cammy's 2013 obsessive planning thread

I plan to keep much of my same categories in 2013 that I had in 2012. The main changes are my Caribbean category is moving up to Mexico. If you know of any Mexican stories with elements of the supernatural, fantastic, scientific or science fictional let me know. I'm planning on being on a panel at Diversicon about Mexican speculative fiction. The Diversicon category is changing to Tiptree award winners/nominees. I'll be adding a category for the folklore/fairy tales and mythology. This will include collections of tales, nonfiction on these subjects or fiction based on f/f&m. I'm also going to add a bonus category for books off my shelves. I will let LT randomly pick these for me. I'll be using the "random books from X's library" window that shows up on the profile page for this.

My goal is going to be 5 books per category, which is 70 books. At least 40 of these should be from books I already own. I'm also planning on joining 75ers since it seems they have a lot of lively group reads. I'm probably cutting off more than I can chew and promise to cut back if it gets distracting to the rest of my life or stressful.

I've noticed from doing the challenge before that year after year I have some of the same books languishing on my possibilities list. For this planning thread, I intend to look at those - cull out the ones that have been languishing because they aren't really calling my name - and list on here the ones that I really intend to read someday.

Young Adult & Middle Grade Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror planned reading
1. The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
2. The She by Carol Plum-Ucci I was going to get this into 2012 but it got bumped by Howls Moving Castle
3.
4.
5.

Young Adult other
1. To Be A Slave by Julius Lester
2. Copper Sun
3. Flygirl
4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian read in 2012 5 star!
5. Evvy's Civil War
6. Steel Pelicans

I have soooooo many more books in this category but I think I should just list one more alternate. A few of the books listed here have one awards and therefore may still fit into 2012 under my bonus award category.

Alternates:
After by Francine Prose
When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune

Tiptree Awards/Tiptree Short List
1. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr
2. Troll: A Love Story
3. A Woman of the Iron People
4. James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
5. Mockingbird by Sean Stewart

Of course I can move Her Smoke to classics and the bio to bios, which I might do. There are tons of books I'd like to fit into this category, most I already own.

Alternates:
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
The Children Star by Joan Slonczewski
Writing the Other
The Knife of Never Letting Go

Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
1. Zoo City
2. The Name of the Wind
3. Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
4.
5.

Conjure Wife could of course be moved to classics. Might do group read of Un Lun Dun in December.

Mysteries/Histories/True Crime
1. Gone Girl
2. Bimbos of the Death Sun
3. Devil in the White City w victoriapl jan/feb
4. Columbine by Dave Cullen
5. Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane

Last year, Historical Fiction dominated. This year, it's only fair that the mysteries should dominate.

Night of four hundred rabbits

Short Story collections
1. Interfictions
2. The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard
3. After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh
4. The Nimrod Flip-out by Etgar Keret
5.

Animals, including humans
1. Stalking Irish Madness
2. Lads Before the Wind
3.
4.
5.

Mexican authors
1. Carlos Fuentes but not Aura
2. Roberto Bolano
3. Cleopatra Dismounts by Carmen Boullosa
4. Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro
5. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo
6. The Empty Notebook by Josefina Vicens

In the Spanish Language
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I own tons. Will just have to pick as I go along.

biography/autobiography/anthropology
1. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language
2. Persepolis
3. Mighty Hard Road
4. Anything We Love Can Be Saved

Alternate
5. Corpse Walker
6. The Professor and the Madman

Vintage and Classics - books published over 50 years ago
1. Pierre and Jean
2. The Razor's Edge
3.
4.
5.

In March, there's a group read that starts on The Count of Monte Cristo. I might join. Portrait of a Lady is in July.

Begged/Borrowed or Stolen - Wishlist, Group Reads, Early Reviews, On loan from friends.
This one resists planning: Here are the 10 oldest books on the WL. Some I may get to in 2012. Some are cross-posted in other categories.
1. The Devil in the White City
2. The Book Thief
3. James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)
4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
5. Dreaming in Cuban
6. Born on a Blue Day
7. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
8. Illyria
9. Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology
10. Oblivion by David Foster Wallace

Folklore/Fairytales/Mythology
1. The Tain
2. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
3. Silver Birch, Blood Moon
4. Nine Lives: The Folklore of Cats
5. In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss

And of course, I've got tons of other options.

