You can vicariously experience time travel with characters in several books that Salina Public Library has to check out! Here are a few that I have read as well as other suggestions that have been recommended or just look enticing to read! 

Earthdivers, Vol. 1: Kill Columbus by Stephen Graham Jones

This book was a past book discussion selection for Books to New Worlds that I host, featuring a rotating selection of fantasy and science fiction, including graphic novels. It can be checked out physically and digitally from Salina Public Library. “Kill Columbus” is the first volume in the Earthdivers series which has three volumes compiling multiple issues of the comic in each. This story has an interesting premise, but be aware that it can be rather violent and graphically gruesome at times. The New York Times–bestselling author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw makes his comics debut with this time-hopping horror thriller about far-future Indigenous outcasts on a mission to kill Christopher Columbus. The year is 2112, and it’s the apocalypse exactly as expected: rivers receding, oceans rising, civilization crumbling. Humanity has given up hope, except for a group of Indigenous outcasts who have discovered a time travel portal in a cave in the desert and figured out where everything took a turn for the worst: America. Convinced that the only way to save the world is to rewrite its past, they send one of their own, a reluctant linguist named Tad, on a bloody, one-way mission to 1492 to kill Christopher Columbus before he reaches the so-called New World. But there are steep costs to disrupting the timeline, and taking down an icon isn’t an easy task for an academic with no tactical training and only a wavering moral compass to guide him. As the horror of the task ahead unfolds and Tad’s commitment is tested, his actions could trigger a devastating new fate for his friends and the future. 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

I read this award-winning book with a book club online, and I am considering it for a future monthly selection for Books to New Worlds in 2026 to read again to discuss as reviewers say that this short novel warrants multiple readings to fully unlock its complexities. “This Is How You Lose the Time War” is a 2019 science fiction fantasy epistolary novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Shorter Fiction, the 2019 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2020 Locus Award for Best Novella, the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novella, and the 2020 Ignyte Award for Best Novella. Agents Red and Blue travel back and forth through time, altering the history of multiple universes on behalf of their warring empires, whose timelines are mutually exclusive. In secret, the two begin leaving each other messages — initially taunting, but gradually developing into flirtation, and then love. Regarding the writing process, Red’s letters were written entirely by Gladstone, and Blue’s by El-Mohtar. Although they wrote a general outline beforehand, “the reactions of each character were developed with a genuine element of surprise on receiving each letter, and the scenes accompanying [the letters] were written using that emotional response”.

Outlander (book series) by Diana Gabaldon

Although I have not personally read this series, it has been highly recommended by several people. Admittedly, I did start the first novel but became distracted for some reason, such as a different book or life circumstances, and stopped reading but perhaps I will return to it as it is on my ever-growing to-be-read pile at home on my bookshelves. This popular series spans nine novels as well as several novellas and short stories. In addition, there is an Outlander television series adaptation with an eighth season confirmed and the seventh season will be released on DVD on May 27. All of the seasons are available to be checked out at Salina Public Library. The Outlander series focuses on 20th-century British nurse Claire Randall, who time travels to 18th-century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser. Hurled back through time more than two hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of an unfamiliar world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution and haunted by her growing feelings for James Fraser, a young soldier. Check out the first book in the series to see what all of the hype is about!

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I read this novel several years ago with an in-person book club among friends when I lived in Wyoming. Although the book club meeting was about ten years ago, I remember enjoying the book when I read it and feeling emotional at times, which I love happening when I read. I think this novel is an interesting take on the time travel genre because it is not always in the point of video of the character who time travels. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” has been made into both a movie and a television series that can be checked out at Salina Public Library on DVD. It is a love story about Henry, a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about Clare, his wife, an artist who has to cope with his frequent absences. Passionately in love, Clare and Henry vow to hold onto each other and their marriage as they struggle with the effects of Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition that casts Henry involuntarily into the world of time travel. When 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry at the Newberry Library in 1991 at the beginning of the novel, he has never seen her before, although she has known him most of her life. Read this book for another romance with a twist. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I have now read this book twice, once as a buddy-read with a friend in person, where we met weekly at a local coffee shop to discuss each part, and the final Salina Public Library Wellness Book Group discussion meeting this past January. I decided to read it again to discuss with others because I enjoyed the book a lot. There are more books in the series, with five translated into English thus far, to check out from Salina Public Library although I have not done so myself yet but I intend to someday. Japanese playwright Kawaguchi’s evocative English-language debut is set in a tiny Tokyo café where time travel is possible. In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. Kawaguchi’s tender look at the beauty of passing things, adapted from one of his plays, makes for an affecting, deeply immersive journey into the desire to hold onto the past. While this book deals with different kinds of loss, it’s ultimately warm and uplifting. 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? This is perhaps something you or someone else you know has thought about. In this novel, high-school English teacher Jake Epping is enlisted by a friend to travel back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a mission for which he must befriend troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald. In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane — and insanely possible — mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer. In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The novel required considerable research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s. There is also a television series available on DVD to check out at Salina Public Library. Read this book as you imagine what if you could stop an event in time, including the assassination of President Kennedy. 

