GeoCAT -- General Thread

This is the general thread for the GeoCAT challenge. For this challenge, we will be reading books set in, about or written by an author from a different part of the world each month. Books can be novels, non-fiction, travel guide or anything that fits the place. This thread will first be used to discuss the format of this CAT and later it will be used to announce each month's challenge and to handle any general comments and questions.

For the uninitiated--CAT stands for "categories and themes" and are this group's optional reading challenges. There are three of them this year, the RandomCAT, the GeoCAT and the MysteryCAT. These challenges are open to anyone and are also entirely optional. Participate if you want, but there is no obligation. You can take part in as many or few months as you want. If you manage to find a book that satisfies all three CATs in a given month, then you've achieved a CATtrick; a wondrous and celebrated thing.

And now I open the floor to discussion. We've begun the conversation, but now let's get down to it, get the framework up and get things going. We'll be starting 2014 before long!

*We'll figure out logos later -- I just wanted to decorate a bit.

January -- Canada and the US -- sjmccreary
February -- Middle East and North Africa -- lindapanzo
March -- Central America, Mexico and Caribbean -- christina_reads
April -- Eastern Europe -- RidgewayGirl
May -- South Asia (India etc.) -- aliciamay
June -- Islands and Bodies of Water -- virginiahomeschooler
July -- Polar Regions -- VioletBramble
August -- Western Europe -- cyderry
September -- East Asia (China, Japan, etc.) -- DeltaQueen50
October -- South America -- sallylou61
November -- Australia and Oceania -- Roro8
December -- Sub-Saharan Africa -- cbl_tn

majkia has set up the wiki! It's over here:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_GeoCAT

And here's Thornton37814's wiki to finding fiction set in different places:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/FictionLocation

Polymathicmonkey has set up a wiki for finding non-fiction set in different places:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Non-Fiction_Location

love the picture!

I really like the list of locales that Zoe had so I'm copying here. There was further discussion to remove the US or combine it with the polar regions and I like that Idea too.

East Asia (China, Japan, etc.)
South Asia (India etc.)
Middle East and North Africa
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
US
Canada
Central America, Mexico and Caribbean
South America
Sub-Saharan Africa
Australia and Oceania
Extraterrestrial, to bring the total to 12?

Someone mentioned somewhere in the previous threads that maybe we could have a wide and narrow look each month - i.e. Australia and Oceania for wide and Tonga for narrow. That would give an easier challenge to those that aren't quite up to the narrow.

Would we have to claim a region and setup the threads for our months?

I'm certainly happy to replace US with polar regions. I'm trying not to weigh in on the discussion too much because I have a really bad track record of actually participating in things, but I did want to quickly try to replace the lost list that BookLizard had posted before.

That said, I am actually really excited about this CAT and I'm hoping to get back into the challenge as a whole in 2014!

That list covers the world and is open enough to give people lots of options. I like the idea of choosing regions and I also think that adding or replacing the U.S. with the Polar Regions is a good idea.

Would the polar regions include Greenland and Iceland? Those two options would really interest me.

I really like the picture in #1; let's keep it! I would also like to have a broad and narrow region each month as mentioned in #2

Love the picture!

#2 I love the idea of overlapping wide and narrow regions each month

#5 I would think polar regions could include Greenland and Iceland, as well as northern parts of Canada, Scandinavia, Alaska and Russia - if someone wanted it to.

How about instead of Extraterrestials having Russia as its own category (instead of being part of Eastern Europe)?

I thought that Polar regions was supposed to be added with US not i n place of.

So are we in agreement with having broad areas, as in Post 2, for this CAT? We can discuss adding a focus to each month in a bit, but let's nail this down. Note that we're not specifically voting for that list - we can work on finessing the list as discussed above - we're just determining whether we want to start with broad areas.

Now, do you think the US should be a part of the CAT? Why or why not?

I think it would be descriminatory to leave it out when every other county is included. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to pair with one of the harder areas to source such as the polar regions. Also Greenland is part of North America and Iceland is part of Europe according to my research so I'm not sure they should be included in the polar regions but in their geographically accurate regions. Just my opinion, others may feel differently.

1. Geography is not one of my strong suits (hence the desire to read more about it), so I would have difficulty defining the "polar region".

2. What about a "Bodies of Water" topic?

Bodies of Water sounds fun. That could include anything - islands, icebergs, rivers, etc.

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here and say that I think it might be fun to have narrower, or at least not so traditional, areas for each month. There is already a reading globally group that breaks down the world into large areas and then subgroups.

My suggestion would be to just have a nominating thread where we get to nominate any geographical topic (like bodies of water, extraterrestrials, scandinavia, southern US, Germany, etc.) and pick 12 of them. I've used the process on other threads of everyone having 2 or 3 nominations and the ability to second 2 or 3 in addition. Then you make a poll of all seconded geographical locations and the top 12 vote winners win.

Anyway, it's just an idea. Yes, it might result in less participation, but it may result in more meaningful participation and a more focused discussion. Since nominations can be as broad or narrow as we want, we could have a nice mix of broad regions and narrow regions that win the voting.

I certainly won't be hurt if no one else is interested, but I thought I'd throw it out there since we still have 2.5 months til 2014!

I really like the Bodies of Water idea.

japaul22, one idea is to have the broad areas, but having a narrow focus within each, so that if the area was South America, for example, the area of focus could be Argentina or even Patagonia, with someone starting the thread with information, links and reading suggestions for that area.

Taking off from japaul22's idea, what if this challenge were like the RandomCAT, and a different person were in charge of picking a geography-related theme for each month? That way, we'd get a whole variety of themes, from specific countries to broader regions to creative categories like "bodies of water." Of course, this would mean that the person in charge of each month would have sole power to decide the theme, which is pretty undemocratic. So there are pros and cons, but I figured I'd throw it out there!

>19 christina_reads: Christina, I like your idea!