Alternate Trickster Makes the World
The Search for Delicious

Bonus: books randomly picked by lt's random books from my library feature. And just for giggles, the books I'm listing here are the earliest books I entered on LT that are still unread. Of course, I have some books that have gathered even more dust but here goes.
1. Blue Light by Walter Mosley
2. Copper Sun
3. Outside Rules: Short stories about non-conformist youth
4. A River Runs through it and other stories
5. The Best American Essays 2000

15 should I do 15 categories and add one for historical fiction? I read a surprising amount of historical fiction in 2012. Most of my ER books fell into this category. A lot of my YA books fall into this one too.
1. Copper Sun
2. Flygirl
3.
4.
5.

16 Okay, I'm going to bite off more than I can chew. Random amounts of categories leads to the "Just one more" syndrome.

Books recommended in 500 Great Books by Women
Possibles:
1. Emma
2. Saints and Strangers
3. Yoruba Girl Dancing
4. Stones for Ibarra
5. Kindred
6. The Kitchen God's Wife

Personal Group reads calendar

Jan/Feb Devil in the White city tandem w victoriapl
March-May The Count of Monte Cristo
June The Bloody Chamber tandem w tanglewood - lkernagh?
July perhaps Portrait of a Lady
August The Heart is a Lonely Hunter w ALWINN and luvamystery65 and ?Ridgeway?
????Zoo City
????The Crying of Lot 47
December perhaps Un Lun Dun

Graphic novels???
Persepolis???

three messages and a warning is a great collection of Mexican Fantastic fiction that you could trawl for Mexican authors

Can't wait to pick up some Mexican recommendation's here :)

You have listed many interesting books. I have just added "The Sea of Trolls" and "After the Apocalypse" to my already long wish list (which includes Part-Time Indian, Major Pettigrew, Persepolis and The Book Thief).

Psutto, thanks for the recommendation. That book is actually how the Mexican Spec Fiction panel started. We were supposed to do a panel discussion just on 3 messages this year, but my partner in crime had to back out so we are going to revisit the idea for the next Diversicon. I liked 3 Messages a lot, but thought some of the translations were uneven.

Claire, me too! Of the authors I listed, I've only read Fuentes before. Love his writing!!! Controlling and powerful old ladies!!! Three of the 5 authors I've listed, I wouldn't have heard of if it weren't for LT. A lot of them are Steven's recs.

Zozette - I'm halfway through Part-Time Indian now - audio book with Sherman Alexie as narrator. Odd, thought provoking and amusing - and I'm definitely thinking of my friend the lit prof who played part of the first disc to his class and found himself blushing deeply. Same guy is one of the "what do I read next" panelists at Diversicon, and both of the panelists highly recommended After the Apocalypse so I'm really looking forward to it. Sounds like our reading tastes are very similar. :)

Already planning! I was trying to restrain myself, but you've got me thinking! Look forward to seeing what you read.

I was trying to restrain myself too, but alas... Looks like I love to run ahead of myself. Yes, see you next year!!!

If you want to move away from Mexican fantasy theres always Akashic's Noir series:

http://www.akashicbooks.com/mexicocitynoir.htm

!!! thanks for the link!!! I might have to get that one. Is the Noir series mostly mysteries, or does it blend mystery with the fantastic. There's a lot of Science Fiction/Cyberpunkish noir published in English.

I crossed out The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian because I just read it and reviewed it. My review is on the 2012 thread or here: http://www.librarything.com/work/3488194 He feel a bit awkward about the review because some of what I said is confidential, but I didn't use names and nobody on LT knows what school I work at. I'm okay, right? It felt like it needed to be said.

->27 cammykitty:
I thumbed that review - it wasn't too revealing, I thought. Even if I had known where you work (although I don't work in education and don't know how stringent the confidentiality clauses are).

Thanks Eva! No name. Saying a specific kid has received special ed services is breaking confidentiality - not that the kids don't figure it out just by watching. No name and no location, and I'm cool though.

I'm really looking forward to this challenge! Almost there.

*starred* my dear!

Good!!! See you in 2013!

Starred and looking forward to next year!

Yeah!!!

Cammy, this doesn't have any of the elements you're looking for, but Elizabeth Peters' Night of four hundred rabbits is set in Mexico City.

