Open Books Challenge 2026: With Time or a Unit of Time in the Title

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "With time or a unit of time in the title."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
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Black Sunday : a novel
Abraham, Tola Rotimi
Paper Book
This fiercely original debut novel follows four Nigerian siblings over the course of two decades as they search for agency, love, and meaning in a society rife with hypocrisy. ". . . lush, sharp, and shot through with hope!" --Well-Read Black Girl I...
A spoonful of time
Ahn, Flora
Paper Book
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book of 2023 When You Reach Me meets Love Sugar Magic in this unforgettable middle grade novel where time travel, family recipes, and family secrets collide. Maya's grandmother, Halmunee, may be losing...
One minute
Ahn, Somin
Paper Book
In one minute, you can blink your eyes twenty times, hug your dog, plant seeds, say good-bye, watch the rain, or even save a life. So much can occur in this sliver of time--one minute can feel like a singular experience. This poignant picture book is at once an introduction to time for young readers...
The year of the flood
Atwood, Margaret 1939-
Paper Book
The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power. The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One...
The 6:20 man
Baldacci, David
Paper Book
A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance, in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from David Baldacci. Every day without fail, Travis Devine...
The eleventh hour : a curious mystery
Base, Graeme.
Paper Book
Horace turns 11 and celebrates in grand style by inviting his friends - animals - to a splendid party. There are 11 games and fine music and there is the promise of a magnificent feast to come. However, all suddenly goes awry on their arrival at the banquet-hall as the clock strikes 11.
Night of miracles
Berg, Elizabeth
Paper Book
The feel-good book of the year: a delightful novel of friendship, community, and the way small acts of kindness can change your life, by the bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv   Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the...
Hour of the witch : a novel
Bohjalian, Chris
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: "Historical fiction at its best.... The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying" (Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the...
Year of wonders : a novel of the plague
Brooks, Geraldine.
Paper Book
"When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated mountain village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes, we follow the story of the plague year, 1666, as her fellow villagers make an extraordinary choice. Convinced by a...
Costumes for time travelers
Capetta, A. R.
Paper Book
Calisto and Fawkes are drawn to each other for the first time, again, as they travel from when to when to take on a threat to all they hold dear in this lyrical and playful fantasy from award-winning author A. R. Capetta. Anyone who has hiked through time knows the town of Pocket...
4:50 from Paddington : a Miss Marple mystery
Christie, Agatha
Paper Book
"The great mistress of the last-minute switch is at it again. . . . Even the experts have given up any attempts to out-guess Miss Christie." --The New Yorker In this beloved classic from the Queen of Mystery, now with a new beautiful series look, a woman witnesses a murder while peering...
2001 : a space odyssey
Clarke, Arthur C.
Paper Book
It has been over thirty years since the publication of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the science fiction classic that changed the way we looked at the stars--and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, Arthur...
All in one hour
Crummel, Susan Stevens.
Paper Book
In a rhythmic pattern similar to "The House That Jack Built," a mouse leads a wild chase through a town as the minutes tick by. From 6 o'clock a.m. to 7 o'clock a.m., various animals, a dogcatcher, a robber, and a policeman join the chase. Just before the hour is up, a slippery encounter with a...
The hours
Cunningham, Michael
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that became a motion picture starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare. In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his...
All this time
Daughtry, Mikki
Paper Book
From the team behind #1 New York Times bestseller Five Feet Apart comes a gripping new romance that asks: Can you find true love after losing everything? Kyle and Kimberly have been the perfect couple all through high school, but when Kimberly breaks up with him on...
The year of magical thinking
Didion, Joan.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * A landmark work about grief, love, and survival from one of America's most iconic writers One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century * One of The Guardian's 100 Best Books of the...
Hour of the bees
Eagar, Lindsay
Paper Book
What does it mean to be fully alive? Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots. Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . . While her friends are...
The time garden
Eager, Edward.
Paper Book
Time and again, the children fromKnight's Castlehave longed for another magic adventure. But you can't find magic just anywhere. It doesn't just grow likegrass. It requires the right place and the right time--      Orthyme, as the...
The island of the day before
Eco, Umberto.