#19 *advance planner here looking skeptical at the thought of another Random-style CAT*

>18 RidgewayGirl: I like the broad area with specific sub-focus idea as a good compromise, but I still think it might lead to more interesting discussion and more opportunity for creativity if we weren't hemmed in by hitting every broad region.

I fear that if we have the broad areas we will end up with a thread that consists of lists of books everyone read instead of discussion of the region.

I like christina_reads's idea as well.

Again, I'm happy to participate in whatever format is chosen, but I wanted to get this idea out there for discussion before the broad region idea was a done deal. If it's already a done deal, then I'm happy to participate in planning it that way.

:-)

I do think we should give everyone a little more time to read and respond to this thread, before we make any final decisions or close voting. There are several ideas floating around now, and we should give everyone who's interested a chance to weigh in.

>13 Roro8: I certainly wouldn't say it's more geographically accurate to define things based on some political boundaries as opposed to where they're actually located on the globe. I'd be happy to have Greenland and Iceland included among the polar regions (if we end up going with that category at all).

You can see a list of the eight countries on the Arctic Council here: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United States.

As for including the US as a category, I could go either way: I definitely have a lot of American books among my planned reads, so that would be convenient. It wouldn't exactly be a challenge, but it might be nice to have an easier month.

I do think we should avoid combining it with another region, though, because that other region would probably just get lost among all the US reading. I'd obviously make an exception for something like Alaska that should be included among polar regions.

I personally think I'd be less likely to participate if the challenges were chosen randomly every month, but then I have a bad participation record anyway, so that shouldn't be a deciding factor.

I do think it's worth pointing out that Reading Globally focuses almost exclusively on fiction, so I don't think GeoCAT will end up duplicating that no matter what organizational method is chosen. At least, I assume non-fiction will also be welcome here? There is also the new Reading the World group, but it's still small and not very active yet. And it focuses almost exclusively on non-fiction. I think there's still room for a big, active discussion of different regions that combines both fiction and non-fiction! :)

How about this:

We set the list of regions by vote and decide an order by month. That way the planners can get their books ready but for the spontaneity of others, we have a volunteer for each month to setup the thread and chose a narrow location.

I personally am a planner so I want to know ahead of time what region we are reading when.

>25 cyderry: I'm not sure I entirely the proposal, but it seems like you're saying we'll vote on the major regions in advance and know when those are, but the person setting up each monthly thread will also choose a surprise sub-focus? That seems like a good compromise, so that there could be general discussion about the region and also some more focused and surprise discussion for people who prefer that. But I may have been misinterpreting entirely ;)

I think that the RandomCAT is about all this group can handle in the way of spontaneous announcements, although I could be wrong.

I'd like to tie the more focused theme into the larger one. A month in which one half of the challenge is Eastern Europe and the focused part is Rhode Island would lack cohesiveness. But if they are tied together (Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, for example) the conversations would fit together. A book about Poland might well fit with a book set in Latvia.

Why do we want the surprise? Volunteers would have to have some sort of interest in an area and they wouldn't need to have the introduction prepared until a set time before the month's start, but they would need to know where they're going to talk about. The planners would have the place, but would have to wait for the introduction until a few weeks before the start of the month. Would it matter to both participants and volunteers if they had to identify the location from the start?

How does it sound if tomorrow we vote on whether or not the wide area partnered with a smaller location is a format that looks interesting to us. We can proceed from there. I agree that we should take all the time for discussion we need.

>27 RidgewayGirl: Oh, I definitely agree that if there's a smaller sub-focus, it should be a part of the main larger region. I think people should still be allowed to read any books within the larger region, though. Hopefully that would allow for both focused discussion and flexibility.

@ 27 -- RG, your proposal sounds good. I also like the idea of a bigger region plus a smaller focus for each month, where participants can go "big" or "small" depending on their interest.

25>> I guess I wasn't clear enough , the narrow location would be part of the wider region so that it was all connected.

Sounds like the consensus is that a broad region with an optional smaller focus will work best. I'm on board with that.

Trying to corral random thoughts here -

I don't think we should include USA as a broad category. We all read too much American stuff as it is for it to be a challenge. I suppose if a non-American would like a USA challenge, they could substitute USA during the month the rest of us are doing their region. Or, anyone could, if they really wanted to, read USA stuff while we are doing Canada - both being North American, after all.

I like polar regions as a theme. I like the suggestion of water locations as a theme, and maybe extraterrestrial could be ditched from the list in #2 to make room for both of those. (Although I do kind of like the extraterrestrial idea.)

I like the idea of having a narrow secondary theme each month within the larger region. However, I would still like them to be determined up front. Last year when we did Awards, we went through the process of choosing 2 awards for every month. I think we can do it again. It will require the use of dozens of polls, but I think we can nominate locations within each region and vote on them without too much confusion. (Maybe a dedicated polling thread would be helpful?)

#24 Thanks for the heads-up about the new global reading group, Zoe.

Do we need to define how a book can fit into each region? Or will we leave it for each person to determine on their own? Someone suggested having a separate month for Russia, so that it doesn't have to be included as part of Eastern Europe. There was already some discussion about different areas that are politically part of another region being included in Polar Regions. So, since Archangel could be considered Polar, would it cause a problem if a book set in Kamchatka were included in East Asia? I'm in favor of loose definitions of regions and whether a book qualifies.

There is a list in post 2 of locations. Let's talk about them. Can we agree on that list in general, and then decide on any changes we'd like to make? Voting "yes" means that, in general, that list is acceptable, but that changes may need to be made to a few listings. "No" means that we should scrap that list and start over, with either another, better list or from scratch.

Now let's figure out whether a focal point within each area (whether or not our broad themes come from the post 2 list or another one) is something we'd like.

We've already started discussing the broad areas. Can we continue to weigh in on which are good and which should be omitted in favor of other areas. Suggested regions not on that list are "Oceans and Islands" and "Polar Regions". Are there other suggestions? The US is a region that some have thought could be omitted. Are there others? What do you think?

