Time travel + Going into books

[trinityofone]

Two book questions for you today inspired by my desire to avoid the stuff I need to be doing:

1. I love time travel books and am always interested in recommendations in general, but right now I am specifically looking for books where characters from the past come forward to the (relative) present. Can anybody think of any?

2. I got way too much guilty pleasure out of the recent BBC miniseries Lost in Austen. It made me want to try other books (or other media?) that involve characters going into books or book characters coming out of them. I can only think of three others:

a. The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (meh)
b. Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready (appallingly awful)
c. Travel Far, Pay No Fare by Anne Lindbergh (absolutely delightful and sadly under-recognized YA book that I heartily recommend to everybody)

I know there must be others. Can you help me find them?

*goes back to not filling out unemployment paperwork, la la la*

Comments

[leupagus.livejournal.com]

1) I remember reading a book in college called Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. It's one of those required reading books that gets a bum rap because it *is* so often required reading. It's set in the year 2000, but it was actually written in 1887 - so some of the things that the author gets wrong and right are kind of creepy. *Highly* recommended - plus, it's pretty short.

2) Inkheart, a children's book, has some of this idea, I think. (I confess I only know about it because there's a movie coming out starring Brendan Fraiser. Don't judge me!) Of course, there's always "Pleasantville," the movie version of this idea.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

The Bellamy's not quite what I'm looking for, but I've heard it rec'd before so I'll add it to my list. Thanks!

Inkheart I tried to read a while back and was terribly bored. Maybe I should give it another shot? :\

And I didn't think of Pleasantville, but you're right, that does fit!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Ooh, and for other interested parties, it is worth noting that Looking Backward is available for free online (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25439). \o/