Paper Book
After a violent storm in the South Pacific (the year is 1643), Roberto della Griva finds himself shipwrecked - on a ship. Swept from the Amaryllis, he has managed to pull himself aboard the Daphne, anchored in the bay of a beautiful island. The ship is fully provisioned, he discovers, but the crew...
The worst hard time : the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl
Egan, Timothy.
Paper Book
This National Book Award-winning story, a tour de force of historical reportage, rescues an iconic chapter of American history--the Dust Bowl that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression--from the shadows. Following a dozen families and their...
This is how you lose the time war
El-Mohtar, Amal
Paper Book
* HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * "[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause...
A wrinkle in time
L'Engle, Madeleine.
Paper Book
As seen on Stranger Things, discover the ground-breaking, bestselling science fiction and fantasy classic that has delighted readers for over 60 years! NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER * TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME * NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM...
Time and again
Finney, Jack.
Paper Book
Discover the beloved classic that Stephen King called "THE great time-travel story," now with masterfully restored original artwork and an all-new foreword by Audrey Niffenegger, the New York Times bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife. When...
Night over water
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
KEN FOLLETT'S INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER- September 1939. England is at war with Nazi Germany. In Southampton, the world's most luxurious airliner-the legendary Pan Am clipper-takes off for its final flight to neutral America. Aboard are the cream of society and the dregs of humanity, all fleeing the...
Cocktail hour under the tree of forgetfulness
Fuller, Alexandra
Paper Book
Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year  In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and to her unforgettable family, whom readers first met in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. At...
Twelve hours in Manhattan : a novel
Gabriel, Maan
Paper Book
Two worlds. One heart. Twelve hours. Bianca Maria Curtis is at the brink of losing it all when she meets Eric at a bar in Manhattan. Eric, as it turns out, is the famous Korean drama celebrity Park Hyun Min, and he's in town for one night to escape the pressures of fame. From walking along Fifth...
Love in the time of cholera
Garca? Mr?quez, Gabriel
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A love story of astonishing power" (Newsweek), the acclaimed modern literary classic by the beloved Nobel Prize-winning author. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry...
One hundred years of solitude
Garca? Mr?quez, Gabriel
Paper Book
Now a Netflix original series! "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . García Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound,...
One minute out
Greaney, Mark
Paper Book
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From Mark Greaney, the New York Times bestselling author of Mission Critical and a coauthor of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, comes another high-stakes thriller featuring the world's most dangerous assassin: the Gray Man. ...
Time and time again
Greenfield, Chatham
Paper Book
A Stonewall Honor Book A Reese Witherspoon Book Club LitUp Pick In this debut YA speculative romance perfect for fans of Rachael Lippincott, two queer, disabled, Jewish teens find themselves stuck in a time loop--and falling love. Phoebe...
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Haddon, Mark.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A modern classic--both poignant and funny--about a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world. "Disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect.......
The midnight library
Haig, Matt
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year "A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."--The...
33 minutes
Hasak-Lowy, Todd
Paper Book
This school-based boy friendship story is "funny, fast-paced, and quite poignant" (R. J. Palacio, author of Wonder). Sam Lewis is going to get his butt kicked in exactly thirty-three minutes. He knows this because yesterday his former best friend Morgan Sturtz told him, to...
Time out
Hayes, Sean
Paper Book
Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights in this "seamless, engrossing" (Publishers Weekly) coming-of-age story about a teen hometown hero who must find out who he is outside of basketball when his coming out as gay costs him his popularity and place on the team.
Beautiful day : a novel
Hilderbrand, Elin.
Paper Book
A summer wedding stirs up trouble on both sides of the family in this beloved bestseller from "the queen of the summer novel" (People). The Carmichaels and the Grahams have gathered on Nantucket for a happy occasion: a wedding that will unite their two families. Plans...
12 seconds of silence : how a team of inventors, tinkerers, and spies took down a Nazi superweapon
Holmes, Jamie
Paper Book
The riveting story of the American scientists, tinkerers, and nerds who solved one of the biggest puzzles of World War II--and developed one of the most powerful weapons of the war   12 Seconds of Silence is the remarkable, lost story of how a ragtag group ...