On the topic of the focused area -- do we want to determine those for the start of the challenge, or month by month? Do we decide those regions as a group? We can also get all the areas assigned volunteers and then let them pick a place, does that sound like a better or worse idea? Do we want parameters on the size of the focal area? Do we want this part of the challenge to be, well, challenging or inclusive?

Let me throw out a few theoretical examples using Western Europe and South Asia as examples: easy would be Britain or even Paris, medium would be the Iberian Peninsula or Berlin and difficult would be Gibraltar or Copenhagen. Easy would be India or the Himalayas, medium would be Pakistan or Sri Lanka and difficult would be Delhi or the Maldives.

I'd prefer "Oceans and Islands" or "Polar Regions" to "Extraterrestrial." For this CAT, I'd like to explore existing cultures and geography rather than imagined ones. As an SFF fan, I hope we'll see an SFFCAT in future years, and there will be lots of extraterrestrial locations there.

Even though we Canadians always joke about being in the shadow of the US, I'd be OK with putting Canada and US together. This would offer some interesting shared focus areas like the Appalachians, the Pacific Northwest, or indigenous peoples.

As for the focus area, I'd favour one of medium difficulty. We don't want to make it too hard to find books to fill the category. However, there's no point in doing an easy focus, as people will likely be choosing some books from that sub-region already as part of the larger challenge.

I pretty much agree with >36 mathgirl40: Mathgirl40. I would prefer anything to extraterrestrials.

#37 by @LoisB> awwww

I totally agree with 36, mathgirl

36 sounds about right to me, too.

I agree with #36 as well. Extraterrestrial doesn't fit the most common definition of geography (a study of the earth).

medium difficulty focus areas

I'm happy to replace extraterrestrial with polar regions or oceans and islands.

I'd be okay with either easy or medium focus areas. Even though something like Paris would be "easy", I think that would still create a lot more focus than the general Western Europe theme.

I concur with this discussion. "Extraterrestrial" is a cool idea, and I have nothing against sci fi, but I've been imagining the GeoCAT as a way to read about different parts of this planet. :)

I also agree with a medium-to-hard level of focus for the narrower challenge. That way it's distinct from the broader area and will actually provide a challenge.

The question about who decides is a tricky one. I suppose that ideally we'd all vote on both the broad and narrow themes for each month, but I think that might be too complicated. (Plus, sometimes people don't get on LT for a few days, and then they miss the discussion/voting.) Maybe we could vote on the broad categories, as we're already doing, and then a different person could take charge of each month and select the narrower theme.

I'd like the focus areas to be difficult, because it would be fun to see if I could find something and, if I couldn't, I could always fall back on the larger area.

I'd also like a medium or difficult narrow theme. The broad area will be there for those who don't want the harder challenge.

I think agreeing on broad areas as a group and then having a thread leader choose a smaller focus could work well. The question then would be how far ahead would the narrow focus need to be chosen and presented.

This might seem like a silly question, but will it count as part of the challenge if a reader picks a different smaller area than the one decided? For example, if we use Western Europe as the broad area, could a reader select say the Lake District of England to read about since it is located within the broad area rather than reading about Paris which is this case is the selected smaller area? In other words, for the broad area, is anyplace within that area acceptable as part of the reading challenge?

#47 That's how I'm interpreting things. By designating a focus area, there will be a certain amount of discussion specifically about Paris. But there would be a broader discussion on books set in any of the rest of Western Europe, including England's lake district, Dublin, the Iberian Peninsula, and Amsterdam, for example.

I am in agreement with dropping the 'Extra-terrestrial" from the CAT, and I also agree that a medium to difficult focus area offers the most challenge. Sallylou in #47 has interpreted the GEOCAT the way I think it is meant to be, with there being a smaller focus challenge but if a person would rather, they can read about any area in the wider geographical region or decide to read more than one book set within the designated area.

I do think that these smaller focus areas will require more time for planning and tracking down, so I would like to see a fair amount of lead time.

My vote would be to put the U.S. and Canada together, giving us space to add both Polar Regions and Oceans/Islands.

>48 sjmccreary: Yes, that's right.

We have some options for how to determine the focused location. We can leave it to whomever volunteers to host the month, or we can take suggestions and vote. Volunteers could suggest a few options as well, as they'll be the ones putting the introductions together. What do you think? Are you more likely to volunteer if you get to pick a place that's familiar to you?

Are there any reason not to have the entire CAT planned out from the start? The broad areas will be known, of course, and it will encourage a larger number of participants to the narrow part if they can plan from the beginning. Is there any reason not to have the areas set before the new year?

>51 RidgewayGirl: Just playing devil's advocate: I can imagine that if an author from a particular region wins a major award, that might be some added incentive to focus on that particular sub-region. That's something that wouldn't be known ahead of time.

>51 RidgewayGirl: Another reason not to set the sub-region from the beginning would be to accommodate breaking news. (Sadly, that usually means some sort of disaster.) For instance, if there was some sort of nuclear crisis in Latvia right before we were set to do Eastern Europe, maybe we would want the narrower focus to be Latvia or the Baltic States.

#52. Of course, there would be no reason why that recent development couldn't be mentioned - along with other interesting facts - in the introduction to that month's challenge. Plus the pre-determined focus area, naturally.

I concur with those who don't want extraterrestrial as part of the Geocat (for the reasons that have been mentioned).

I would really liked to see the regions identified for each month, that way I won't accidentally read a book that would fit a later month without knowing it. :-)

#56 I agree

>56 cyderry:, 57 Even if the sub-regions aren't revealed until the beginning of the month, you'll still know the broad region (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa) ahead of time. So, for example, if you save the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books for the sub-Saharan Africa month you'd be all set if the sub-region ends up being Botswana.

