You know Clement Clarke Moore's classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas, and you remember the line: "And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I'm in my cap." Well, that line reminds me of a time travel book I read half a century ago. In that book, there's a bedroom scene I recall on almost every cold, wintery morning. In that scene, our trusty time traveler is laying in bed with his wife on a cold, cold night. He thinks about how lucky he is to be able to live in the past with the woman he loves. He...

“I’ve always felt a wonder at old photographs not easy to explain… I mean the sense of wonder, staring at the strange clothes and varnished backgrounds, at knowing that what you’re seeing was once real. That light really did reflect into a lens from these lost faces and objects. That these people were really there once, smiling into a camera.”If you’ve ever been bewitched by antique photographs, intrigued by the lives of the people and places forever captured within, perhaps even wishing to take...

It isn’t very often that a book truly surprises me, particularly one that deals with a well-worn plot line, like time travel. This is a time travel book unlike most of the others I have read. It is full of delicious descriptions that are so accurate and detailed that they make you feel you have literally stepped into the world of 1882. Since Finney was able to take me to 1882 so easily, I had no reason to doubt that his character, Simon Morley, could get there as well.Si is transported to 1882 t...

I went into this one with very high expectations from all its rave reviews but came out with a middle of the road opinion. It was a pleasant enough read but I could not find the spark that would have made it a top class one.I am a sucker for a good time travel experience but was not impressed with the method of travel used in Time and Again. However it served its purpose and we travelled to New York in 1882. I am pretty sure that you need to be acquainted with that city in order to really apprec...

A vivid, romantic slip into the late 17th century. I very much enjoyed Jack Finney's "Time and Again" largely due to the development of the main character and his description of New York in the 1880's. The drawings and pictures add some interesting breaks in the story, but they are also a bit of a distraction and tended to pull me out of the moment. I picture Finney gathering pictures and drawings for research and the idea popping into his head to actually include them in the novel. I'm wonderin...

A delightful read from start to finish... and despite the book being more than 50 years old, there were times the sentiments of our hero, Si Morley, were timeless.Its dual settings of 1970 NYC and 1882 NYC was the hook that kept me reading... the details were fascinating and endless, and yet stayed easy to read without getting boring. The New York of today and yesteryear were both populated with unforgettable characters, charming scenes and historical facts and figures sure to please any lover o...

When I read a time travel story, I try not to dwell on how the character got to this other time and place. It just doesn't pay because then I start asking questions for which there is no realistic answer. So for me it has to be about the destination, what I find there, what happens there, what it means for the character in his or her present day.And oh what we find there in New York City in 1882! Beautiful buildings some of which are still standing in Si Morley’s present day New York of 1970, in...

January 12, 2019 reviewMy year in books begins with a re-read of my favorite time travel novel, Time and Again by Jack Finney. Published in 1970, I'm happy to report that the book stands as a vivid parallel universe romance and labor of love from an author who was legitimately enamored by New York City of the 1880s. If I was sectioning off the best books to read each month of the year, this would also be a nominee for the Best of January, with a protagonist journeying to a Manhattan of frozen po...

5/4/22 - An update on my time travel reading.I’m shortly to start my fifteenth time travel novel and thought I’d quickly list my 4 & 5 star rated novels for any who, like me, is somewhat obsessed with this sub-genre.5 Stars:11/22/63 - Stephen KingMan in the Empty Suit - Sean FerrellThe Time Traveller's Wife- Audrey NiffeneggerRecursion - Blake CrouchTime and Time Again - Ben Elton4 StarsTime and Again - Jack FinneySea of Tranquility - Emily St. John MandelThe Outcasts of Time - Ian MortimerR...

If Simon Morley, protagonist of Finney's Time and Again, had any real personality beyond his nickname being "Si," perhaps the book's loose ends and rough edges would have distracted less. But he is neither a complex and interesting original nor a heavy-handed archetype. He's more of a blank slate onto which we might project ourselves, the first-person writing tone that of an amateur blogger who is trying his hand at a journalistic account of a very exciting place. No matter the topic, if the wri...