November 9
Hoover, Colleen
Paper Book
A gripping tale of love, secrets, and betrayal perfect "for fans of Gillian Flynn" (Library Journal, starred review) from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of Regretting You, Verity, and It Ends with Us. When Fallon meets Ben, an...
The remains of the day
Ishiguro, Kazuo 1954-
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER * From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is "an intricate and dazzling novel" (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England.   This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly...
Towers of midnight
Jordan, Robert
Paper Book
The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine! With Robert Jordan's untimely passing in 2007, Brandon Sanderson, the New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn novels and the Stormlight Archive, was...
11/22/63
King, Stephen
Paper Book
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King's heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination--a thousand page tour de force. Following...
Two-minute drill
Lupica, Mike.
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestseller Mike Lupica! Chris Conlan is the coolest kid in sixth grade'the golden-armed quarterback of the football team and the boy all the others look up to. Scott Parry is the new kid, the boy with the huge brain, but with...
Here the whole time
Martins, Vitor
Paper Book
"I read this in one sitting, laughing out loud and cheering for Felipe to follow his heart. I love this book!" --Rainbow Rowell, New York Times bestselling author of Carry On and Wayward Son Felipe can't wait for winter break: Finally, he'll get some time away...
Wrong place wrong time : a novel
McAllister, Gillian
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "It's perfection, every word, every moment. A masterpiece . . . One of the best books I've ever read." --Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author New York Times bestselling author Gillian McAllister has created a...
For all time
Miles, Shanna
Paper Book
A Parade Magazine Best Young Adult Book of 2021 "A romance for the ages...one perfect little novel." --Stacey Lee, award-winning author of The Downstairs Girl The Sun Is Also a Star meets Outlander in this "unforgettable and...
The end of the wasp season
Mina, Denise.
Paper Book
When a notorious millionaire banker hangs himself, his death attracts no sympathy. But the legacy of a lifetime of selfishness is widespread, and the carnage most acute among those he ought to be protecting: his family. Meanwhile, in a wealthy suburb of Glasgow, a young woman is...
A long time gone
Moehling, Joshua
Paper Book
"A big thriller with an even bigger heart!" - Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author "Equal parts compelling mystery and riveting family drama...I'd follow its hero, Deputy Ben Packard, anywhere." - Jess Lourey, Edgar-nominated author of The Taken Ones<...
The night circus
Morgenstern, Erin.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in the spellbinding novel that captured the world's imagination. * "Part love story, part fable ... defies both genres and expectations." --The Boston Globe The circus arrives...
The distant hours : a novel
Morton, Kate
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Homecoming comes a haunting tale of long-buried secrets and the twists of fate that can alter lives forever. This enthralling romantic thriller pays homage to the classics of gothic fiction, spinning a rich and intricate...
The time traveler's wife : a novel
Niffenegger, Audrey.
Paper Book
The love story of Henry and Claire whose lives are punctuated by Henry's disappearance to different points in time--sometimes even back to visit Claire as a young woman. When Henry meets Claire, he is twenty-eight, and she is twenty. He's a hip, handsome librarian; she is an art student with...
1984
Orwell, George
Paper Book
Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... This 75th Anniversary Edition includes: *...
The Thursday murder club
Osman, Richard
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment "Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining." --Wall Street Journal   "Don't trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian...
A tale for the time being
Ozeki, Ruth
Paper Book
A brilliant, unforgettable novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness Finalist for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award "A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and...
Leaving time
Picoult, Jodi
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner about a daughter's search for her mother, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers. Look for Jodi Picoult's new novel, By Any Other Name, available...
1848, year of revolution
Rapport, Michael.
Paper Book
In 1848, a violent storm of revolutions ripped through Europe. The torrent all but swept away the conservative order that had kept peace on the continent since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815--but which in many countries had also suppressed dreams of national freedom. Political events so...
The midnight hour
Read, Benjamin (Children's story writer)
Paper Book
For fans of portal fantasies like Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Colin Meloy's Wildwood, and The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, and unlike so many other fantasies that introduce readers to a world of enchantment and wonder, The Midnight Hour is one...
