Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty

In Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty, single mother Anna gets herself a job at the Time Travel Agency, where people can travel back in time to witness things, but they cannot change the current timeline. There's a regular customer, Teddy, who's wife left him for another man. We mostly hear about Teddy through text messages he has with his two closest friends. And then there are journal entries from a woman named Jade who appears to be a mother at a school that Anna's daughter attends. There are lots of scenes about how to parents teen girls, what do with a cheating spouse, and, oddly, very few scenes of actual time travel.

Here's my beef with this book. There honestly isn't enough time travel. Anna creates a France Hodgson Burnett tour and here's all we get about it. 

...I had twelve tours completed and three more in progress. My favorites were "The Secret Garden tour" (parts one and two); "Frances Hodgson Burnett: A Literary Life" (parts one through four); "The Evolution of a Writer: Frances Hodgson Burnett"; "Frances Hodgson Burnett: Literary and Social Figure," incorporating her lunch with Emily Dickinson, parties with Oscar Wilde, dinner with Louisa May Alcott, et cetera; "The Eccentric Frances Hodgson Burnett: An Analysis" - oh, look, I liked them all.

(I took them all myself several times, fizzing with pride, the way you admire your own photos after a holiday.) (page 113)

But!! TELL ME ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE AND DO.

I don't know. This book started slowly (it was actually the book I said I was going to DNF on Saturday), picked up ever so briefly, then was slow in the middle, and while the ending was probably worth it and I'd love to chat with you if you read it to know if you figured out how everything tied together, the pacing was just not for readers like me. 

There are parts I really liked, especially the bits with Teddy texting his friends. There's a bit about Anna being a cellist that made me laugh whenever it came around. It felt like a bunch of friends texting each other and I truly enjoyed that. 

But for the most part? I don't know that I'd recommend this one unless you feel like you need to read every book about time travel. 3/5 stars

Lines of note:

Part of the trouble was that history mostly lists political developments, declarations, and documents. There's so little of the day-to-day or domestic. (page 73) - THIS!! When I was in college, I took a women in history course and that's when I first learned about Martha Ballard. The reason Martha Ballard's diary was so important is because a lot of the day by day is missing from the historical record. 

page 158

He found the sea annoying! Too glittery! I love this so much.

I started writing this book around twenty years ago, so I am definitely going to forget people here. Whoever you are, I promise I'll remember you in the middle of the night once the book's gone to print and it's too late to add you. I thank you effusively and deeply apologetically. (first paragraph of the Acknowledgements, page 531) - How perfectly charming. I loved the acknowledgements in this book. 

Things I looked up:

Weet-Bix (page 103) - a popular whole-grain wheat breakfast cereal widely recognized as a cultural staple in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (sold as Weetabix in the United Kingdom and other global markets)

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (page 257) - nicknamed Smithy, Smith was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand.

eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 (page 313) - In April 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia (then part of the Dutch East Indies), erupted in what is now considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. This eruption, with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 7, ejected 37–45 km3 (8.9–10.8 cubic miles) of dense-rock equivalent (DRE) material into the atmosphere, and was the most recent confirmed VEI-7 eruption.

The "Year Without a Summer" in 1816—caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora—trapped Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori indoors at a villa on Lake Geneva during freezing, stormy weather. To pass the time, they held a ghost story contest, inspiring 18-year-old Mary Shelley to dream up and write Frankenstein. (The name Mount Tambora rang a bell and I think it's because I read this book.)

Mudgee (page 356) - a historic rural town and food and wine destination in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia, located about 260 km northwest of Sydney along the Cudgegong River

packet of Tim Tams (page 413) -  iconic Australian chocolate biscuits made by Arnott's since 1964.

the Haka (page 525) -  a traditional ceremonial dance of the Māori people of New Zealand that combines rhythmic chanting, vigorous body movements, foot-stomping, and intense facial expressions

the Samoan Siva Tau (page 525) -  a traditional Samoan war dance (or muna style challenge) performed by sports teams—most famously the Manu Samoa rugby union team and the Toa Samoa rugby league team—before international matches

the Tongan Sip Tau (page 525) - a traditional Tongan cultural war dance performed by the Tonga national rugby union and rugby league teams before international matches

the Field of the Cloth of Gold in France in 1520 (page 525) - a summit meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France from 7 to 24 June 1520. Held at Balinghem, between Ardres in France and Guînes in the English Pale of Calais, it was an opulent display of wealth by both kings. The summit was arranged to increase the bond of friendship between the two kings following the Anglo-French treaty of 1514. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

trees of hats (coifs, bonnets, top hats, straw hats) (page 48)

white dress and hat (page 114)

Especially when you wear that hat, you know the one? (page 123)

child's hat (page 169)

pillbox hats and trilby hats (page 265)

weight of a felt hat on my ears (page 271)

feathered beaver hat (page 285)

ribboned hat (page 285)

top hat (page 286)

crescent-shaped bicorne hat (page 289)

bowler hat (page 294)

straw hat (page 342)

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How do you feel about time travel books? Would you want a France Hodgson Burnett tour? I mostly definitely would.