@34, that goes on the WL! It could fit into my mystery section. How can you resist a title with 400 rabbits in it.

I certainly can't resist a title like that either! Added to the TBR list.

I've read a lot of Elizabeth Peters' books, but I don't remember Night of Four Hundred Rabbits. I guess I'll have to check that one out. It looks like it may be set around Christmas (although it could probably be read anytime).

I'm all for Christmas in July. ;)

I'm really impressed with your list. A lot of titles that are new to me, so I'll look them up.
Good themes too - you have so many categories! I'd be pleased if I managed to do one per month.

Persepolis is really great, I'm sure you'll like it. I'm trying to convince everyone I meet to read it.

I've been catching up on the threads here and just wanted to star you and say I dread the BBs I might take from you next year. I have some of the same books in my TBR and look forward to what you think of them.

Mwahaha!!! I've never been accused of creating book bullets before!!! I've arrived. ;) Thanks Betty!!!

Paws, welcome to LT & hope to see you in the challenge! You can set your goal to 1 a month if you like. So, what kind of paws are you into? Dogs? Cats? Ferrets? Greedy little? I'm a dog person, which will become really obvious as this challenge goes on.

--41. I'm all about cats (well, not all, but mostly). Definitely not a dog person. I don't mind them, I just don't get them.

->41 cammykitty:
Oh, I'm pretty sure I've taken some hits from you! I might not have pointed out the bleeding wound, though... :)

I can say the same about cats. I actually have a book that devotes one chapter to comparing dog body language with cat body language, arguing that the differences are why they don't get along. I'd argue they don't *always* get along because they are both predators competing for the same environmental niche but... it's true, when a dog shows his belly it means I'm done fighting, or rub my belly. When a cat shows his belly, more often than not it means I want my paws and claws to be ready to get you!

Eva, I'll bet you have!!! Whenever I click on someone's profile and start marveling at how many books we share in our WLs, I realize I'm looking at a fellow category challenge member. :) We've all shot each other to bits.

LOL - that's very true!!

Ha! Most cats I know are more keen to get their bellies scratches and cuddled than any dog ever. Especially my own. You can barely get within eyeshot of him before he's on his back, begging to be cuddled. :)

LOL! You've got cats raised by dogs.

I'm still trying to catch up, and just read your outstanding review of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Really interesting and insightful comments on a wonderful book.

My daughter got me a refrigerator magnet: "Dogs Have Masters / Cats Have Support Staff"

"Dogs Have Masters / Cats Have Support Staff"

LOL! Love it!

Thanks Ivy! & love the magnet too - agree, but have to say Irish Water Spaniels train their masters.

Dogs have masters / Cats have support staff is a much nicer version than the one I know which is Dogs have masters / cats have slaves .... !

On Call the Midwife last night they had a cute line - Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, pigs look on us as equals.

And of course there's the old - Cats rule and dogs drool.

"Homeward Bound"! I LOVED that movie as a kid!

Well, my dog does drool so I can't argue.

Hi Katie, I thought I had already checked in here, but I guess not. I'm certainly looking forward to following your thread next year, always lots of interesting chat going on.

Thanks Delta!!! & as always, I'll be looking forward to seeing your reviews too.

Dogs have masters. Hah! Said by someone not owned by a dog or two. ;)

Well, Sage nibbled this master's tortillas before she could take them to work today. ... I personally believe dogs have humans.

My cat not only has servants but also an in-house (amateur) veterinarian/nurse to tend to his wounds (he's a fighter).

I can attest to that fact that dogs have humans. Mine just let me think I'm in charge from time to time. Shibas are smart that way. :)

I can't be my cat's servant - she doesn't pay me therefore I must be her slave.

LOL - all of you - Dress your pets up tonight and make them *pay* about for the privilege of living with a human. - I say that knowing the worst I'll do to Sage is stick a muscle shirt on him and say he's Arnold Schwarzendoggy.

>62 cammykitty: Ha! You must have a different type of kitty than me. I'd be taking my own life into my hands if I tried to put my orange tabby in a costume. He believes in revenge. Actually, my other kitty probably would let me but then she'd just meow pitifully and roll around trying to get it off.

I used to have a Yellow Lab that loved Halloween. She would stand nicely waving her tail as I doled out the candy. When the kids commented on the nice dog I would tell them it was my cat dressed up as a dog. Parents would laugh, kids would just blink.

