Read With Us | The Ministry of Time

At our last Read With Us Zoom discussion/meet-up, someone in the group mentioned that they would be interested in a “behind the scenes” look at how Bonny and Carole and I choose the books we choose. The general consensus was . . . Yes! That would be fun!

Now I don’t know how “fun” it actually would be (you know what they say about sausage-making . . . ), but this seems like as good a time as any to bring you up to speed on the very (ahem) scientific and well-thought-out process that IS the Read With Us quarterly book selection.

Basically . . . we fake-it-til-we-make-it.
And there you have it.

The three of us pay a rather vague-but-constant attention to the books that we might want to read together. The books that are getting a fair amount of “buzz,” for example. The books recently named to certain lists. The books on somebody’s long or short lists. The books that “our regulars” might be interested in reading (we do actually check your Goodreads activity). The books that seem to have the potential for interersting discussions. And, of course, the books that might be easily and readily accessible for all of us.

And then . . . we go back-and-forth with email exchanges until we wear ourselves out and end up agreeing with each other on a book. Sometimes it’s a quick process. And sometimes it’s not.

Most often, at least one of us has read the book already – or can do a quick read before we finalize our selection. But every once in a while, we go into a selection absolutely blind . . . which was the case with our current selection, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.

We chose this book because . . . it was getting major buzz when we needed to choose. We also thought it would be a fun selection for a summer read. (Besides . . . what a great cover, non?) But this was one of those selections where . . . not one of us had read it before we picked it.

I say this because . . . so far, one of us has not liked it much. And one of us is holding out for a re-read before deciding. And one of us thinks it was a perfect selection, although not a perfect book. (That one would be me.) But that’s how it is with books! Not everyone feels the same way about them. And that’s what makes talking about them – together – so INTERESTING!

So. The Ministry of Time . . . is a book about time travel (and a whole lot more). It’s a fresh and clever debut novel that defies genre – or a description, actually. Personally, I found it to be an engaging and compelling read – and, really . . . quite unexpected. I think it’s probably best if you suspend your disbelief and curb your expectations when you open this book. It’s not linear (time travel . . . duh). It’s meant to cross genres. Whatever you think it’s going to be when you begin, well . . . it’s probably Not That. There’s a lot going on under the surface here – and if you get stuck in the plot line, you’re going to miss the real meat of the story.

I usually don’t care much for stories about time-travel because they tend to be messy and weird. And this one is definitely that. A perfect book? Nah. But. I think it’s fun and clever and something a little bit different. It’s a book that probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously . . . but it’s also a book that “hides” all kinds of very serious topics just under the surface ( things like . . . colonialism, assimilation, history-as-narrative).

I think the very best book group selections are books that . . . bring out a diversity of opinions. And I have a feeling The Ministry of Time is going to do just that!

I do hope that you will Read With Us . . . and then I hope you will talk about it with us!