18 Books Like Futility, Or The Wreck Of The Titan

The suspense of this novel captured me right from the start and kept me involved to the end.  The adventure of being trapped on an iceberg in such a terrible predicament was fully entertaining. I recommend this because it is the most suspenseful book I can recall reading, and at the same time it offers escapism into the extremities of the polar ice cap.

This book blew my belief that the Antarctic is a desolate place out of the water—or perhaps out of the iceberg, as I watched an iceberg “calve”—sending a piece of itself into the southern ocean at the beginning of spring.

I loved being told to “look closer.” And what did I see? Penguins, leopard seals, krill, a zillion sea birds, and humpback whales all feasting (or being feasted upon). And a show-stopping double foldout page (that I wanted to frame, it’s sooo gorgeous!) that opens up to a magnificent array of sea creatures in opalescent waters.

What an ode to the amazing cycle of the seasons and life!

These two well-known and courageous authors confront us with the stark realities of the global predicament and our desperate need to develop “Reconnection, Resistance, Resilience, and Regeneration” in response. I especially appreciated their “no holds barred” approach to truth-telling and their call to act from our deepest most sacred Self.

Public inquiries these days last ten years or more, often without reaching a conclusion. But the American Senate inquiry into the sinking of Titanic opened the day after survivors docked in New York and was wrapped up in five weeks, with all the ugly facts laid bare.

Like its British counterpart some weeks later, the Senators had the advantage of questioning witnesses while events were still fresh in their minds and before stories could be conveniently changed. No stone was left unturned: the ice warnings about the danger of icebergs, the inadequate number of lifeboats, the Titanic’s unanswered SOS calls from nearby ships, the shameful statistics of those who lived and those who died…and so on. The White Star Line’s chairman, Bruce Ismay, was accorded no favours.

A single page sets out the stark reality of how the class system determined who lived and who died. More than half the… show more.

This book has recently been published, so I have only known it as an adult. When I opened its pages, I got lost in the complexity of the illustrations, there was much minute detail in the images. I was mesmerized. I just know I would have adored this book as a child. There are no words, just pictures to take you on an adventure. I find this an absolute treasure of a book that inspires me to make my own story to fill in the narrative. I imagine looking at this book with a child and the fun of piecing the story together using our combined imaginations. 

I first experienced this book in 2017, and it’s stayed in my top 5 all-time favourite reads ever since.

This is a well-crafted, beautifully told story. The world-building is meticulous, the characters are complex and real, and the plot is enthralling. The story of the Lumatere people is so heartbreaking that when hope finally comes, it's impossible not to be caught up in it.

What makes this book so exceptional are the characters and their relationships, and the way Marchetta captures the best and worst of human nature. The most compelling relationship is the engaging and complicated romance that builds between Finnikin and the enigmatic Evanjalin.

Love, love, love this book (and series).

It doesn’t get better than Vonnegut. And I think the books you don’t read in school—like this one, Galapago, or Breakfast of Champions—might be his best.

Behind every joke, every outlandish piece of worldbuilding, there’s a hidden meaning. Here, he masterfully dissects free will and the inherently silly idea of purpose, balancing tragedy and wit through a wildly convoluted plot and a ridiculous cast of characters.

It’s stayed with me for years.

This book had such a strong pitch: Attack on Titan with mermaids.

I loved that the characters had strong motivations: our female protagonist, human Kestra, wants revenge on the merfolk for killing and devouring her father. Our male protagonist, merman Rake, wants to escape his life as a breeder male so that he can raise his son in peace.

I loved the writing and felt immersed in the underwater world, and life on Kestra’s island village. I also enjoyed reading about Rake and his son when they escape to the surface, and try to find their place in the world.

This was the first time I had heard of this author, and I enjoyed her work so much that I went on to read more of her books!

The Lifeboat is one of the first-period books I ever remember reading, and I was hooked by it from the first page. Told in the first person we follow Grace, as she retells the horrific incidents that have happened to her during the sinking of the Express Alexandra, becoming a widow, and spending three weeks trapped on a cramped lifeboat. I credit this book with being the first to inspire me in the world of historical fiction, both as a reader and writer.

This book is a refreshing approach because it covers the period prior to Titanic’s disastrous Maiden Voyage, in material reprinted from an early edition of The Shipbuilder. Do not read another Titanic disaster book until you have read this insight and appreciated the foldout deck plans and longitudinal cutaways to see the actual cabin and deck arrangements. They really help to explain many aspects of the disaster story.

The contents lean heavily on engineering matters, but you don’t have to be an engineer to fully appreciate the design work that went into these more-or-less identical sister ships, and it’s worth noting that much of the Titanic controversy swirled around alleged design flaws.

Published in 1970, this is a reprint of the original 1912 book which is well beyond the average book buyer’s budget. A caveat—even this one isn’t cheap, and you will have to search online.