May RandomCAT Challenge - Keeping up with the Joneses

May's challenge is to read a book listed in the 2013 Category Challenge Group Zeitgeist - a characteristic work or a most-held work. Click on the "see all" link to view the full lists. Here's a chance to do something with a few of those book bullets we've been collecting from each other.

Don't forget to add your books to the wiki!

Great challenge! I didn't even know that list existed. I'm a little confused about the difference between the two, but I noticed that I have far more on the Characteristic work list than I do on the most held list. I have a very large majority of the Characteristic works either already read or on my wishlist. It should be easy to find something, harder to decide on one.

I think characteristic works vs. most-held works is similar to weighted vs. raw in the "members with your books" feature that shows up on our profile pages.

Very interesting challenge!
And two of the books I had planned for May (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and 84 Charing Cross Road) are on the list so I'm in!

Cool! I'd planned to read Raven Black in May so that works great!

This is a good challenge! I'm going to go with: Murder on Astor Place, a series I have been wanting to get to, and possibly The Body in the Bouillon.

Very interesting challenge, and one requiring a satisfying ramble through both lists and books.

great way of getting people looking at the Zeitgeist, I think if any of my planned reads are on there I'll get to them in May rather than later but not sure if I'll track down anything just because it's here but then thats the fun of a TIOLI :-)

Oh nice, there's a few there on my shelves, so I'll try and do this one :)

After reviewing the list, I found a book I'd planned to do in March for the Agatha award but which still is not available for me at the library. So I'll do it in May, instead.

Yes! A well-deserved nudge to read Don't Look Back! Great idea for the challenge :)

I plan to read The Night Circus, which will also fit May's Kitschie AwardCAT. I'm also planning on The Colour by Rose Tremain. If I have time, I'll try to get to The September Society, State of the Onion, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 84 Charing Cross Road, and Raven Black. Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series, starting with Murder on Astor Place, is one of my favorites. Don't Look Back is very good, too.

I have but have not read Here Be Dragons. I think I'll choose that book for this month's challenge.

(4) @PawsforThought, I loved 84 Charing Cross Road!

What a great challenge idea! I have checked the lists and I have a number of possiblilities, but right now the front runners are Sky Burial by Xinran, A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch, or The Killings At Badger's Drift.

The Caroline Graham is a really good mystery.

12, 14. Glad to hear it. Looking forward to reading them.

Fun! I'll either be finishing The Count of Monte Cristo or else reading The Three Musketeers - either way it will be a Dumas book.

I've got a few that will work for this. I think I'll be reading State of the Onion and maybe finsih The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest which I started on vacation in Feb and then put down once we got home.

I tried to look at the entire list of 116 books, but it will only give me 87 no matter what I do. :-(

cyderry - if you look only one book in a series is listed and the others in the series are in small print. If you take them all into account it would probably get to the 116.

The only one on my TBR shelf that I haven't read yet is The Colour by Rose Tremain, so I'll try and read that in May.

I had planned to read Sky Burial by Xinran this year. May looks like a great time to do it.

Has anyone looked for CAT tricks yet?

I think there are at least two possibilities - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.

I found another possible CAT trick: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

#24 darn, I've already read both of those
#25 I think I'll pass on this one

> 24 I could actually get either one of those from the library. Just not sure I would enjoy either one. The Road I can only get in German - which takes the alpha CAT out.

The Road is one of my favourite books!

I also think this a great challenge idea - I didn't even know the Zeitgeist for the group existed! I really like how I can tell at a glance what books already exist on my TBR bookcase - May could be a good month for reading off my bookcase.

Right now, The Road looks like the perfect book for me as a CAT trick and as a ROOT read.

I have just downloaded The Colour by Rose Tremain on my kindle. Not a CAT trick but will also be an alphaCAT for May.

brilliant challenge! now i have he perfect excuse to finally read the sisters brothers. i wanted to read it for the march awardsCAT, but then swapped it at the last minute for cloud atlas.

I'm still not sure any of the CATtrick books are right for me, and LT also thinks I probably won't like any of them (prediction confidence: very high) but I have reserved Swamplandia and the Road at the library. (I was wrong. They have it in English, too.)

I'll decide which to read when I have them.

