This month’s choices:
Fiction
Time and Again
By Jack Finney
Yes, I know. Two months in a row with a time-travel novel. I promise that wasn't intentional.
That said, Time and Again has earned its place as one of the true classics of the genre. Stephen King even called it “the great time-travel story.”
First published in 1970, it follows Simon Morley, an ordinary New Yorker recruited into a government experiment that allows him to travel—not by machine, but by immersing himself completely in another era. Before long, he's walking the streets of New York City in the 1880s, where history feels wonderfully alive.
To me, it’s a little too similar to the method used by Christopher Reeve in his time-travel movie, Somewhere In Time. Saves on having to come up with a contraption, I suppose.
What makes this novel endure isn't simply the time travel. It's the atmosphere. Finney painstakingly recreates nineteenth-century New York, filling the pages with rich detail—some might think too much detail—that makes you feel as though you've stepped into another world alongside the characters.
Whether you enjoy historical fiction, mystery, romance, or science fiction, Time and Again offers a little of each. More than fifty years after its publication, it's still considered one of the finest time-travel novels ever written—and a wonderful reminder that a great story never goes out of style.
Find your copy here.
Nonfiction
Cleopatra: A Life
By Stacy Schiff
I’ve got this one on hold through the library, but Gretchen just finished it and heartily recommends it.
Few historical figures have been surrounded by more myth than Cleopatra. Over the centuries, she's often been portrayed as little more than a glamorous seductress. In Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff sets out to separate legend from history—and the result is a fascinating portrait of one of the ancient world's most remarkable leaders.
Rather than focusing solely on her famous relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Schiff paints Cleopatra as an intelligent, multilingual ruler navigating an extraordinarily dangerous political landscape. It's a story of ambition, diplomacy, power, and survival in a world where one wrong move could change the course of history.
Best of all, this isn't a dry history lesson. Schiff writes with the pace and energy of a novelist, making ancient Egypt feel immediate and surprisingly modern. Even readers who don't normally gravitate toward biographies or history will likely find themselves pulled into the drama.
And gracious, the author has a Pulitzer Prize sitting on a shelf, so she clearly knows how to weave a tale.
I’m looking forward to it this fresh look at a woman almost everyone recognizes—but few of us truly know.
Find your copy here.
Sea of Tranquility
By Emily St. John Mandel
A beautiful blend of literary fiction, mystery, and science fiction, from the author of Station Eleven.
The Lost City of the Monkey God
By Douglas Preston
The frightening true story of an expedition into the hostile jungles of Honduras in search of an ancient city.
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Happy reading!