The suggested changes to the broad list in post 2 is that the US and Extraterrestrial be replaced with "Polar regions" and "Oceans and Islands"/"Bodies of Water". Or the US could be put in with Canada. Russia has also been suggested as worthy of its own month. For the sake of simplicity, let's combine "Oceans and Islands" with "Bodies of Water" for now and if it makes the final list, we can then determine which wording we'd prefer. Since there are two spots open, please vote "yes" no more than twice, with "undecided" for a second choice and "no" as no.

Since the combine US and Canada seems to be doing well, that gives us an extra spot does that mean the 3rd place would be in?

Yes, if that's how the votes work out.

If oceans and islands is in, will we still include Oceania with Australia? I do like the idea of oceans and islands since there are a lot of them outside of Oceania, but there is a potential for duplication there.

What do you think? I think it would be all of those islands not part of one of the land masses or Oceania, but if someone else wants to interpret it differently? How many books are there written that are set on Fiji?

I search for Tag Fiji and 271 books came up.

Point taken. Could we determine that together if Oceans and Islands makes the cut?

There's a fairly new mystery series set in the Solomon Islands.

I am assuming polar regions would include Antarctica as well as those countries mentioned earlier. Would that be correct?

67. There is potential for duplication in other areas also eg Iceland is part of Europe but can also be considered part of the polar region. So I think the suggested grouping should be ok

#72 Yes, of course Antarctica would be included in Polar Regions. In my mind, that is the main reason to even have that category!

And I agree with you that there should be no problem including Oceania in with neighboring Australia. Let each person decide what qualifies in that region and what should go into Oceans and Islands.

This is how things stand as of now; the topics are:

East Asia (China, Japan, etc.)
South Asia (India etc.)
Middle East and North Africa
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Canada and the US
Central America, Mexico and Caribbean
South America
Sub-Saharan Africa
Australia and Oceania
Polar Regions
"Oceans and Islands" or "Bodies of Water"

So which do you prefer? Oceans and Islands? or Bodies of Water? How would it make a difference? I'll put up the vote tomorrow. Shall we just mix up the topics randomly?

And let's discuss how to determine the more focused area within each month's CAT. Do we want to see who volunteers for each area? If X has special knowledge of Venezuela and wants to take the South America month, does that work? Or should X give us three possible focused areas for us to vote on? Or do we want to take suggestions for each area and vote on them and only then look for volunteers?

I prefer "Bodies of Water" - t hat lets in things such as Lake Champlain, The Dead Sea, Hudson's Bag and it could include islands - perhaps 'Islands and Bodies of Water' would encompass it...

No opinions - yet - on the focused areas set up

#75 I like the idea of voting on the focus areas, so either the leader for each month makes suggestions for us to choose from, or we make our own suggestions and then vote before volunteers to lead each month.

#76 Islands and Bodies of Water works for me.

#76 Islands & Bodies of Water works for me too.

I like Islands and Bodies of Water.

ditto

>75 RidgewayGirl: I like to suggest that we find out who would like to lead each month and then get volunteer leader to indicate which month would suit them best to decide the order.

I liked your suggestion of the leader nominating a couple of focus areas for the group to vote on in order to narrow it down to one focus area that most people are happy with.

Up in the first post, I've listed the months with the topics. Let's volunteer to lead a month, and you can say, for example, that you'll lead "Polar Regions" but in February and I'll change things around. You can opt for any month not already claimed.

Once we've gotten the months and host sorted out, we'll have each host nominate three regions within their larger area. The aim is for a middle to difficult challenge. Maybe suggest a city, a region and a country/province/state?

I'll put my hand up for Australia and Oceania. I don't have a preference for a specific month.

Do we need to define the dividing lines between east and west Europe, east and south Asia and north and south Africa?

>85 sjmccreary: I know I'm not sure what they'd be, so I'd like a definition. Was there a map that went along with those divisions? For instance, I'd be interested in a challenge focused on Scandinavia. Would that be Western Europe? Would it include Finland (might be more Eastern Europe)? What about Greenland and Iceland? And what exactly are the Polar regions? Would it fit in that category?

Once you start trying to nail down a challenge in your mind, it gets complicated!

Also, as far as leading a thread/challenge, are you looking for "experts" in a region? I've only ever lived in the US, so I don't know much about other areas as compared to others on these boards who are from or have lived in the regions, but I'd be willing to give hosting a shot. I'd particularly be interested in whatever category Scandinavia fits into since I'm considering a category for my 2014 challenge highlighting that area.

>85 sjmccreary: To make it easier on people using the library to find books for the challenge, I would suggest using the Library of Congress scope notes for the divisions:

Eastern Europe: the region extending from the western borders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia eastward to the Ural Mountains, and sometimes expanded to include East Germany

Western Europe: the region that includes Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, and is sometimes expanded to include Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

East Asia: works dealing collectively with China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan

South Asia: works on the subcontinent of India, which in addition to India includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan on the mainland, and Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

North Africa: works dealing collectively with Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (Egypt and Sudan are included in LC's definition of the Middle East)

Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be the universal descriptor for the southern part of the continent.

I'm not sure where Russia and the former Soviet states would fit in this mix.

I'll take Western Europe in August. That way I'll have to read something that meets my Euro challenge too!

It's my impression that while Siberia lies in Asia, Russia counts as European. As for the former Soviet states, some are in Europe, like Ukraine and Belarus, and some are in Asia, like Kazakhstan and the other 'Stans. The Caucasus region lies right there on the border between west Asia and eastern Europe. I guess we let people call it as they see it, or is there a definitive list?

As for who should host the different sections, I think that anyone with an interest and a willingness to put together an introduction should be eligible. Otherwise, we'll have dozens of people willing to do the US and Canada month, a few people who can do Australia or Western Europe and the rest will sit empty.

I'll take Eastern Europe, since I'm pretty much next door to it, unless someone else would like it, in which case, I have no problem ceding it over to someone else.

#87 I was going to suggest the Iron Curtain as the dividing line between eastern and western Europe - essentially what you've listed.

I think I would add Mongolia and Eastern Russia to your East Asia group.