Well I clicked on that prediction thing for the last book I entered in here, which I thought was pretty great, and it gave me a very high confidence of a very low chance of liking it, so, while generally it seems pretty decent, it's still a non-thinking algorithm, I wouldn't put too much stock in it. However, if you think the descriptions of them aren't appealing, that's different! lol

I've learned not to trust the algorithm. Too many times I've rated a book and then for fun clicked to see if I'd like it and the answer was opposite of how I felt about the book.

I agree, but when faced with three books I was sceptical of, it seemed as good a way as any of trying to guess which I'd like the most.

There are 4 from my wishlist on the most held list: Jane Eyre, Life of Pi, David Copperfield, and Cloud Atlas. I'm going away for a week in May, so I'll have a think about which of them to put on my Kobo to take with me.

I think I'll be reading Memoirs of a Geisha and Tess of the D'Urbervilles for this CAT. Very tempted by The Coroner's Lunch and Rebecca but they aren't on my TBR pile (yet).

I'll read 1984 for this.

I've read 3 books from the characteristic works and there are only 28 books from the most-held works that I haven't read. I do have a Rereads category, so maybe I'll reread someting. For some reason, I've been thinking about rereading Rebecca. *looks around to see where that book bullet came from*

I've finally decided to start with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (which I started on vacation in Feb and put down once I got home) and The State of the Onion. I might try to fit a few more in, but I'll wait and see.

I just finished my first book for this challenge. Sky Burial by Xinran was a beautifully written book, only 200 pages long and filled with love, loss and redemption.

Judi - and you can use it for "X" in the Alpha CAT.

I just finished my first book for this challenge State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy. I have one more at least I'd like to get to this month and will be checking my other reads to see if they're in there.

Just realized that the book I just finished qualifies - Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick.

My second book for this challenge is A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch, an enjoyable Victorian puzzler that I have had on my TBR for ages. This challenge gave me the incentive I needed to pick this one up and I'm glad that I finally got around to it.

finished sisters brothers

finished A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie - how exciting that it is the first of a series - about a dozen more to look forward to!

>47 sjmccreary: Deborah Crombie's Duncan and Gemma series is a huge favorite of mine - I'm always delighted to see someone else sucked into the series!

I just finished C.J. Sansom's third Matthew Shardlake novel Sovereign. Like the first two, it was excellent!

#48 I'm always delighted to see someone else sucked into the series! lol!!

#49 by @sjmccreary> so I should avoid reading A Share in Death even if it is in the TBR??? Sigh.. I really need to concentrate on one or two series and finish them, darn it!

#50 Oh, no! Pick it up, read it, enjoy! Get sucked in along with everyone else!

I've got some in the series in the TBR, but not the first few yet. They're on my list to search for atthe library sales this summer so I can get started. I'm pretty sure it was Judi who got me started too! She sucks everybody in almost.

I finished The Colour by Rose Tremain from the characteristic works list. It's also an AlphaCAT.

Looks like The Count of Monte Cristo will count for this CAT...hopefully I will finish it this month!

I finished the audio of The Night Circus this morning while getting ready for work. It's on the list of characteristic works for the group. It's also a CAT trick (2011 Kitschie finalist, AlphaCAT "E").

I've just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson for my second random Cat this month. I think I picked one from each list.

I just finished The September Society, the second book in Charles Finch's Charles Lenox series of mysteries set in Victorian England. It's on the characteristic works list.

I should finish Tess of D'Urbervilles in a day or so. I also started Memoirs of a Geisha over the weekend - since I have next Monday off from work I am hoping I can actually finish this month.

I have been so engrossed with Exodus, I've run out of time to read Here Be Dragons. I'll have to reschedule it to another month.

The books finally came back to the library, and I started Swamplandia! last night. Only problem - I fell asleep over it, and now I'm not sure what I read and what I dreamt. ... We'll see how it goes today.

Just finished Dissolution by C.J. Sansom today.

32> LT was right. I did NOT enjoy Swamplandia! . But I did finish it.

I know a lot of people loved Swamplandia but I'm with you in that I really didn't enjoy it and the best that could be said is that I finished it. Hope your next book is better!

I got my CAT trick, which may have made it worth reading. Besides, if you never read anything you don't like you are probably limiting yourself too much and missing out on things you would really like. Sometimes i do like weird books I pick up for strange reasons.

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog on Friday. It's on the list of most-held works and is also an AlphaCAT.

I finished one last RandomCAT for the month - State of the Onion, a characteristic work.

Like some others, I also finished Night Circus for a CAT Trick. A great read!