Andy’s Anachronisms: “Exploring the Themes of Time Travel and Alternate Universes in Literature and Entertainment.” However, the exclusion of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow and Norman Spinrad’s severely underrated The Iron Dream makes this a bit suspect.
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Thanks for the mention of my site Andy’s Anachronisms.
I admit that there are large gaps in my list of time travel books that I have read, most notably as you pointed out A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (although you neglected to point out my failure to review – H.G. Well’s Time Machine). It’s not to say that I haven’t read them. I have actually read them multiple times.
The absence from my site is more owing to a lack of time to write a review worthy of the material.
Especially with the case of Twain’s seminal Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court which has been the fodder of so many other derivative time travel works in the nearly 120 years since it was first published.
Thanks for the heads up on Spinard’s Iron Dream. I will add it to my list of many works to be read.
Hi Andy. I just published my latest book, a time travel novel called, ‘A New Jersey Yankee In King Arthur’s Court.’ It’s available at Barnes & Nobel and smashwords.com as an e-book. The first 50% is free and should you purchase it the e-book costs $3.00. It’s a family book and a great read.