The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.5. Laurie ME's Task: 100 Years Ago
100 years ago in April,two events happened, one overshadowing the other, but they both are of real interest to me. One was the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The other was the opening of Fenway Park in Boston.

Book 1: Read a fiction or non fiction book about the sinking of a luxury liner or other ship. It could be about the Titanic or another luxury liner (the Lusitania or Andrea Doria for example) or about a battle ship or aircraft carrier (the HMS Hood or the Bismark come to mind) for nonfiction subjects. These lists may gave you some ideas: Maritime Disasters, Great Lakes Storms and Shipwrecks Keep in mind the usual caveat about Goodreads lists - not all books will work for the task.
Fiction examples are The Secret Adversary or Three Fates, in which the sinking of the Lusitania is the event that starts the book and has meaning to the story, but the story takes place elsewhere and after. Another fiction example is The Poseidon Adventure.
REQUIRED: If the connection is not obvious, please explain the connection of your book to the sinking of a ship.

Book 2: Read a fiction or nonfiction book about baseball. Baseball should be an integal part of the story. For non fiction a few examples are: Ball Four, Umpire Strikes Back or Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season. Some fiction examples are The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Squeeze Play, Slow Heat.
This list may give you more ideas, although not every book on the list may work for this task. Best Baseball books

Reserved

Reserved

Will this work for baseball The Comeback Season

For Book 1 I looked at
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...
and on the list was

The Odyssey by Homer

Would this book be accepted for book 1? Thanks!

What about The Art of Fielding for Book 2 and The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea or In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex for Book 1?

I just read an excellent new Titanic book for this challenge:

The Watch That Ends The Night: Voices From The Titanic

Also, for a great book connected to Fenway Park:

My Most Excellent Year

Great task!

Would these work?

1) The Phoenix: A Novel About The Hindenburg

2) Baseball Crazy: Ten Short Stories that Cover All the Bases

for the titanic Fateful

I see my mistake- I'm changing to

1)Seven Days to Disaster: The Sinking of the Lusitania

Does this work for book 1?

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

I've got a couple of questions for you Laurie. Would a book about the Pearl Harbor bombing work for book 1?

I was wondering when someone was going to post a Titanic task.

Would this book work for book 2 Baseball Cat ? Thanks

If anyone is looking for a Titanic book: The Dressmaker: A Novel looks good.

Karen GHHS wrote: "I just read an excellent new Titanic book for this challenge:

[book:The Watch That Ends The Night: Voices From The Titan..."

This baseball book looks good!!!! I may have to look for that one.

Gayla, I thought that one looked good also, but I think I will go with The Band That Played on: The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians Who Went Down with the Titanic for the first book.

My second book will probably be Fielder's Choice.

Has anyone been able to get the maritime disasters link to work?

How central to the plot does the shipwreck need to be. Robinson Crusoe and Twelfth Night both have a shipwreck at the start but that is it. Does it need to feature more than that?

Thanks.

Sheila wrote: "Has anyone been able to get the maritime disasters link to work?"

Sorry, I just don't know what GR is doing with links - it worked fine when I tested it a while ago. I'll play with it. In the meantime, go to Listopia (at the top of the page, under the pulldown menu for "explore") and do a search for "maritime disasters" or shipwrecks or terms like that - keep in mind that there are numerous lists put together, and you may well find books on lists that are NOT mentioned in the task.

JennRenee wrote: "for the titanic Fateful"

This looks good, JennRenee!

i'm hoping fateful fits as well, otherwise I might go with the Dressmaker

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I have been dying for someone to do a Titanic task, and I was almost getting to the point where I was regretting not doing it myself.

Okay, now that I've recomposed myself...will Destined work? It's got some paranormal stuff going on, but it takes place on the Titanic, so I thought it should be okay. If not, I've got a whole list of books on my TBR I can choose (I just own this one and haven't read it yet, so it's my first choice).

Also, this list has a lot of great choices: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...

Would Distant Waves work for Book 1?

Sheila wrote: "Has anyone been able to get the maritime disasters link to work?"

OK, it seems to be working now, at least for the moment..................

