Hello once again, and welcome to this final post of September! I love a book that combines different things, whether that is different plots or different genres in the same book. But there is also something really fascinating about books which cover different timelines. Therefore, for this week’s prompt, I will consider my top 5 books which weave two (or more) different time periods in their narratives. And if this is challenging I will also consider books set in a different time period entirely. This is exactly what I have found myself doing in this post. I don't recall reading any books which interweave two plots so this forces me to just do my top 5 books set in different time periods. I am going to get straight to this week's post covering my top 5 books in no particular order!
1. Shadow of the West by Sarah Brotherhood Chapman
So this first book is set during the Second World War when the Berlin Wall was erected and the segregation of the different people was in full force. This was a really interesting book, covering history in a fictional manner. But I suppose many of the themes in this book also relate to the modern day. This includes how some people today still find themselves in bad situations, many isolated, which is particularly the case at the moment with all the conflicts which are currently going on around the world. Furthermore, this book does contain some romantic elements which is still relevant as love is still about and people sometimes find love in some of the most unique moments, including at the lowest points in their life occasionally.
2. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
This book is all about crime and punishment in the context of ultra-violence and it was written as a somewhat dystopian novel set sometime in the future, at the time of writing the book, but I feel that now the time this book was set must have passed. Having said that, I would argue from both a practical and academic perspective that this book is still very relevant in the modern day. One of the many themes of this book is the broken nature of the Criminal Justice System and how offenders do not get the adequate support they need to reform. This is still very much an issue in the modern day, at least in the legal system of England and Wales.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is another really good book which I enjoyed reading, and this is largely about equality and how we should not be treating people differently because of things such as the colour of their skin. This book is set in the past, where I believe slaves were still allowed, but as mentioned in previous posts, I have been told that racism is still rife in areas of America meaning this book continues to be of great value about how we should not be treating people differently.
4. Last Chance by Mocha VonBee
This is another romance which is set in the late 20th century before mobile phones came onto the scene. This makes it a particularly good book to see how one had to form relationships and maintain them before technology started taking over our lives, which is really interesting to read about in this fictional context. But I suppose it also shows how relationships haven't changed much at all but have changed a lot at the same time. For instance, due to technology there are now dating apps and you don't have to meet up in person all the time due to apps like Whatsapp which allow you to message, call and video call people. This is a valuable book to show young adults how much this world has really changed.
5. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Finally, this book was set and written in Victorian times, but it is included because (although this may be a stretch on my part), Dr Jekyll can turn into Mr Hyde. Therefore, my argument is does this means that when this happens time is being changed in some way meaning this book does play with dual timelines. This post is obviously not the place for a full academic essay about how much this is the case for this book, but I suppose it could present an interesting essay to someone.
Thank you for reading this week's Top 5 Wednesday post; I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please share your thoughts below in the comments section, or just say hello! Please also feel free to explore the rest of my blog, including my other Top 5 Wednesday blog posts and my range of book reviews, many of which will be reviews of the books featured on my various Top 5 Wednesday posts. I hope you look forward to next week's post as much as I look forward to writing it!
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