New Leaf Theme Suggestion Thread

[Catlady]

Well, let's just say I hope there are a lot of nominations.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Well, let's just say I hope there are a lot of nominations.

If you want even more nominations, maybe we can change things to three nominations and three seconds/thirds. I think that's a good idea.

[Catlady]

Not a good idea at all if the nominations are science fiction. Blech.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Not a good idea at all if the nominations are science fiction. Blech.

But also, with more nomination and more seconds/thirds, you have a chance to get mor ein the vote that's not SF.

But to be honest, I see this as mostly an SF month with time travel.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But also, with more nomination and more seconds/thirds, you have a chance to get mor ein the vote that's not SF.

But to be honest, I see this as mostly an SF month with time travel.

Which of course is an absolutely valid interpretation. Other equally valid interpretations would include books set at a particular time or anything with a time-related word in the title, whether the name of a month or day, or a word such as minute, moment, eternity, second, heartbeat....

[Bookworm_Girl]

There are loads of different ways to take a time theme that aren't about time travel. Time after all is the measure of our lives. And, even a book about time travel doesn't have to be science fiction in the traditional sense. It can be a device used in a book that otherwise is more like a romance, historical fiction, fantasy etc. Or, to describe the plot of one popular book series, it could be a war & love story between witches and vampires in historical settings to mix lots of different genres together!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

There are loads of different ways to take a time theme that aren't about time travel. Time after all is the measure of our lives. And, even a book about time travel doesn't have to be science fiction in the traditional sense. It can be a device used in a book that otherwise is more like a romance, historical fiction, fantasy etc. Or, to describe the plot of one popular book series, it could be a war & love story between witches and vampires in historical settings to mix lots of different genres together!

I would say that anything that involves time travel is science fiction.

I've thought of a few time travel titles, actually, that I wouldn't mind reading/revisiting, but, alas, there are no digital versions available at all, or else they are available only in the U.S.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I would say that anything that involves time travel is science fiction.

I know that some feel time travel is a sub-genre of Science Fiction & therefore all time travel stories fit into that genre, but I wouldn't call something like The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (or some of her other titles) Science Fiction at all, but they do have a type of "time travel"...


Other stuff that comes to mind as not Science Fiction in my mind...

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger



But maybe that's just me. Someone else might look at those and say they're all Science Fiction.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I would say that anything that involves time travel is science fiction.

I've thought of a few time travel titles, actually, that I wouldn't mind reading/revisiting, but, alas, there are no digital versions available at all, or else they are available only in the U.S.

So look for something else. I've considered Long Summer Day, for example, as one for this month, but I think I'm likely to save it for our summer themed month. But it could equally be this month. Or, here's another one from R. F. Delderfield -- To Serve Them All My Days. I read it a couple of years ago, and it's a wonderful book (and a superb adaptation to the screen for BBC/Masterpiece Theater). Clearly a Time-ly title. Available in the US, UK, and Australia, for acceptable prices. (Cheapest in UK at about $5.60USD, more expensive in AU & US.) Length is on the longish side, at just on 600 pages, but not totally out of whack, and you've been looking for something longer. It's fictional, but has a huge amount to say about the UK between the wars with too few men and many of those damaged. And there's nothing science fiction about it. Probably the only downside to it, that I can see, is that there isn't an Audible version. Oh, and I'll definitely give it a second, though it's not going to be my primary nomination.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I haven't decided what to nominate yet. I was thinking of searching for something that treats time in a unique way (like One Day by David Nicholls or Life After Life by Kate Atkinson), but it's a bit challenging.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I know that some feel time travel is a sub-genre of Science Fiction & therefore all time travel stories fit into that genre, but I wouldn't call something like The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (or some of her other titles) Science Fiction at all, but they do have a type of "time travel"...

Other stuff that comes to mind as not Science Fiction in my mind...

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

But maybe that's just me. Someone else might look at those and say they're all Science Fiction.

Funny, just before I came over here I thought of Connecticut Yankee--no, I wouldn't call that SF.

I don't consider Christmas Carol time travel--Scrooge is seeing the past and the future, but he's only an observer. Nor do I consider Rip a time traveler, just a sound sleeper. I haven't read the other two.

I keep being tempted by Susanna Kearsley, but the time travel element keeps me away. If one of her books was the choice, I would probably be happy to be "forced" to read it.

The book I wanted to nominate is clearly SF AND time travel, but isn't digitized, as far as I can tell: Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

There are loads of different ways to take a time theme that aren't about time travel. Time after all is the measure of our lives. And, even a book about time travel doesn't have to be science fiction in the traditional sense. It can be a device used in a book that otherwise is more like a romance, historical fiction, fantasy etc. Or, to describe the plot of one popular book series, it could be a war & love story between witches and vampires in historical settings to mix lots of different genres together!

Outlander, 11/22/63, Kindred use time travel and are not science fiction.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Catlady

The book I wanted to nominate is clearly SF AND time travel, but isn't digitized, as far as I can tell: Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man.

It used to be an eBook, but I think it's no longer available as such.

A book I wanted to nominate is also not available as an eBook. I wanted to nominate Replay by Ken Grimwood. It's an excellent book.

Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again—in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle—each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"

The book Longitude that we read last year would fit rather well and has nothing to do with time travel. Time features prominently in the story.

You could also nominate books about family and books that use/feature time that is not time-travel. So there's lots of books that can be nominated that are not SF.

[JSWolf]

delete post

[Bookpossum]

What happened to Theme Suggestions?

How about The Countryside?