Top Ten Tuesday: Time Travel - As cool yesterday as it was tomorrow.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weakly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  They love lists as much as I do, so it's only fair to tip my hat.

I love me some good ol' fashioned time travel.  So here are my Top 10 Time Travel books.  I know I'm missing some staples because I honestly haven't read things like Time After Time yet.  You don't need to tell me, believe me, my tbr time travel list is loooooong...as always, clicky for GoodReads, and enjoy!

#10 - A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle: Like many young readers, this was my first run in with time travel and I freakin' loved it!  I'm sad to say, however, that this is in my pile of books I should never have reread.  I reread A Wrinkle in Time about two years ago, and was incredibly disappointed.  It didn't hold up for me, or it would have been higher on this list.

#9 - The Time Machine - H.G. Wells: This classic is much better than the movies would have you believe.  A must-read-staple for any time travel fan.

#8 - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain: Again, I insist, do not judge this book by its movie.  Judge it by Mark Twain's wit.

#7 - Bearing an Hourglass - Piers Anthony: Piers Anthony may be one of the most misogynistic, formulaic fantasy authors out there, but I still thought The Incarnations of Immortality series was pretty cool.  While my favorite of these books was actually Death (On a Pale Horse), Bearing an Hourglass had a pretty sweet take on Time.

#6 - When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead: So...this is where I put a book I haven't actually read fairly high on my list.  Why?  Because I know I'm going to love it, and I am going to read it this year!  It's on my list for the Award Winning Reads Challenge.

#5 - The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger: I loved this book.  I almost wish it had a different name, because it is so hard to get men to read this one.  Sure, there's romance, but there's also a really cool and unique take on time travel that I haven't seen anywhere else!

#4 - A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickons: A lot of people overlook this one as time travel, but think about it!  It totally fits the bill.  One of my favorite Christmas stories, ghost stories, and time travel stories all in one.  I plan on rereading this one this year.

#3 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling: Here's where we're getting into some of my all-time favorite books.  One of my favorite Harry Potter and Time Traveler books, I covet a time turner like it's nobody's business.

#2 - Rant - Chuck Palahniuk: Forget Fight Club, Rant is by far my favorite Palhaniuk.  Another unique take on time travel and immortality.

#1 - Blackout/All Clear - Connie Willis:  I love love loved this duology.  I'm dying to read the rest of Connie Willis's Oxford Time Travel books, but I find it hard to believe anything could top Blackout and All Clear as they're set during WWII.  Learn British history in an entertaining way!

Audio Review: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Title: The Emerald Atlas [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: John Stephens [Website]
Standing: First in The Books of Beginning series.
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Published: April 5th, 2011 by Listening Library/Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: Audiobook; 11 hours 38 minutes.  Read by Jim Dale.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.

Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.

Until now.

Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey to dangerous and secret corners of the world...a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem.  And—if an ancient prophesy is correct—what they do can change history, and it is up to them to set things right.

The Emerald Atlas brims with humor and action as it charts Kate, Michael, and Emma's extraordinary adventures through an unforgettable, enchanted world.

Now we all know Jim Dale is the boss when it comes to audiobooks, and The Emerald Atlas was fine, but even Jim Dale couldn’t charm me enough to keep me from thinking ‘Geez this book is way too freaking long!’.  Seriously people, what is with the 400+ page middle grade books these days?!  I’m glad that we have the confidence in our young readers to expect them to slog through these epics, but personally, I go to middle grade reads when I need a bit of a break and want to finish a pleasant story in one sitting.  The Emerald Atlas was not that story.  Okay, okay, that’s not to say that The Emerald Atlas was bad, it wasn’t, and I did enjoy it.  I’m just not sure it was astounding enough to justify that kind of time stamp, and I feel like I invested more into this book than I got in return.

The Emerald Atlas had a lot of elements that I liked.  I enjoy the focus on the bond of siblings, I liked the incorporation of many different fantasy characters like wizards and dwarfs, creepy monsters, and if I had known there was time travel in this book, I totally would have picked it up earlier!  I won’t reveal the details, or the mechanism, but I will say that if you’re a time travel lover and enjoy middle grade reads this could be a good book for you.  The Emerald Atlas takes place in a reality where the magical world used to be entwined with our own.  It has retreated into its own, but there are places where crossover between the mundane and magic worlds remain. It is one of these crossovers that engulfs the children in adventure.

The siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma each had their own strong personality characteristics and I loved that while they found one another annoying they would staunchly defend one another against anyone outside of their family.  They share a strong belief and hope in the love of their unknown parents, and are open to loving adults despite the cruelty and neglect they have experienced in their time. There was, however, a pattern throughout the book where one sibling would get separated from the other two and drama would ensue, and this got to be a bit wrote for me by the end.  I did like the uncertainty I felt at the book's close.  Were these kids ‘destined’ for adventure, or did they create their own destiny through time travel?