!!! Sage decided to be a cat dressed as a dog last night too. He was very good - he stayed far far away from the door because he could tell there was scariness on the other side. He sat by me and munched on bambi liver while I munched on peanut butter cups.

Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language has been on my TBR list since about 1998. I hope you get to it this year, and that it is as good as it it seems to be! I'll have to revisit whether it is available in my area. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language came up again and again whenever I was feverishly pouring through hints for what else to read during that period, but I couldn't locate a copy. (Yes, a wee bit obsessive during that period. I also made hand written lists of Hugo and Nebula awardees copied from reference books to try to identify new authors to try. Computers, the internet and LT make everything so much easier....)

I hadn't realized Everyone had existed for that long. & yes, thank heavens for the internet. Now, no problem finding new authors to try. Tandem read???

I tucked my possible group reads into my category notes. I hate forgetting about a group read. I see everyone's final reviews on their threads and then kick myself. Can't join the party too late! I'm sure most of you have found this already, but here's a wiki the 75ers started of 2013 group reads. http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Group_Reads_of_2013

Oh, good point! I had forgotten to list my group read-commitments too - otherwise I'm sure I would already fill a category before the group read got started. :)

I've done that before - and I have a group read section, but it's mixed with ERs and WLs - so I'd rather have them in a more specific section if possible.

I have my categories listed by month (I'm only doing 12 categories, though I suppose you could count the group reads as a category of it's own) and listed all the group reads right below that. If I didn't have them listed that way, I'd forget them completely.

Paws, that's a good way to remember them. Your by month is a bit unusual, but I think it might be really cool because it will encourage you to compare the books that are in the same category - which is why I focus on a specific country for one category instead of having an around the world category. I like being able to compare the books so I can pretend I know something about the country and their literature.

That's why I started reading that way. It allows me to feel a little bit enlightened for a while. I haven't read by month before but had more fluent starting and ending points but I realised that I need more structure so decided on months.

Okay, I think I've found my excuse to got barnstorming and get a $59 nook tomorrow. Count of Monte Cristo - annotated version 1202 pages. Count of Monte Cristo paperback without annotations - 672 pages shipping weight 3.1 lbs. I didn't realize that a reading challenge might involve increasing hand, wrist and lower arm strength.

Only 672p? Sounds heavily abridged...

Yes, and even at 672 pages - it still weighs three pounds!!! I was just looking at all the nook versions of the book, and it's pretty difficult to know what you're looking at. Several different translations - many abridged - and none say they are annotated. Grrr...

Yeah, unfortunately when I read it several years ago, my edition was just over 1k pgs, so I just assumed, since it didn't clearly say anywhere, that it was the full thing. Nope! Found out a while after reading it that it was an abridged version. >_< Soooo furious!! I mean I really enjoyed it, but that's a huge book and I practically never reread as it is since there's so many more things out there still! But I have to read the full thing! I'm contemplating it for my 13 in 13. I figure it should at least go a little faster since I've read it and seen the movies, so I'm thoroughly familiar with it by this point! But ugh, wretched book publishers!!

I'm unsure about my edition. It's around 900 pages (divided into three volumes). It doesn't say anywhere that it's abridged but it's an OLD edition so doesn't say much at all.

There's a nook edition that says "all five volumes." And according to something I read, there are translations of translations out there, and some translations were looser than others. I ran into a comment about Victorian translators. So were they running around putting fig leaves on characters? I'm not 100% opposed to a judiciously abridged edition, but I'd like it to be clear what I'm getting and how and why it was abridged. IMHO B&N's site isn't terribly good at describing the product when it comes to nook books. Amazon has one - can't remember if print or kindle - that is labeled the "Unexpurgated edition." Ooo la la!!! Steamy parts?

Poly - the group read starts in March if you're going to attempt the Count again.

I didn't realize that a reading challenge might involve increasing hand, wrist and lower arm strength.

LOL! That is why I read the free/public domain ebook version of Don Quixote this past year on my iPod Touch and would just refer to the paper version to track my progress through the book. ;-) Yes, the screen is smaller than an ereader and I have to flip the pages more frequently but it sure made it easier for me to take the book with me to read when the opportunity presented itself. That is also why whenever I come across huge tomes that I want to read, I first check with my library system to see if they have the e-book version that I can read on my Touch. I read 2666 in paper format and that is probably part of the reason it took me so long to finish it - not easy to transport and annoying to hold a book that heavy when lying in bed at night.