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Salina Public Library owns various editions of this time traveling classic, including an illustrated edition, part of a collection of stories, and an edition in Spanish titled La Máquina Del Tiempo. Written in 1895, “The Time Machine” is a dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells that is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term “time machine”, coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device. “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells is a science fiction novel about a Time Traveler who invents a machine to travel through time. He journeys to the distant future, where he encounters two species: the Eloi, peaceful but weak, and the Morlocks, dangerous and predatory. The novel explores themes of class division, the consequences of progress, and humanity’s future, blending adventure with social commentary. This book was adapted into multiple movies including this movie starring Guy Pearce as the Time Traveller that can be checked out via both Hoopla and Kanopy with your Salina Public Library card. Interestingly, this version of the film was directed by Wells’s great-grandson Simon Wells and has a revised plot that incorporates the ideas of paradoxes and changing the past.

Timeline by Michael Crichton

“Timeline” is a novel by author Michael Crichton that tells the story of a group of history students who travel to 14th-century France to rescue their professor. Professor Edward Johnston leads a group of archaeologists and historians as they study a site that includes the fourteenth-century towns of Castelgard and La Roque. Suspicious of the detailed knowledge of the site shown by their funds provider ITC, Johnston travels to New Mexico to investigate. During his absence, the researchers discover the lens to Johnston’s eyeglasses in the ruins, and a written message from him that is determined to be over 600 years old. Four of the researchers, graduate students Chris Hughes and Kate Erickson, assistant professor André Marek, and technology specialist David Stern, are flown to ITC’s research headquarters in Black Rock, New Mexico. During the flight, ITC vice president John Gordon informs them that Johnston traveled to the year 1357 using their undisclosed quantum technology. The historians decide to venture into the past to rescue Johnston. The book follows Crichton’s typical method of combining science, technical details, and action in his books, this time addressing quantum and multiverse theory.  I have not personally read “Timeline” by Crichton but I have enjoyed reading books such as Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Congo by him so I recommend checking out this book because the inclusion of scientific details makes his books both educational and entertaining with fast-paced narratives. 

Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

In an online community of readers that I am in, I have seen one reader say that “Psychology of Time Travel is so good” and when I looked up the book, the cover of it was very eye-catching. This time-traveling themed novel is the debut novel of this author. In 1967, four female scientists worked together to build the world’s first time machine. But just as they are about to debut their creation, one of them suffers a breakdown, putting the whole project and future of time travel in jeopardy. To protect their invention, one member is exiled from the team, erasing her contributions from history. Fifty years later, time travel is a big business. Twenty-something Ruby Rebello knows her beloved grandmother, Granny Bee, was one of the pioneers, though no one will tell her more. But when Bee receives a mysterious newspaper clipping from the future reporting the murder of an unidentified woman, Ruby becomes obsessed: could it be Bee? Who would want her dead? And most importantly of all: can her murder be stopped?

Oxford Time Travel Series by Connie Willis

“Doomsday Book” is the first in a series about Oxford time-traveling historians. In this story, a crisis linking the past and future strands an Oxford student in the most dangerous year of the Middle Ages. For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies, it’s the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong. When an accident leaves Kivrin trapped in one of the deadliest eras in human history, the two find themselves in equally gripping and oddly connected struggles to survive. Deftly juggling stories from the 14th and 21st centuries, Willis provides thrilling action as well as an insightful examination of the things that connect human beings to each other. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and was shortlisted for other awards. Another Oxford Time Travel Series volume, author John Green has said that “To Say Nothing of the Dog” is: “My favorite time travel book ever.” According to the book’s description, Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He’s been shuttling between the twenty-first century and the 1940s in search of a hideous Victorian vase called “the bishop’s bird stump” as part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid. But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right, not only to save the project but also to prevent altering history itself. “To Say Nothing of the Dog” won both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1999 and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1998.