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Eh...maybe 50/50?  I liked The Emerald Atlas, but I didn’t love it, and I don’t feel invested in the series.  That said, if Jim Dale records the next one, I may still pick it up.

Recommended for: People who don’t think twelve hours is too much of your life to spend on a middle grade book (I'm really sorry I'm being snobby about this, I know, I'm a lazy reader at times), and those who love Jim Dale and/or time travel enough to go there.

Real life repercussions of reading this book: I listened to maybe ⅓ of this book while hopelessly lost on Long Island one day.  I was so angry/upset that that may have leaked over into my impressions of this story. DON'T WORRY. After I called the bf crying, he purchased me a GPS for Valentine's Day.

Salute Your Shorts: Tomorrow is Today by Julie Cross

Hi friends!  I've decided that since I love to talk about short stories and novellas, I'm going to make it my own little feature, complete with this awesome banner my bf made me (with a nod to the show of my childhood of course).  If you'd like to participate when talking about shorts you've come across, you're more than welcome!  Just grab the pic above, and shoot me a link in the comments and I'll do a round-up.  I plan to do at least two Salute Your Shorts posts a month, but you're welcome to post as often or on whatever day you'd like.

Title: Tomorrow is Today [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Julie Cross  [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Tempest #.5
Genre: Young Adult, Sci Fi
Published: December 6th, 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Kindle edition.  
Source: Tomorrow is Today is available free for Kindle.

Sometimes I love shorts because they give me that extra little peek into the lives of characters I adore.  And then there’s those times when I love short stories because they save me from committing to a full-length novel I won’t enjoy.  That, for me, was Tomorrow is Today.

Jackson and his recent friends Adam and Holly are training to be camp counsellors for the summer.  He’s just finished his freshman year at NYU, while Adam and Holly have just graduated from high school in Jersey.  Adam is helping Jackson document and perform scientific experiments to explore his time travel abilities, while Jackson is busy lusting after Holly.  Jackson and Adam are hoping to find out more information about why he has the abilities he does, and also what the limits are.  

When I heard of Tempest, I was super excited.  I’m a massive time travel geek and absolutely could not wait to check it out in YA form.  But given the preview I was provided through the short story, Tomorrow is Today, I’ve determined it’s not going to be the story I was hoping for.  I was looking for it to have a good male point of view, be action packed, and a cool take on time travel.  I wanted more sci fi, and less romance.  It seems like it’s going to be fairly romance-centric, I didn’t like Julie Cross’s writing of Jackson (yes, some authors can write wonderfully from the perspective of the opposite sex, I do not feel like this was happening here), and the time travel aspect seemed iffy.  I found myself peeved by the dialog, and Jackson seemed like a bit of a douche. So I’m sorry to say I will not be joining the crowds of people who have adored Tempest as I had to force myself through the 60 or so pages of this short.  I do think that a lot of people will really enjoy this book, many of you have, but it’s just not going to do it for me.

Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Title: The Future of Us [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Jay Asher [Website|Twitter|Facebook] and Carolyn Mackler
[Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Sci Fi, Time Travel(!)
Published: November 21st, 2011 by Razorbill
Format: Hardcover; 356 pages.
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

It’s 1996 and Emma’s father has sent her a new computer as a consolation prize.  He’s just had a new baby girl with his wife, and lucky Emma gets a computer.  Josh shows up at her door with an AOL disc, which will give her 100 hours free when she signs up.  It’s awkward.  Josh and Emma used to be best friends, they grew up next door and spent countless hours together, but six months ago Josh thought maybe they could be more than friends and Emma rejected the notion with horror.  Still, she’s not going to turn down the AOL handout so she loads it up, snags her e-mail addy, and logs on.  To find Facebook.  Is this some kind of sick joke?  She’s on a page with a woman who has her name, graduated from her high school, and well--looks just like she would if she were 15 years older.  Emma calls Josh over to help investigate, and as they uncover the truth about their futures through what they see on Facebook, they learn how easy it is to create ripples in their lives that will affect who they will become.  

Ah the 90s.  This book was so full of 90’s nostalgia I found myself exclaiming words like “SCUNCHIE!” and “DISCMAN!” aloud as I read.  Do you remember that horrid sound of dial-up?  Do you remember your parents kicking you off the Internet because they needed the phone?  Do you remember when ball pits still existed?!  LOVE IT!  I mean, Emma has the whole debate over whether to use the brick wall or the pipes screen saver and chooses brick wall and I’m like “Wtf Emma?  Everyone knows pipes are the best, I still use it!”

