Popcorn in the Pages - Episode 12: The Time Traveler's Wife
Currently Reading
Meredith Schwartz
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome, readers. We are thrilled to continue this new content from the creators of Currently Reading Podcast! This spin-off podcast series will tackle book to screen adaptations in a spoiler-FILLED format. Be sure you've read the book and watched the film version before listening to the episode, because we don't shy away from strong opinions OR from all the spoilers, unlike our regular episodes.
Show notes for this series will not be time-stamped, but will still include links to Bookshop dot org or Amazon for any books or resources referenced in the episode. These are affiliate links, so they kick back a small percentage to us if you buy through them, and help support the work we do on Currently Reading.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
2:01 - Setup
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
4:10 - Previews
Release date. Sales info and awards.
Released in September 2003
One of the longest books on PitP at 536 pages
Won British Book Award for Popular Fiction in 2006
Movie name and release date. Box office and awards.
Released September 2009
Did not get nominated or win any awards, but was a commercial success
Grossed 19.2M Budget of 39M, Earned a little over 100M
Adaptations include an HBO series that was canceled and a 14m run as a stage production in England
9:41 - The Cutting Room
Pivotal Book scenes and how they translated to the screen
His disappearing
When Claire first meets Henry
The wedding
Car crash that killed Henry's mother
The miscarriages (17:10 - 20:10 is this discussion. Skip to 20:10 if you don't want to listen to this section!)
Henry's final months
Changes from Book to Movie
Car accident with Henry's Mom
The miscarriages (17:10 - 20:10 is this discussion. Skip to 20:10 if you don't want to listen to this section!)
Henry's final months
Left out of the adaptation
Henry's first time traveling
Most of the interactions between Claire and Henry
The relationship with Dr. Kendrick
Claire's relationship with Gomez
Henry coming to see Claire when she's 83 (should have been added)
Lack of side characters from the book
Added to the movie
Henry's absence causing friction in their marriage
Song used as symbolism
Conversation about how Claire's parents don't get divorced
Casting and alternates
Claire: Rachel McAdams → Kristen Stewart, Emma Watson, Kiera Knightly, Katherine Heigl
Henry: Eric Bana → Robert Pattinson, Shia LeBouf, Sam Rockwell, James Marsden
Gomez: Ron Livingston → Edward Norton, Paul Walker, Cam Gigandet, Alex Pettyfer, Guy Pierce
Mary Elizabeth: Mae Whitman → Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie, Rose McIver
Problematic elements
Grooming
Claire's racist family
Comments against women
Icky scenes due to the age gap between Henry and Claire
32:41 - Award Season
Worst and best parts of the adaptation.
The storytelling
The "watered down" ness of the movie
Not as many scenes between young Claire and older Henry
Eric Bana's butt
Worst and best actors.
Ron Livingston as Gomez
Rachel McAdams as Claire
Worst and best book characters.
Henry
Claire
Cherise
Ben
1:10:22 - Book/Flick Energy
Book scored on a 5 star scale.
Movie scored on a 10 point scale.
1:17:20 - A Leftover Popcorn Kernel
If you meet a guy who says certifiably insane things like Henry, but then he shows you his power, would you date him? (Kaytee)
Do you believe in fate and a higher predestined life? (Shad)
56:30 - End Credits
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The movie is available to stream on Netflix
Connect With Us:
Currently Reading Podcast | Kaytee | Meredith
Shad is in the Bookish Friends FB Group (for our Patreon supporters)
Support Us:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi readers. Welcome to Popcorn in the Pages. In this spin-off episode series from Currently |
| 0:21.8 | Reading Podcast, we will be exploring book-to-screen adaptations and what makes them great or awful. |
| 0:27.9 | In each episode, we'll tackle the book, the adaptation, and the ways they complement each other. |
| 0:32.2 | As always, we love a strong opinion, and we definitely have them, especially with this book. |
| 0:37.1 | I'm Katie Com, co-host of the Currently Reading podcast, and we definitely have them, especially with this book. I'm Katie Cobb, co-host of |
| 0:39.1 | the currently reading podcast, and I will read nearly anything but mostly keep my screen watching to |
| 0:43.5 | sitcoms and book adaptations. And I am Chad, and I read exactly what I'm told to by Katie because |
| 0:49.3 | she's the boss. I am the boss. That is true. Like Angela. Like Angela. Yeah. Who's the boss? |
| 0:56.4 | Unlike our regular episodes, these ones are full of spoilers. We spill all the tea. So be warned if you have not read the book yet or watch the movie. This is episode number 12 of this series, but you can listen in any order, even if it's six months ago when we did our last episode. Today, we will be discussing the Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Yay. Shad. A, we're back. Yep, I love being back. This is great. It's like another season. Yep. It's only been six months. Yeah, lots changed. It's fine. |
| 1:29.6 | Since then, I have moved and got a new job. |
| 1:31.3 | Wow. |
| 1:33.0 | Yeah, isn't that crazy? |
| 1:34.4 | That's special. |
| 1:37.9 | Yeah, it's been a minute, but we're excited to be back here. |
| 1:41.2 | We're excited to get to record an episode together. |
| 1:47.6 | And we have a book and a movie to talk about that a lot of people have strong opinions about, mostly positive. We also have strong opinions about it. |
| 1:54.0 | And those are complicated. We'll go with. We're going to say complicated. Let's talk about |
| 2:00.7 | this book. So this section of the show, we call to say complicated. Let's talk about this book. |
| 2:01.9 | So this section of the show, we call the previews. |
| 2:04.0 | This is all the background info. |
| 2:05.3 | We're setting up the situation that we're about to encounter. |
| 2:09.3 | Here's the setup. |
... |
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