I'm not sure I would have put Afghanistan in South Asia, but won't quibble about it. I wish we had a separate group for Central Asia. I think I'd put the former Soviet republics, together with Afghanistan, in the Middle East group - mostly based on their common Islamic culture.

Since we've already determined to put North Africa in the Middle East group, I think all other African locations than you've listed can comfortably go in the Sub-Saharan group (although the Sahara covers much of the 2nd tier of nations south of the Mediterranean).

>90 sjmccreary: I wish we had a separate group for Central Asia.

That region seems to be missing from our list. We have East and South Asia and the Middle East, but no Central Asia, which doesn't really fit into any of the other categories.

@ 89 -- I definitely think that, while the maps and lists of geographical regions are helpful, they shouldn't be definitive. People should have a little bit of leeway to "call it as they see it"...as long as there's some sort of rational justification, it's fine by me!

Well, would we prefer to put the 'Stans with China and Japan or India and Pakistan? Or would we want a North Asia, which would encompass the "Stans and China and everything north of that, and a South Asia encompassing everything south of China and the 'Stans. Or would an east-west division make more sense?

I suggested putting the 'Stans, as you call them, in Middle East - effectively turning that group into Southwest Asia and North Africa.

When I checked Wikipedia it placed Russia in Eastern Europe, east Asia and the Arctic. Depending on where the book is set or the subject matter it could go into any of those categories.
I'm trying to decide if Cambodia (SE Asia) should be placed in East Asia or South Asia.
I have no special knowledge of the Polar Regions, but I do have an interest in them. I'd be willing to take Polar Regions if we could move it to any time before September.

It looks like we're still trying to figure out the monthly categories, so maybe it's too early to volunteer. But I'd be interested in leading the Mexico/Central America/Caribbean month in March (or whenever). I've never lived there and don't know a ton about the region, but I'm excited to learn more!

No, keep volunteering, with the understanding that Asia is in a period of flux.

Gotcha, christina_reads.

Does February work for you, VioletBramble? Do we want to read cold books in a cold month?

I also know nothing specific about any of these groups, but would be willing to lead one month. If no one else wants it, I'll take Canada/USA, but am willing to do any of the others if someone wants this one.

#98 If Violet's willing, I'd like to do cold books in a hot month

I'd rather do cold books in a hot month as well. Maybe July?

I'm really interested in doing this challenge. Having never done any of the previous challenges, I have a couple of questions.

First, do people generally offer suggestions of books they've read or heard good things about for the various theme? I ask because while some months, like Western Europe, I'd have plenty of selections from which to choose, I'm not particularly familiar with some of the regions, like say South America.

Also, I'm wondering how to determine if a book actually fits within the scope of the region. For example, I was looking through my bookshelves last night and came across Dreaming Anastasia which looks like it would fit for Eastern Europe, but not having read it I don't know if any of the story actually does take place in Russia.

Finally, I wouldn't mind hosting a month (perhaps the Islands and Bodies of Water one), as long as nobody minds that I have never done these challenges and have no clue what it actually entails. :)

I'd be happy just going on a book-by-book basis for whether central Asian books are a better thematic fit with Europe, East Asia, South Asia, or Middle East. Does anyone have particular central Asian books in mind that they're unsure about?

I don't think I'd want a whole separate Central Asia month just for, say, the few former Soviet republics that aren't in Europe, because I think that would be a pretty limiting and difficult category.

Maybe Tags for a book or Common knowledge will give an idea of where a book is set and whether it would fit.

Question: Are we going to have a wiki that shows when region is coming up and who's hosting, books read?

Sandy, I've put you on the list.

Everyone, if either Eastern Europe or Canada and the US really excites you and you'd like to lead one of those months, they are currently assigned to people who are fine with either stepping down or picking another region.

I am so with putting Polar Regions in a hot month. I've switched it to July. Thanks, VioletBramble.

Welcome, Virginiahomeschooler, we are always happy to see a new face. There will be an introduction to each month, with a few books suggestions and everyone is welcome and encouraged to add suggestions. It has certainly happened, more than once, that someone's perfect book turned out not to be that applicable. This is a casual and optional challenge, so just go with your best guess and if you end up reading a book set thousands of miles from where you want it to be set, then hopefully it's a great book you're happy to have read it.

Actually, I think I'd like to keep Canada/USA, and will volunteer to go first in January.

Good! I've adjusted the list. I think that's a good place to start, easing us into more challenging places.

Roro8, are you okay waiting until November? Is there a month you'd prefer? You can say January if you want.

That's what I thought, too. What better place to begin a journey than your own front door?

virginiahomeschooler, I have you down for Bodies of Water and Islands. Don't worry about it -- you'll have a few months of seeing what other people do to feel comfortable with it.

I'll volunteer for East Asia in September.

I have been to Peru twice although not recently. I have read very little by South American authors, but am willing to do some research and some reading of those authors by this fall. I'm willing to take South America in October -- or be a back-up in case someone with more knowledge does not volunteer. However, I am already hosting in Random CAT, and that might make me ineligible to host in GEOCat. My preference is to host in Random Cat.

Incidentally, RidgewayGirl, my name is spelled sallylou61 with a y instead of an ie (as you have me listed in Random Cat.

I've added both of you as appropriate. No limit for volunteering, sallylou61. I'm on my way over to the RandomCAT to correct the spelling of your name.

Yay for Canada/USA in January! It means I can get started on Robertson Davies :)

I'm happy with any month RidgewayGirl

I've never been to Africa, but I've been reading some African authors for my Commonwealth Challenge and I'd be willing to volunteer for Sub-Saharan Africa.

I'll step up for South Asia (whatever that ends up being) or Middle East & N. Africa...although I think I would like South Asia just a little bit more. I've never been to either region, but am willing/wanting to learn and read more about them.

Fantastic. The only place left is the Middle East and North Africa.

Let's take time for the volunteers to decide on the three focus regions they'd like to let us choose from. These can be as elaborate or as simple as you'd like.

