Remembering the Titanic: Films, Books, Music and More

When the Titanic sank 103 years ago, the event captured the public's imagination and signaled the end of an era.

If you are intrigued by the atmosphere of the the luxury liner, the following movies, music, books, and activities will serve to give you a taste of the experience--minus a plunge in the icy cold waters of the North Atlantic.

Here are some of the most thorough and readable books about the Titanic disaster. The undisputed classic for 50 years has been Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, a brief, detailed, and personable account of all the major events that comprised the Titanic experience.

In addition, you will find a fascinating book about the Titanic's food and its chefs (complete with recipes), a fascinating account of the real life of the "unsinkable" Molly Brown, and lovely works of fiction.

This retelling of the Titanic saga includes enough specific detail for the ardent fact hounds among us, yet never loses hold of a fast-paced and engaging narrative.

The recipes in this books give you a feel for the sumptuousness of the Titanic--and many of them are not particularly hard to make. More than a cookbook, this work also describes several facets of Edwardian society.

Margaret Tobin Brown was a woman well worth getting to know, and this biography is one of the best at bringing the spirited, generous, and practical woman to life with a satisfying, but not overwhelming amount of detail.

In this novel, poet Allan Wolf gathers together 25 characters from the Titanic and gives each one a series of brief, poetic monologues, thus encompassing many viewpoints of the disaster on the Titanic.

Most people think of turn-of-the century America as stodgy and quaint, but this engaging novel presents a truer picture of the possibility and exuberance of the era. People were just getting acquainted with such amazing new inventions as electric lights that lit up the room without fire, or messages that could be sent over great distances on the airwaves.

Nothing sums up the feel of an era quite so much as the music, and in these collections you can hear the sounds of the jazzy new ragtime songs that were taking the world by storm, as well as the popular songs of the day, and the light classical that provided ambience for diners on the Titanic.

All eight musicians aboard the Titanic chose to stay on the deck of the ship and play their tunes, presumably to keep passengers calm and orderly as they boarded the lifeboats. They played until the ship was nearly sunk, and none of them survived.

This four-part miniseries penned by Julian Fellowes (the creator of the popular Downton Abbey series) follows the fate of thre groups of people: in first class, we have the Earl of Manton and his wife and daughter; in second class we glimpse into the life of a lawyer and his wife; and we also follow the adventures of one of the crew, an Italian immigrant waiter name Paolo.

Like Downton Abbey, this series has sumptuous cinematography, romance, commentary on class distinctions, and dramatic performances immersed in Edwardian times.

The story often backs up and shows events from another's person's point of view, which can seem a little disjointed, especially when the series was aired on television with commercial breaks.

Most viewers agree that the uninterrupted DVD experience is a better way to watch it.

To see the trailer, click below.

Museums have gone far beyond warehouses of dusty relics and have included site, sound, and feel in interactive exhibits that can give visitors a deeper understanding of the experience.

Currently "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" is open in Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego, Kansas City, and Singapore. The curators have cleverly and deftly combined sound, sight, and touch to take you on a coherent journey that allows you a sense of what it was like to be a passenger on the Titanic. For a review of the exhibition, click here: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

Titanic museums in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee are sponsoring a number of events to coincide with the centenary. Titanic Museum

And the Molly Brown house in Denver, which was home to Margaret Brown, one of the most outspoken and colorful survivors of the Titanic, is planning a year of special exhibitions, teas, performances and lectures. Molly Brown House

Here are a couple of sites that include good information for buying or making a dress that looks like it's from the Titanic era.

What do you plan to do to commemorate the anniversary of the Titanic?