The time travel genre offers a huge variety of temporal experiences, both in the magical, mechanical, and inexplicable mechanisms involved, and the social critiques and commentary on the human experience.

OVERVIEW

These books and short stories, chosen from almost two hundred years of fictional time traveling, take the reader on temporal journeys in the company of explorers, tourists, and people desperately seeking connections across the years. The consequences range from disaster to fulfillment, and from entertaining to deeply thought-provoking.

MEETING AND READING SCHEDULE

The group meets in the Bound on the fourth Wednesday of the month from 5:30–7pm. In November and December, the meeting will be held on the third Wednesday due to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and in April, the meeting will be held on the last Thursday due to Passover.

Weds, September 23
The Time Ship, Enrique Gaspar 1887
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells 1895

Weds, October 21
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain 1889

Weds, November 18 *Note the group meets on the third Wednesday this month, in the Reading Room
“Vintage Season,” by Catherine L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (1946)
“A Sound of Thunder,” by Ray Bradbury (1952)

Weds, December 16 *Note the group meets on the third Wednesday this month, in the Reading Room
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1843)
“Inn,” by Connie Willis (1993)

Weds, January 27
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut 1969

Weds, February 24
Kindred, Octavia Butler 1979

Weds, March 24
“Another Story of the Fisherman of the Inland Sea,” Ursula Le Guin 1994
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead 2009

THURS, April 29 *Note the group meets on the last Thursday this month
This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 2019

Weds, May 26
The Other Valley, Scott Alexander Howard 2024

GROUP FACILITATOR

Charlotte Taylor is the State Archaeologist of Rhode Island, a line of work that requires considerable time traveling (alas, only mentally). Living in an old house that still needs work also brings her close (sometimes uncomfortably) to the past every day. She has reviewed over 550 time travel books (mostly for children and teens) on her blog, making her something of an expert in the niche field of 20th century juvenile time travel books. It will be a nice change for her to discuss time travel books for adults!

Registration will open to members in two windows: Wednesday, July 15 at 8am and Saturday, July 18 at noon. Half the available spots will be released during the first window and the remaining half during the second. The registration link will be sent out via email and will appear below once registration is open. Participation is reserved for Athenæum members, so please consider becoming a member if you’d like to join a group! Members may participate in one group each year. If you have any questions, email readinggroups@provath.org.

The Athenæum is deeply grateful to our wonderful volunteer leaders. Please note library reading groups are not classes or courses, but rather a way for individuals to discuss readings together, guided by both expert and amateur enthusiasts. Participants should expect discussion-based, not lecture-style meetings.

BROWSE

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The time travel genre offers a huge variety of temporal experiences, both in the magical, mechanical, and inexplicable mechanisms involved, and the social critiques and commentary on the human experience.