In 1985, Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Crispin Glover brought time travel via DeLorean into the hearts and minds of Americans.  Here are a few more tales of time travel.

Kindred by Octavia Butler
Historical time travel at its best. When Dana disappears from her quiet life in 1976 and winds up on a pre-Civil War plantation as a slave in 1815, she must figure out her connection to her slaveowner’s son—even though she has no power to control her impossible lurches through time and space.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
The creepiest title on this list, and maybe ever: A serial killer travels through time to torment his victims at different ages, appearing to them as little girls and then coming back to murder them later in life… until he meets Kirby.

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
This is technically a time-looping book, in which a character lives her own life over and over again, but it’s too good not to include. Ursula is born on a cold winter’s night (again and again and again), but her many paths eventually lead to a shocking conclusion.

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
Will it be dystopia or utopia? With echoes of first-wave feminism ringing in her ears, a woman in a mental institution in the 1970s finds herself stuck between two possible futures, with the power to make a terrible choice between them.  

Anything in the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis
When a group of historians figures out how to make a real-life time machine, hijinks are bound to ensue. Start with the novella, Fire Watch, which sets up their time-travel science, and don’t skip Doomsday Book, in which a student visits a plague-ridden village.

For more recommendations, see nypl.org/staffpicks.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to​ be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ​picks! Tell us what you'd recommend: Leave a comment or email us.