Titanic 100th Anniversary Reading Challenge

I've looked and haven't been able to find one for this already so decided to make my own!  2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and as such we can expect a rush of new books out this year dealing with this topic or theme, plus of course there are already many such books in existence.

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First the rules, then why I like the Titanic.  I like challenges that run all year; it takes the pressure off.  So this challenge will run from now until Dec. 31, 2012.  Any books you've posted reviews of recently will qualify as well.  And all types of media will count for this challenge paper books, ebooks, audio books, historical fiction, fiction with a titanic theme, non-fiction, movies, TV shows and documentaries.  By the end of the year we should know our Titanic trivia! 

UPDATE:  I'm adding a third level for those who just want to get there feet wet!

There are three levels:

Getting My Feet Wet: read or watch a combination of 3 (three) Titanic related material
Taking a Plunge: read or watch a combination of 6 (six) Titanic related material
Going Down With the Ship:  read or watch a combination of 12 (twelve) Titanic related material

I just ask that you try and mix up your media, whichever level you join (ie don't just read fiction, or just watch documentaries, try to get a bit of variety such as a few historical fiction, some non-fiction, a movie, a documentary for an example)  but I won't be the Titanic police if you really must only read/watch one genre/media but since it is a reading challenge you must at least include one book in your choices.

Sign up below and then come back to this blog to add links to your reviews starting in January, but you can include any books you read starting now, Dec. 10, 2011.

Feel free to continue adding links to your reviews even after you complete your goal! The more comprehensive a list we have the better!





My Titanic story: I became fascinated with the Titanic when I was fairly young, probably 8 or 9. We lived on a hill and behind our place was a large field leading down to our small town's major cemetery. My friends and I used to play there all the time and I got my love of cemeteries from that. We were respectful. We would sit under trees and read or just talk in the peaceful atmosphere. But we'd always walk around the old part of the cemetery reading headstones and family plots/memorials. Many famous men from the town's history were locate there, occasionally we took rubbings with charcoal. But one day, at said 8 or 9, we ran across the most fascinating name on a large family plot marble memorial for the "Beattie's" one of the town's popular families and written on the memorial was reference to "Thomas Beattie" who died in the "Titanic Disaster". Suddenly I felt connected to the Titanic, a bit of it's history was in my backyard. I've visited there many times in my life and when I read Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" for the first time and found his name in the appendix at the back which lists all the passengers I felt like I *knew* someone who had perished on the Titanic and it became a lifelong interest.

Looking forward to your reviews and discovering some new (to me) titles to read.

Comments

  1. Well, it's my challenge so I'm joining!

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  2. hm, I am tempted. I will have to think about it.

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  3. I'm very tempted - partly because I just received an ARC of THE COMPANY OF THE DEAD by David Kowalski. It's an alternate historical which begins when the Titanic doesn't sink! At over 800 pages, it's a chunkster I'm eager to tackle.

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  4. Gwendolyn, that sounds like a fascinating book! I've only read a few alternate histories, but really enjoyed them.

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  5. I find the Titanic a very interesting subject, I'll have to think about this challenge.

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  6. I hope you don't mind, but I've created a image for the reading challenge, since I want to use one in the side bar of my blog along with the other challenges.
    If other people want to use the same one a me, it can be found here:
    http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm258/hulderjenta/titanic.png

    I will add my link when I have created a post on my blog. :)

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  7. Tone, It is absolutely beautiful! Thank you for making it! I will put it up as our button.

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  8. Thank you!

    I forgot to add my link earlier, but now it's in the list. I have listed 4 of the 6 books that I'm planning to read.
    I'll be writing the reviews later in norwegian like all the other content in my blog , but if someone is interested there is always Google translate. ;)

    I am looking forward to see which books the other participants are reading and what they think of them, and I'll try to leave some comments on the way too. :)

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  9. Thanks for adding your link! Walter Lord & Robert Ballard are always good choices! I'm game to translating your reviews to see what you have to say! If you haven't seen it yet, the link for reviews is here: http://back-to-books.blogspot.com/2012/01/titanic-100th-anniversary-reading.html

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  10. You got me. I'm in. I have some I can add to the tally already. :)

    http://www.bitemybooks.com/

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  11. Sounds interesting. Count me in. Just finished my first one and it was excellent!

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  12. I;m fascinated by the Titanic too! I've already got 6, so I'll go for the going down with the ship level!

    http://shopgirl152ny.blogspot.com

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  13. Tinanic! I'm a child of the 90s, so I suppose all that begins for me with Cameron's 1997 film, which I wasn't allowed to watch at the time - my dad said a girl such as I would get upset to watch a ship sink - I watched the 3D version this year and practically flooded myself with tears! I think what grabs me is the crude reality that these people, who all had a family and a life just like us, had to perish with the ship exactly 100 years ago because fate did not mean it otherwise. Later I watched a Titanic documentary, Art&Entertainment production from 1994 now available on youtube, and the 1956 film; then there are those two books by Walter Lord you have mentioned, and also the Loss of the SS Tinanic by Lawrence Beesly, a survivor. And alo, the website 'encyclopedia titanica', only I don't know if that counts!

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