Asher and Mackler are a fantastic team in The Future of Us, which alternates perspectives between Josh and Emma (I’m assuming Asher wrote Josh and Mackler wrote Emma).  This book is so incredibly intriguing to me because it will arguably only be relevant for a short amount of time to a certain amount of people.  It’s great for teens now, and those of us who were teens in the 90s, but how long will it be before Facebook has changed so much that it is no longer recognizable or in use as it is in this book?  I’m hoping teens who read it now will become more conscious about what they post online, and think about how the choices they make today may affect them in the future.  

Let’s get down to the meat of it.  I lurv time travel.  Truly, madly, deeply.  I mean, my list of sexceptions consists only of: The Doctor.  Oh, and Archer, but as he’s a cartoon I’m thinking that’s even less probable.  ANYWAY, the time travel factor in The Future of Us is awesome!  I feel like most of the time travel I’ve read lately has been travel to the past, where they are either unable to affect events, or they know exactly what they want to change and how they can do it.  This was none of that!  In The Future of Us Josh and Emma are faced with the reality that even the slightest changes in their lives can affect their future--their families, their careers, their friends--everything.  It reminds me of those scenes in the Back to the Future movies where they’re trying to change names that appear on tombstones or who’s in a picture.

When they first discover Facebook, Josh’s future is looking so bright he’s gotta wear shades, but Emma just sees herself as miserable.  She starts taking steps to ensure that her future comes out happier, but Josh is terrified about how Emma’s actions will affect the futures of himself and others.  

So let’s talk about Josh and Emma, shall we?  I liked Josh a lot, he’s a nice guy who I probably would have been happy to be friends with in high school.  It broke my heart that Emma broke his by putting him in that terminal best friend syndrome position, and I truly felt like he deserved a good future whatever it may be.  Emma on the other hand...well...I didn’t like her.  At all.  So excuse me as I go a little ranty pants on her ass: Emma is incredibly selfish, but is convinced that everyone she is involved with is the selfish one.  It’s possible that she’s so afraid of real love and emotions that she surrounds herself with jerks and other self-involved people and then sits around feeling sorry for herself.  She messes with Josh and breaks his heart several times, and then blames him when their friendship deteriorates.  /end rant.  Despite her rampant shallowness, Emma does have the capacity for change, which was what helped bring me around to trying to see what Josh saw in her.  As annoying as Emma was to me, both her and Josh were incredibly well constructed and I have to say I really enjoy reading well-written unlikable characters sometimes.  That said, one last thing before I leave you with a notable part of The Future of Us:

HEY EMMA!

“You’re reading a lot into very few words, I say.

Emma glares at me.  “If I totally screw things up, then I’ll change it back.”

“You can’t change it back!”

“You’re not playing, remember?  And if I screw things up that badly, then I’ll keep screwing them up until they get better.  I can hit Refresh all night if I need to.”

“I’m out!”  I say, heading toward the door.  “I’m done with Facebook.  I’m not messing with the future anymore.”

“That’s because you’re afraid,” Emma says.  “You have no idea why Sydney likes you, so you’re terrified that something I do will break that rock solid relationship of yours.”

“Sydney has plenty of reasons to like me,” I say.

“Name three.”

“This is stupid.”

“You can’t, can you?” she says.  “You’re afraid of reality.”

“If anyone in this room is afraid of reality,” I say, “it’s not me.”

“That’s it.”  Emma moves the arrow from the Refresh icon and clicks on Friends.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking you up.  Maybe things will never be perfect in my future, but I’m tired of you acting like you’re better than me because your life turns out fantastic.”

“I never even thought that.”  I run to the computer and pry her fingers away from the mouse, then I click back to Emma’s page.

Emma jabs her finger at the screen.  “Do you see where I live now?”

Lives in  Columbus, OH

“Remember how I was a marine biologist?” she says.  “I should be living near the ocean.  I worked at the lab in Massachusetts, but we moved to Ohio.  I’m sure that’s because of Kevin.  So I’m stating out loud that if Kevin even suggests moving there in the future, he’s out of his mind.  Right this second, I’m committing to never living in Ohio.”

Emma’s finger taps the Refresh button.  The page reloads.

Lives in London, England

“It worked!”  Emma says.

She touches the mouse, but I pry her hand away again.  I’m not letting go until she promises to stop this game.

“This is scary,” I say.  “You’re not even doing things anymore.  You’re just making up your mind and changing your life.”

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  It’s official, I’ll read anything Jay Asher puts his name on.  I’ve had Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things kicking around in my TBR pile for a while now, and it’s just bumped up in priority!

Recommended for: Okay I know it says “Young Adult” up there by the Genre heading, but you know what?  This book was made for children of the 90s.  If you were a teen then, this book will be so reminiscent and perfect for you! Also people who enjoyed the movie 13 Going on 30, The Future of Us is less of a light romcom, but has some similar themes.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I’ve really gotta get me a “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet.” t-shirt.  Like stat.