Let's aim to have everything set up by Thanksgiving, or the start of December at the latest. Then we can all relax, enjoy the holidays and look around for suitable books.

When is Thanksgiving?

Third weekend in November. Unless you're Canadian, in which case we've missed the deadline.

It's the 4th Thursday in November so this year it falls on the 28th.

Thanks, Carrie. Leave the country and, after just a few months, forget when all the major holidays are.

What do you all think about having the 28th of November as our goal for rolling out the GeoCAT?

I just realized that I have a question... do the British Isles go under Western Europe or Islands and Bodies of Water...or is that one of those how you perceive it?

Good question. They are part of Europe, but they are also islands. I'd say Western Europe, what do you think? Should we just call it as we see it?

@ 124 -- Call it as we see it!

Also, I want to make sure I've got the process right. The person in charge of each month will pick 3 possible "focus" themes within that month's region, and then the whole group will vote on which one of them will be the bonus challenge for that month. Is that right?

Yes, come up with your ideas over the next week and we'll open voting at the beginning of November. You can be as elaborate or a casual as you want. Just aim for middle-to-difficult areas, possibly with a small list of possible books, or not, as you prefer.

I would also like some clarification on definitions of areas.

Aliciamay is doing South Asia in May:



I am doing East Asia in September:



My question is where does this part of Asia fit into - South or East?

To me, the people from those places seem more "Chinese" than "Indian", so I'd put them in East Asia. At least the people I've met.

Shall we agree to call it part of South Asia, and agree that the next time we'll be better at arbitrarily carving up continents?

LOL

I've always thought of them as "South".

Since they border the "South China Sea", I'd put them in South Asia - but I've never been known for my geography knowledge.

why don't the two people involved work it out as they'd like?

Ok, for now I will focus on the countries of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia and Eastern Russia as my area.

If Aliciamay finds her area is too large, I could add Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia to my area, leaving her with Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Burma, as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Wikipedia says VietNam is considered East Asia.

I'm good with taking SE Asia, as DeltaQueen has spelled out. I was even going to ask for Myanmar, since I have Finding George Orwell in Burma on my TBR. But do people think Indonesia should go in the Island category? In my mind that's where it belongs any way.

Obviously there will be a certain amount of crossover, since some countries belong to multiple regions. I think a book set in Indonesia should be allowed to count for South Asia, East Asia, or Islands -- whichever is most convenient for the reader of that book. I don't see a reason to define the various regions so rigidly; I think we should be flexible enough to allow for more participation and more diversity of reading.

I agree with Christina, above but wanted a certain amount of clarification in regards to which areas to consider for the smaller focus. I have PM'd Aliciamay and we will set it up between us.

> 127 - Getting caught up here and I was wondering the same question Judy raised up in post #127 - Thanks Judy! I have always known the third map as "Southeast Asia"... and that is pretty much how that region of the world classifies itself, but I also don't see a problem with that region being categorized under "South Asia" if that works for everyone. I was going to consider both Singapore and Indonesia as islands when I didn't see them listed in the "south asia" or "east asia" categories... but I was in a bit of a quandary for books set in Malaysia, etc. ;-)

Looks like everything is working out just fine.

I was going to ask questions similar to those above. I'm doing Islands and Bodies of Water, and it seems every time I think, "Oh that would be a good location," I realize it's already part of someone else's location. I'm not really sure how to avoid overstepping. For example, I'm assuming The Nile River wouldn't be appropriate as it's part of North Africa? Also, it seems most, if not all of the islands would fall somewhere in one of the other sections.

One other thing. I'm assuming that since the Extraterrestrial category was vetoed earlier (since it didn't include "existing cultures and geography") that Atlantis would probably not be applicable for similar reasons?

I think it should be ok for there to be overlaps? For example Hawaii is an island while also being part of the USA. New Zealand (my country) is made up of islands within a group of islands called Polynesia yet we also have close links to Australia and can equally be geographically labelled as part of "Australasia".

I agree that there should be overlapping with the Islands and Bodies of Water and the other areas of the world. If I choose to read about India for South Asia then it would be nice to be able to read a book set in Sri Lanka for Island/Bodies of Water.

I agree that it makes sense to allow overlaps. I guess I was envisioning Islands and Bodies of Water to include mostly unnamed or fictional islands, locations at sea and remote islands far away from continents, locations on rivers or lakes, and the like. I assumed that anything that was named, like Sri Lanka, for example, would probably be included in its region, unless the focus of the book was on the fact that it is an island surrounded by the sea rather than that it is just off the coast of India in south Asia. Still, I vote for being generous in allowing each person to make their own determination.

And, so, I think if someone wanted to include Atlantis in the Islands and Bodies of Water region, then I would have no quarrel. In fact, I think it's a great idea!

Re 140: I think that the question about rivers such as the Nile is a good one. I was thinking of the Amazon for Brazil (although it is also in other
countries, and then I wondered whether it would be considered a body of water. I already have plenty of ideas for South America, but thought that the Amazon might be an interesting one.

This past summer, my library's summer reading club required us to read a book set on each continent. It was fun branching out beyond North America, Europe, and Australia.

Similarly, I think it'll be fun participating in this challenge.

I see that there's one region not yet spoken for. Um, what does the region's hostess have to do?

February -- Middle East and North Africa

It sounds like I'd need to come up with 3 topic ideas. Is there a broad challenge reading a book set in the region and then a more narrowly focused challenge that we vote on.

I've read a few books set in this region and could do it.

Well, what I'm planning to do is offer up a few fun facts about my region, maybe some not-so-fun facts. Introduce some literary big-wigs, and a list of suggested books set in that region or written by authors native to that region. Of course, my region is USA/Canada, so that isn't quite the challenge that someplace unfamiliar would be.

Also, each month's leader is supposed to be coming up with 3 suggested focus challenges from their region for the group to vote on. That happens soon.

