11/22/63
Stephen King, 2011
Historical fiction Science fictionHorrorContemporary fiction
A Maine English teacher finds a door into 1958 and sets out to stop a presidential assassination, at the cost of the life he could have had. A warm, unhurried time-travel story that lingers on ordinary life, love, and the ache of changing the past.
Feels like longing and wonder. About love and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy long historical what-ifs with a love story at the center. It is a long book, and some stretches linger on everyday life in the past before the central plan tightens.
Why read it
It gives you a grounded what-if about history and the private cost of trying to fix it, with King's plain, affectionate voice.
A page from the book
A case for love as something you carry, not something fated.
But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart. Stephen King.King had the JFK time-travel idea in 1971 and shelved it, daunted by the research; he finally finished the novel in 2011.
Books that feel like this
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The Stand
Stephen King, 1978
A flu escapes a lab and empties America; survivors choose between a saintly old woman and a smiling dark man. King's big, bleak, compulsive plague epic.
Pet Sematary
Stephen King, 1983
A doctor moves his family to a Maine town where the local pet cemetery sits beside something older, and grief becomes a door that should stay shut.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is 11/22/63 for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy long historical what-ifs with a love story at the center. It is a long book, and some stretches linger on everyday life in the past before the central plan tightens.
- What is 11/22/63 like?
- A warm, unhurried time-travel story that lingers on ordinary life, love, and the ache of changing the past. Feels like longing and wonder. About love and freedom.
- What should I read after 11/22/63?
- If you liked 11/22/63, try The Lucky One (Nicholas Sparks), Obsidian (Jennifer L. Armentrout) and If He Had Been With Me (Laura Nowlin).
A taste of the feed
When you stop hearing from someone, what story do you tell yourself?
Every now and then, I’d meet a guy and think that we were getting along great, and suddenly I’d stop hearing from him. Not only did he stop calling, but if I happened to bump into him sometime later he always acted like I had the plague. I didn’t understand it. I still don’t. And it bothered me. It hurt me. With time, it got harder and harder to keep blaming the guys, and I eventually came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with me. That maybe I was simply meant to live my life alone.
The Lucky One · Nicholas Sparks
Hostility this polished is usually something else entirely.
Thanks,” I muttered and added under my breath, “Douchebag.” He laughed, deep and throaty. “Now that’s not very ladylike, Kittycat.” I whipped around. “Don’t ever call me that,” I snapped. “It’s better than calling someone a douchebag, isn’t it?” He pushed out the door. “This has been a stimulating visit. I’ll cherish it for a long time to come.” Okay. That was it. “You know, you’re right. How wrong of me to call you a douchebag. Because a douchebag is too nice of a word for you,” I said, smiling sweetly. “You’re a dickhead.” “A dickhead?” he repeated. “How charming.” I flipped him off.
Obsidian · Jennifer L. Armentrout
Loving someone so long it stops being a feeling and becomes a body part.
I’ve loved him my whole life, and somewhere along the way, that love didn’t change but grew. It grew to fill the parts of me that I did not have when I was a child. It grew with every new longing of my body and desire until there was not a piece of me that did not love him. And when I look at him, there is no other feeling in me.
If He Had Been With Me · Laura Nowlin
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