time travel
This year I read three different books on time travel: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, and Time’s Mouth by Edan Lepucki.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Time’s Mouth both operate under the rule that the character can travel but not change the past. 11/22/63 is all about changing the course of history, but “the obdurate past” becomes a central part of the story. I am taken with how time travel allows the reader (me) to grapple with our overwhelming lack of control over most aspects of life.