You could set the bar as high or low as you want. I'm just glad I'm going ahead of you!

I'm eating lunch in the cafeteria pondering the Middle East and came up with two ideas--armed only with a smart phone and a bowl of soup.

Surely, I could come up with a third one.

lol!

@ 147 -- I'm planning something similar for my region: a few fun facts, a list of countries in the region, and a list of possible titles/authors.

I love the fun facts idea. I was planning on using this challenge to broaden my range in the kitchen as well. So, I'd planned on finding recipes for each region as I read about it, and I figured I'd share some local recipes when my month (islands...) came up.

Linda, you'll do a great job. Yay!

#152 Thanks. I have lots of ideas, though not all are panning out. For now, at least, I think I have a preliminary idea for a city, a region, and a country.

When do I have to propose these/research these and then present them to the group for a vote?

Let's say by November first. This way everyone gets a week to think about what they'd like to present. Don't take that as an "it must be elaborate and perfect". Your suggestions can be as simple as three location names, or you can choose themes or areas that require a few paragraphs of explanation. It's up to you. If you'll drop your suggestions off at my profile page before the first, I'll copy each idea and post them all at the same time in an enormous line of votes.

After the votes have been posted, everyone will vote for their favorites. There will be a full week for voting, so we can all take our time and look at our shelves (or our library's shelves) and decide on our favorites without rushing. The GeoCAT will be up and running by Thanksgiving weekend (the end of November).

OK sounds good.

Okay, I better get hopping since I've only come up with 2 and need a third area for focus.

That deadline works for me. I think I've come up with my areas, but need some time to work them out.

Also, DeltaQueen and I have decided on a split for the Southeast Asian countries - making it a more even split. Like others have said there is flexibility in how you choose to classify what you've read, but having some parameters is a good place to start and will help us plan our focus areas.

South Asia will be India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Burma/Myanmar. This group includes some islands, so they could go either way.

East Asia will be China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Eastern Russia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

> 157 - nice division! I like it.

#157 That looks like a good split - I assume Singapore will be in the South?

Looking at the maps, I would say Singapore fits in with the south.

These countries are all so interesting it's hard to limit the focus to just three!

I'm very excited about this whole challenge!

Me too, Sandy. I've changed one of my categories to books that fit this challenge.

A good resource for this CAT might be the website Books Set In..., where you can search for books by region and then more specifically by country. Some of the results aren't terribly helpful, but there are usually at least a few good suggestions!

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_GeoCAT

wiki for this challenge

Whoops, forgot about Singapore! I'll add it to what I'm covering for South Asia.

#164, can you re-post that link? It doesn't seem to work.

Tour guide. I love it, majkia. I was wondering if there were better descriptors than hosts or volunteers and you found it!

I was just thinking that the order of the months doesn't seem to connect the sections in order. Say for instance, I have Western Europe - wouldn't it be fun to keep traveling as if on a train, going from destination to destination, one continuous trip from region to the next region to the next region, slowly traveling around the world. Just a thought.

Oh, but we're all jet-setters! We just flit all over the world, flying from one continent to another!

Really, though, it doesn't make any difference to me one way or the other. Some of the "tour guides" might not be willing to change months, though. Maybe that's something to keep in mind if we do a GeoCAT again.

I don't mind switching the months around, but the three places I'm thinking of for Islands and Bodies of Water aren't all near each other, so depending on how the votes go that could make a difference where that category would fit in the order, at least for the narrower 'focus' regions.

This will guide the members to a name of nation/country under each continent's grouping.

http://www.worldatlas.com/cntycont.htm#UmtWAHBHLto

There are 194 independent nations.

Hi Everyone, I just deleted message 169 suggesting changing the order of the regions to be discussed since I'm withdrawing that suggestion. We had already agreed upon the order. Although some of us probably decided on the area based on interest instead of month, others might not. Also, changing the order might impact the Random and Mystery challenges since some people are hosting more than one category. Also, as virginiahomeschooler pointed out, a change would impact her areas for Islands and Bodies of Water.

I just thought if we were going to switch we might want to wait until after the voting. I'm fine with it either way - as long as I don't have to go first :)

I don't mind switching my month as long as I don't get December (too busy with the Holidays and travel.) When I first mentioned the flow, I just thought that something in what we were reading might point to a close region and delaying or having already been there might be an issue.

I am also loving the GeoCat logo you have temporarily chosen. I vote to keep it! Love that cat!

I agree about the logo.

YES = Keep the CAT
NO= find something new
Undecided = I'm fine with his, no need to change.

Hi I thought this list might be of interest for anyone considering overlapping books in the GEOCat/ MysteryCAT :

Around the world in 80 Sleuths:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/crime-fiction-aro...

@ 179 -- I'm excited about the possibility of overlap! I believe Western Europe and British mysteries happen in the same month, as well as South America and global mysteries. Lots of potential for CAT tricks! (I may or may not have planned out most of my CAT reading already...)

Thanks for the bookmark!

Great article! I "pinned" it.

When are we supposed to post our suggestions for our focuses?
Can our focuses include historical countries that are no longer "alive"?

Re 183: according to RidgewayGirl in post #154 she would like everyone to send their suggestions to her profile page as private messages, and she will post them all together. The due date is November 1st.

Hi everyone. I'm out of town & away from the comforts of my laptop keyboard until Sunday. I'll post the options for voting then. If you want, you can put up your region's options here anytime you want for voting or give them to me & I'll put them up in a group on Sunday. If you're still coming up with ideas don't panic--just post them for voting when you do get to it.

And the options are up to you. We don't have any rules yet as to what they should look like.

I sent a message to Ridgewaygirl about the focus because mine has a large explanation of my three suggestions. She said that is was fine for me to post mine alone for Western Europe.
So here goes. Grab a cup of coffee before you start.

WESTERN EUROPE FOCUS VOTE


My three suggestions are:

1. Microstates and Dependencies
2. German states before unification
3. Religious Changes over the years

For the GEOCAT, Western Europe consists of 28 nations from Scandinavia to the Mediterrean Sea.

