The Watch That Ends the Night = The Book That Stole My Heart

From the spine-chilling cover art to the unforgettable voice of the Iceberg (and with every curl of saltwater in between), Allan Wolf's The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic simply stole my heart. This novel re-imagines Titanic's voyage from the shipyard to the ocean floor, a voyage that 2,000-some-odd souls took along with her. It's a story that's been told and re-told, but the beauty of Wolf's writing breathes new life into the soon-to-be-100 year old tragedy. The still-almost-incomprehensible event unfolds through the voices of about twenty passengers and crew members (and one ship rat) aboard the luxury liner, as well as the Iceberg itself. There are many unforgettable passages that beg to be re-read; here's my favorite:

"I am the ice; I am of water made.
That's why it's now of water that I speak:
Watch how the water licks Titanic's hull.
Hear how the water makes her rivets creak.
See how, before her trip even begins,
the water is obsessed with getting in."

And one more favorite passage, for good measure (also in the voice of the Iceberg):

"The sun moves low to the west of my mass.
A shadow, cast by my prodigious bulk,
becomes a phantom finger stretching out
to mark the route Titanic's bow needs trace
across the sea's gray-rippled endless face."

Hubris, humanity, and the progeny of "Greenland's glacial womb" literally collide in this amazing piece of art.