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis 

“Blackout” and “All Clear” are the two volumes of a novel by author Connie Willis. “Blackout” was published February 2, 2010 and the second part “All Clear” was released as a separate book on October 19, 2010. The duo won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2011 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novel. These two novels are the most recent of four books and a short story that Willis has written involving time travel from Oxford during the mid-21st century, all of which won multiple awards. Historians in Willis’ world believe that the laws of physics resist possible alterations to the past by preventing time-travel to certain places or times. In some cases, the machine used for time-travel will refuse to function, rendering the trip impossible. In other cases, “slippage”, a shift from the exact, desired target in time and/or space, occurs. The time-traveler arrives at the nearest place and time suitable for preventing a time paradox; although sometimes this is only a few minutes later than planned, it can be as much as several years. In “Blackout”, stranded in the past during World War II, three researchers from the future investigate period behavior and seek each other out in a shared effort to return to their own time. And in its conclusion “All Clear,” three time-traveling historians wind up in World War II England, where they discover small discrepancies in the historical record that indicate, contrary to the beliefs of time-travel theory, that one or all of them may have affected the past and changed the outcome of the war. Just as in “Blackout”, the novel switches between multiple people and times. 

Orange by Ichigo Takano

This story, published as Part 1 and Part 2 in manga format, was adapted into a favorite anime of mine, which I showed for Anime Club a few years ago and can be checked out on Blu-ray at Salina Public Library. On the day that Naho begins 11th grade, she receives a letter from herself ten years in the future. At first, she writes it off as a prank, but as the letter’s predictions come true one by one, Naho realizes that the letter might be the real deal. Her future self tells Naho that a new transfer student, a boy named Kakeru, will soon join her class. The letter explains that Kakeru will die unless Naho does exactly as the letter says. But changing fate is no easy task. When the letter starts to get things wrong, Naho worries that she will still lose Kakeru forever. Luckily, Naho has her friends to back her up. Not only do they want to see Naho and Kakeru get together, they also have time-traveling letters of their own. This time traveling tale explores the possibility of writing letters to your past self to prevent a death from happening. 

InuYasha by Rumiko Takahashi

Another favorite time-traveling manga of mine is InuYasha. I watched the anime adaptation of it when I was in high school, which can be checked out at Salina Public Library as well as manga and videos of its spinoff “Yashahime” about children of characters in the original series. The time machine in this series is a well that takes one from the present to Feudal Japan. After falling into an old well and into ancient Japan, Kagome discovers that her destiny is linked to the dog-like half demon called Inuyasha. As Kagome learns more about her connection to the past and to Inuyasha, she comes into conflict with the terrible demons that are drawn to the Shikon Jewel, including Inuyasha’s own half brother, Sesshomaru. Finding the shards of the Shikon Jewel is going to require powerful magic, strange allies, and a strong heart.

A Line You Have Traced by Roisin Dunnett

This book caught my eye as I paged through a recent edition of the Library Journal magazine. It is the debut novel of Roisin Dunnett, an author from London, England who has mostly published short fiction. Between world wars, unfulfilled housewife Bea records visits from an otherworldly figure she believes is an angel. In the present, Kay fixates on Bea’s journal while drifting through life. Further into a collapsing future, Ess finds the journal in a box before being recruited to ensure the survival of her commune. Across three centuries, a tenuous thread of history connects these women, who each face grim and uncertain futures. Bea, Kay, and Ess have been sidelined in favor of others’ narratives, but this very periphery makes them valuable when Ess’s comrades discover a method of time travel that relies on incidental connections, which they intend to use to preserve their preferred future. “A Line You Have Traced” was given a thumb’s up by Library Journal saying, “Dunnett’s time-hopping novel, reminiscent of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, is a good example of character-driven literary sci-fi.”

Time of the Cat by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Despite not knowing much about this book, I couldn’t resist including this title on my list because of the cover that someone had shared in a book-themed Discord server that I am in. I know it is said to not judge a book by its cover, but I cannot help assuming this will be a fun cute book with an image of a cat wearing a Viking hat! The cover image alone makes me want to check it out and perhaps any other cat lovers will be enticed by the cute image too. It is available as a digital audiobook on Hoopla to check out with your library card if you live in Saline County. According to its description, “The cats and humans of Chronos College know that time travel is the best job in the world, and nothing bad can ever happen to them in the past … except that one time they lost a traveler. And that other time they lost a cat. Now they have a chance to make up for past mistakes by rescuing a long-lost legend. If only they could convince Professor Boswell, the grumpiest marmalade tabby of all time, to join their mission to the Swinging Sixties, and save one of their own.”