Twenty-four seconds from now : a love story
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner A New York Times Bestseller Seven starred reviews! "Jason Reynolds has done it again!...Fresh from start to finish...This is what it could be, should be, if only we were all as lucky as Aria. Girls (and...
New York 2140
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson returns with a bold and brilliant vision of New York City in the next century. As the sea levels rose, every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island. For the residents of one apartment building in Madison...
The violet hour
Roiphe, Katie
Paper Book
From one of our most perceptive and provocative voices comes a deeply researched account of the last days of Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, John Updike, Dylan Thomas, Maurice Sendak, and James Salter--an arresting and wholly original meditation on mortality. In The Violet Hour,<...
Tenth of December : stories
Saunders, George
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST FICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND BUZZFEED * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE...
One day in December : a novel
Silver, Josie
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Get ready to be swept up in a whirlwind romance. It absolutely charmed me."--Reese Witherspoon (A Reese's Book Club Pick) "The perfect book to get lost in . . . Josie Silver's characters sneak their way into your heart and stay."--Jill Santopolo...
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore
Sloan, Robin
Paper Book
A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life--mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of...
Saturday night at the Lakeside Supper Club
Stradal, J. Ryan
Paper Book
"Stradal serves up another saga of food and family, hurt and healing, pitched between cliff-hanger moments. . . that make the pages fly." --People From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families...
Meet me at blue hour
Suk, Sarah
Paper Book
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Past Lives in this gripping, emotional story of two childhood friends navigating the fallout of one erasing their memory of the other, from acclaimed author Sarah Suk. Seventeen-year-old Yena Bae is spending the...
Time to roll
Sumner, Jamie
Paper Book
In the eagerly anticipated sequel to Jamie Sumner's acclaimed and beloved middle grade novel Roll with It, Ellie finds her own way to shine. Ellie is so not the pageant type. They're Coralee's thing, and Ellie is happy to let her talented friend shine in the...
The daughter of time
Tey, Josephine
Paper Book
Named One of the Best Mysteries of All Time by The New York Times and Time Acclaimed author Josephine Tey recreates one of history's most famous--and vicious--crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must-read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new...
Year of the rabbit
Tian
Paper Book
One family's quest to survive the devastation of the Khmer Rouge "Striking and moving... The comics form allows readers [to] understand through chronological progression and a close view how horror can become the stuff of the everyday."--The New York Times
Five years from now
Toon, Paige
Paper Book
BEST FRIENDS. FIRST KISS. FIRST LOVE. FIVE YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT WILL THEY BE? "Paige Toon's romances are powerful and poignant and never fail to leave me clutching her book to my chest." - MIA SHERIDAN, author of ARCHER'S VOICE In the spirit of Mia Sheridan,<...
If morning ever comes
Tyler, Anne.
Paper Book
From the beloved bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author--a timeless portrait of a young man's homecoming, and his ensuing journey through youth, identity, family, and love. Here is the debut novel that set Tyler on the path to becoming an American classic. Ben Joe Hawkes is a...
Zero hour
Walden, Mark.
Paper Book
Danger intensifies in the latest thrilling installment in an action-packed series! Bad news for the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, aka H.I.V.E.: Overlord is reborn and has developed the chilling ability to move from body to body, erasing the host's personality--and...
Time's Bounty: Rethinking Aging
Weinstein, Philip
"A guide to growing old with grace and wisdom."--Kirkus "An elegant rumination....Wise, unvarnished."--Publishers Weekly Change your perspective about aging. Here is a bracing view of the surprises that lie ahead, as age enkindles in us new...
The time machine
Wells, H. G.
Paper Book
When the Time Traveller courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700--and everything has changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings-...
The age of innocence
Wharton, Edith 1862-1937
Paper Book
Set in old New York, this novel details the thwarted romance between Newland Archer, a young dandy, and the beautiful, unconventional divorceee Countess Ellen Olenska. The cast of characters includes Newland's docile - and calculating - fiancee, May Welland and the lordly Mrs Manson Mingott.
Seven days in June : a novel
Williams, Tia
Paper Book
One of TIME's 50 Best Romances to Read Right Now   "Sumptuous writing" - Sarah Jessica Parker Two writers get a second chance at love in this romantic, sexy-as-hell New York Times bestselling novel.

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