Ms Anderson wrote: "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I have been dying for someone to do a Titanic task, and I was almost getting to the point where I was regretting not doing it myself.

Okay, now that I've ..."


MsAnderson, Destined looks great- and for 2.99 on Amazon for kindle it seems like a bargain. Now I have two great choices, I hope they both get approved :)

If anyone is looking for a weird/interesting Titanic book, Connie Willis's Passage deals a ton with the Titanic -- I don't know for sure that it would work, but the Titanic is a huge part of the significance of the story and I loved the book. It's sort of sci-fi ish and deals with near death experiences.

Thanks Sandy and Ms. Anderson both those links work. I'm with you Ms. Anderson. I was amazed that no one created a Titanic task. I remember reading a Night to Remember as a kid and being totally sucked in by it.

might have to go and see Titanic in 3D at the movie theatre when its re-released

Dee wrote: "might have to go and see Titanic in 3D at the movie theatre when its re-released"

I am totally going!

That would be something to see all right. I think I saw it 3 times at the theatre and then bought it on DVD. 3D IMAX would be so awesome. Do you think it will be released on April 12?

Ooohhh!!! I may have to go see it in the IMAX... :) If I can convince the man of course. Has anyone else noticed that boys in real life are never as amazing as they make them seem in books?

they are doing it on April 6th apparently

ETA http://www.titanicmovie.com/#/home - says April 4

Titanic is one of those movies that I could only see once. I am definitely not a repeat offender on that one.

back to the task. I loved the movie A league of her own. Does anyone know if that was based upon a book?

according to IMDB it was inspired by the career of Dottie Collins, who pitched 17 shut-outs in her 6 year career - Dottie Wiltse Collins: Strikeout Queen of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League

Thanks Dee. That might be the one for me

i'm debating if I want to move The Art of Fielding to here and find something else for the GR voice task...hmmm

I am debating if I should move The Art of Fielding from 30.6 and place it here. Then find some other books for 30.6

Just wanted to run some possibilities past you...
For book 1: The Cay
For book 2 :Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

Will those work?

does The Comeback Season work for baseball

JennRenee wrote: "Will this work for baseball The Comeback Season"

Looks good to me, with Wrigley Field involved!

Deedee wrote: "For Book 1 I looked at
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...
and on the list was

The Odyssey by Homer

Would this book be accepted for book 1? Thanks!"

Looks fine to me ... great list

KSMary wrote: "What about The Art of Fielding for Book 2 and The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea or [book:In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Ess..."

All three work fine.

Karen GHHS wrote: "I just read an excellent new Titanic book for this challenge:

[book:The Watch That Ends The Night: Voices From The Titan..."

Fantastic and Thanks - both events fascinate me totally!

Kathy G. wrote: "Would these work?

1) The Phoenix: A Novel About The Hindenburg

2) Baseball Crazy: Ten Short Stories that Cover All the Bases"

Book 1 no because it's not a maritime type disaster.

Book 2 is just fine.

JennRenee wrote: "for the titanic Fateful"

Good one.

Sheila wrote: "I've got a couple of questions for you Laurie. Would a book about the Pearl Harbor bombing work for book 1?

I was wondering when someone was going to post a Titanic task.

Would this book work fo..."

Yes, I'll agree to Pearl Harbor, it was at least a bunch of ships sinking ...

Sandy wrote: "Sheila wrote: "Has anyone been able to get the maritime disasters link to work?"

Sorry, I just don't know what GR is doing with links - it worked fine when I tested it a while ago. I'll play wi..."

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...

I changed Option 1 to

Seven Days to Disaster: The Sinking of the Lusitania

Is this okay?

Jodi wrote: "Does this work for book 1?

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance"

That'll work - great choice, I've read about Shakleton before and he's fascinating!

Sheila wrote: "I've got a couple of questions for you Laurie. Would a book about the Pearl Harbor bombing work for book 1?

I was wondering when someone was going to post a Titanic task.

Would this book work fo..."

I couldn't resist the Titanic since it did overshadow the opening of Fenway Park that year. Any book that involves baseball (as long as it meets all other criteria) is perfect.