So, I cheated a bit - there a few novellas on the list, and I thought I would kick off with one of them. I don't know exactly what I was expecting with "The Time Machine." That the science fiction genre owes much of it's existence to Wells is an understatement, and perhaps I thought this story would feel a bit more cliche than it did.
I enjoyed how simple the story was and how much was left to the imagination. I appreciated that the story didn't dwell on how the Time Machine works. After the opening chapter "establishing" the philosophical/mathematical possibility of time travel, the Time Traveler, essentially says "Yes, I traveled forward tens of thousands of years, here's my story - I don't really care if you believe me or not." That it didn't dwell in the minutia of the mechanics of the technology was something I was grateful for (Not that I don't occasional love some technobabble, but stopping a story for a physics lecture isn't always good storytelling)
I also thought I knew the general arch of the story: man travels forward in time, discovers a time when man has split into 2 separate species, and the elite Eloi keep the down trodden Morlocks underground, forcing them to do all the work while they lounge in luxury. I assumed the theme revolved around the evils of one group of people oppressing the other. Actually, (this will come as no surprise to someone who has read the story), the Morlocks appear to have developed into quite the terror and regularly eat the simple Eloi (whom I'm convinced that Amanda's 2 1/2 year old son could beat in a debate). The warning of the story seems to be "be careful that mankind doesn't get lazy and complacent with what we have achieved, lest we because beasts or children."
I can see how this story helped begin a new subset in fiction. Wells paints a textured world while only exploring a very small part of it. I'm not at all surprised that other writers read this and that it sparked.
Pages: 125
Favorite phrase: "hither & thither"
Thumbs up/Thumbs down: Thumbs up
Next up: "Emma" by Jane Austen
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