Well, remember when Scrooge was transported into the past, present & future? He could witness everything, but he could not interact with anyone. Those events happened and the people were not aware he was even there. Perhaps that would be the best thing, right? That way, if I went back in time, I would not be tempted to change things.

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General times and places

As my blogger friend said, I think it would be very cool to visit the old west. I have watched many westerns on TV and in the movies. I have read many books set in the old west. I think it would be pretty cool to walk through one of those western towns. How cool would it be to visit the saloons, or the general store? I think it would be cool to don a cool cowboy hat, boots & spurs and ride a horse to get from place to place.

I also think it would be cool to visit the ancient times and watch the building of the pyramids, or buildings like the coliseum. Those historic buildings are still standing. How awesome would it be to see just how they put them together?

As someone who has been a huge fan of the 1950’s, I would love to live a year or two in this decade. It’s fun to see how the ’50s are portrayed in movies like Back to the Future, and I would love to see it in person. I would love to hear the old radio stations playing those early rock and roll songs. I would love to see those classic films in a theater. I would love to have a meal at a real 50’s diner or drive a classic car!

I would love to visit the 1940’s, too! The music of the great band leaders, the early music of Sinatra, and of course, those great old radio shows! Of course, World War II was going on, but it would be interesting to see how life in America was at that time.

Everyone wants to visit the future … that peaks my interest, but is it something I would do? I don’t know. I’d be tempted to come back to the present and use the information for personal gain, or to alter outcomes. I’m not sure visiting the future would be something I’d want to do – unless I knew it was something specific I wouldn’t be able to see.

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General People of Interest

I would love to watch Beethoven or Bach (or any composer, really) writing and composing a piece of their music.

I would love to watch someone like Edgar Allen Poe or William Shakespeare writing a poem or story.

I would love to sit on a set and watch them shooting a Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy film.

I would love to be in the room where the First Continental Congress held meetings and watch men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others in action.

I would love to attend a taping of an old episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson or a taping of the Dean Martin Show.

I would love to be in the audience at a Rat Pack show in Chicago or Las Vegas. Come on! Dean, Frank and Sammy!!

I would love to be an extra in one of my favorite movies.

I would love to watch Elvis in the recording studio.

I would love to watch Thomas Edison working on the phonograph or the electric light.

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Specific Events

I would love to watch the moon landing (on TV or from space).

I would love to watch the first flight with the Wright Brothers.

I would love to see JFK’s inauguration.

I would love to see a Beatles concert.

I would love to see Lincoln deliver his Gettysburg Address.

I would love to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I would love to witness the launch of Titanic on her maiden voyage.

I would love to be in the stands at Tiger Stadium at the final game of the 1984 World Series.

I would love to be in the crowd at 1985’s Live Aid concert.

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Personal Things

I know I put some limits on what can or cannot happen if I went back in time, but if there were no limits there are a few things I would like to do with that time machine.

I would love one more conversation with my mom.

I would love one more pinochle game with grandma and grandpa.

I would love one more Christmas Eve with grandma and grandpa.

I would love one more radio show with Rob.

I would love one more cribbage game with my grandpa.

I would love to play my trumpet in one more high school band concert.

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Just One Day

For whatever reason, writing this blog made me think of the Nat King Cole song, “That Sunday, That Summer”. The lyrics of the song say:

“If I had to chose just one day, to last my whole life through, it would surely be that Sunday, the day that I met you.”

With a time machine, you could go back to one day. You could pick the day. You could relive whatever happened that day. What day would that be?

I don’t know that I could pick just one.

What I do know is that there are plenty of days that I am looking forward to that haven’t happened yet – the birth of my daughter, the graduations of my sons, etc…. I am perfectly content moving forward and experiencing the days to come.

Here is sit, remembering the past – loving the present – and looking forward to the future.

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