Time traveling

I went to the library last weekend, looking for a new audio book to listen to in the car. I was close to finishing Therapy, but I didn't have anything else in mind, or anything else to start. I went to a branch where I don't normally go -- the main library -- and ran across an audiotape version of one of my favorite books, Connie Willis's Doomsday Book. It's a huge book. I can't remember how many cassettes the audio version is, but I do remember it was 26 hours. It will probably take me about a month to listen to it, figuring an hour to 1-1/2 hours a day, five days a week, just back and forth to work.

But that's good. I love to get immersed in a book. I love long books, and long audio books are even more wonderful.

This particular book is a time travel story. A historian from a time about fifty years from now travels back into the time right before the Black Plague--or they think it's right before -- it turns out to be a little more complicated than that.

The story moves between Medieval times and present day; I actually probably enjoy the present day parts more than the historical ones, I'm not really much for historical fiction, which is why it took me a long time to read this book. I had picked it up several times, because I love Willis, but didn't think I would enjoy it because of the historical aspect.

That's the same reason it took me a long time to read Michael Crichton's Timeline, and it's also one of my favorite books now. Another one that's great in audio. I own that one.

I checked my library's website, and requested another one of Connie Willis's books, To Say Nothing of the Dog, so once I finished my current one, I should have that one to pick up with. It also deals with time travel, only this time it's set in Victorian times.

Bob always shakes his head when I talk about my time travel books. I don't actually believe time travel is possible, but I love to read about it. I think it's the thought of present-day characters in other times that fascinates me. Kage Baker is another writer that I love, her "The Company" series of books deals with time travel in a way, although it's a completely new thread.

Her characters are immortals who live through time, thousands and thousands of years. Very intriguing.

A reader sent me a copy of The Time Traveler's Wife, which I haven't read yet. I've been saving it, which I guess is silly. But I thought I might save it and read it on vacation, or over the holidays. Something to look forward to.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month