If you do go for the nook, I will be curious to learn what you think of it. I am looking into ereader options to see what might work best for me and so far, I haven't found anything that will give me the ability to read both my library ebooks with the Overdrive system and read DRM locked ebooks that I get through NetGalley, without making the text obscenely small since these are locked PDFs and not EPUBs.

I don't think the nook is going to be perfect, but the price at 8:00 am Black friday is $59. I can deal with the shortcomings. 2666!!! Yes, that book is a chunkster! I'm going to read Bolano, but will start with something shorter than that! & as for chunksters, my first planned e-book is a 1000+ pager The Weird: Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. Yes psutto has twisted my arm over the internet.

>79 by @cammykitty, I saw that, part of why I'm considering it now rather than later. It'd go into my -from French- theme; I'd been planning on Three Musketeers for Dumas and knocking a different one out, but with the group read... We shall see! lol

Three Musketeers would be fun.

I did get the nook, and got The Weird:Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories as planned and the version of the Count that said it was "all 5 volumes." It had a nice table of contents and the other versions didn't. So those two books alone put over 3000 pages on my nook in one fell swoop. Alas, I have some paper books to get through before I'll have much time to play with the new toy.

Yay for the Nook purchase!

Congrats on the Nook. I saw that price and almost bought another one for myself! I must say I'm very pleased with mine - especially since I can borrow books from the library on it! The Weird and Count of Monte Cristo are excellent choices for ebooks - saves your wrist for something smaller. :)

And with those two chunkster on the Nook, that frees up space for four or five more in their place on the bookshelf :-)

Not really, massive volumes tend to be printed on that super-fine paper. My copy of Count is like 1470p and takes up the space of maybe 1.5 "regular" novels on the shelf. :)

@cammykitty, my paper copy has that also! I was just looking at it yesterday as I was curious about some things, and unfortunately cannot find who the translator was (it's a Modern Library Classics edition), but anyhow I noticed the very large table of contents, lol.

Cammykitty, you'll probably enjoy your eReader. My sisters got me a Kindle a couple years ago (mostly, I think, because they don't know what else to get me.) I was skeptical at first, but find it quite handy to have.

Thanks for the congrats!!! I love my e-reader so far. Hope it doesn't turn into a .99 cent money suck!!! I don't have wifi so have to run into B&N or someplace with wifi to buy, which isn't a big deal but it means I have to think about what I load onto it. Less room for impulse purchases. Next will be a free copy of Emma. And yes, those chunksters are so nice contained on a little ebook. I read Weird last night until I fell asleep, and it didn't fall on my face and flatten my nose. The ebook just slid into it's spot behind the bed out of the dog's reach. Er umm, theoretically out of the dog's reach. That's the biggest drawback of the nook. It must be defended from the dog more carefully than a paper book.

there's more room than you think on ereaders for books. :) You should be able to connect your ereader to your computer to load it also.

@90 & it's got room for an sd card - so sky's the limit!!! I can make my virtual Mount TBR as tall as my paper Mount TBR. Everest, move over!!! We're going for a TBR as high as Olympus Mons.

Around here, even McDonald's has wifi, so finding a place with wifi isn't difficult. Many public libraries also have it. This summer when I went to my brother's (who only has dial-up Internet), I generally went to his public library to access the Internet via wifi. During Thanksgiving, with the library being closed part of the time, I just used my iPhone, but it limited me.

Yeah I just acquired a Kindle Fire to replace my other Kindle that froze up on me. I like it just fine but since the fire can do so much more I find that I have to schudule quality time because the kids snag it all the time. Never had that problem with the other kindle. Almost thinking about getting the plain black and white one.

!!! Yes, a plain black & white one might have some advantages !!! & so far, finding wifi hasn't been a problem at all. & to be honest, the few books I've loaded really will keep me busy for awhile. It's tempting to go on a shopping spree though! & my school is having a "book fair" soon that has an online code. There's an excuse... I see some "quality time" with my nook in the near future. ;)

A great bunch of categories and selections already picked out. More than a few will hit me with book bullets no doubt.