Microstates and Dependencies
8 microstates, included in that number, have square mileage less then the state of Connecticut, and population less than the city of Dallas, Texas when totaled together. 7 Dependencies are governed and controlled by larger nations.

Microstates
Andorra
Cyprus
Liechtenstein
Luxemburg
Malta
Monaco
San Marino
Vatican City and Holy See

Wikipedia states: The European microstates are a set of very small sovereign states in Europe. While Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta,Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City are usually included,Luxembourg shares certain features as well. Four of these states are monarchies, three principalities (Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco) and one papacy (Vatican City), with all these status traced back to the first millennium or the early second millennium, except for the Liechtensteiner throne and the Andorran status as a diarchy being created in the 17th century. Microstates are small independent states recognized by larger states, unlike micronations, which are only self-declared and are seldom recognized.

Dependencies
Akrotiri and Dhekelia (British overseas territory, United Kingdom)
Åland Islands (External territory, Finland)
Faroe Islands (External territory, Denmark)
Gibraltar (British overseas territory, United Kingdom)
Guernsey (British Crown dependency), one of the Channel Islands and including Alderney, Herm and Sark
Isle of Man (British Crown dependency)
Jersey (British Crown dependency), one of the Channel Islands
While the microstates have sovereignty over their own territory, there are also a number of small autonomous territories, which despite having (in almost all cases) their own independent government, executive branch, legislature, judiciary, police, and other trappings of independence, are nonetheless under the sovereignty of another state or monarch.

GERMAN STATES BEFORE UNIFICATION
Before the German Unification, German territory was made up of 39 constituent states. These states consisted of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free Hanseatic cities and one imperial territory. The Kingdom of Prussia was the largest of the constituent states, covering some 60 percent of the territory of the German Empire.

Several of these states had gained sovereignty following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Others were created as sovereign states after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Territories were not necessarily contiguous - many existed in several parts, as a result of historical acquisition, or, in several cases, divisions of the ruling family trees."

Kingdoms:

Prussia
Bavaria
Saxonia
Württemberg
Grand Duchies:
Baden, Hesse
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Oldenburg
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duchies:

Anhalt
Brunswick
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Sachse-Meiningen

Principalities:

Lippe
Reuss-Junior line
Reuss-Senior line
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Waldeck-Pyrmont

Free Hanseatic Cities:

Bremen
Hamburg
Lübeck

Imperial Territory:

Alsace-Lorraine

RELIGIOUS CHANGES OVER THE YEARS

Control of the Roman Catholic Church/Crusades/Holy Roman Empire
Jewish Persecution
Spanish Inquisition
Reformation - how the nations changed due to the religious changes.

If anyone has something else to suggest I'm all ears. The Religious changes was all I could come up with for 3.

Voting is as follows:
YES = Microstates and Dependencies
UNDECIDED = German states before unification
NO = Religious Changes over the years

Vote: Microstates, German States, Religious Changes

Current tally: Yes 9, No 15, Undecided 4

#187 I just want to confirm that the Undecided vote is for the German states. I got confused by the order in bold above the vote as that looks like the German states should be a No vote and religious changes an undecided vote. I am going with what you have written under "Voting Is as follows" rather than the order in bold.

You are correct - I thought #3 should be in the No position.

Voting is as follows:
YES = Microstates and Dependencies
UNDECIDED = German states before unification
NO = Religious Changes over the years

Crikey - I'm genuinely undecided on that selection.

As an aside - is anyone aware of a good resource (on LT or generally) of books set in or authors from countries list? Sort of something you can browse to see what books are set in country X, rather than having to look up titles individually.

I may not have expressed that very well, but hopefully someone will have a clue what I'm on about.

@ 190 -- Try www.bookssetin.com! You can browse by region, and then more specifically by country. Not all the results are helpful, but some definitely are!

For mysteries set in various countries try www.stopyourekillingme.com and use the location index.

I'm confused! Will we have to read a book in the selected focus area? Or, can we choose anything from the geographic area?

Re voting: I suggest that for future voting, (i.e for the other regions) each option within a region be given the vote separately. In the Western European case, it would be separate votes for Microstates and Dependencies, German states before unification, and Religious changes over the years. Participants might be interested in more than one choice and could vote yes for more than one. Also, the choices would be clearer. This is the way the voting was done for deciding what regions to include in GeoCAT -- and also for deciding what biographies to read in the Quarterly Biography challenge.

Maybe this is a good opportunity for a collaborative wiki project. I've set up the bare bones of an outline. I've only broken out North America, specifically the U.S. and Canada, at this point, but I'm sure a few of you know how to code to break the others out.

Here's a link: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/FictionLocation

Should I re do the vote so that there are 3 separate votes?

>190 Helenliz: I have found the tag search function very useful to find books set in specific countries. You just use the search bar at the top right of the screen and then when the new results page comes up, select 'tags' from the options on the left. Again, not all inclusive, but pretty good.

>193 LoisB: My understanding is that the focus area is just kind of a bonus within the geoCAT. So you can just read from anywhere in the geographic area, but if you want to read something in the focus area too this might end up with more of a specific group discussion.

>194 sallylou61: & 196 I think a separate vote for each focus area is good from now on, but it seems cyderry's vote worked and doesn't need to be redone.

>195 thornton37814: Wowee! That is quite the wiki page - nice work!

Hopefully lots of folks will contribute to that wiki page so that we have more. I'm going back through the last few years of my reads and trying to categorize some of the things I've read. I know there are several people who have participated in various geographic challenges or who have had geographic categories in the category challenge who may be able to add as well.

#195 Can you make Australia "Australasia" and then add New Zealand? Or add an Oceania group for Pacific Islands?

In the challenge Australia and New Zealand are part of Oceania. So eventually they will all be together I would imagine. I'm pretty sure thornton37814 is happy for any of us to add any missing countries in etc. but I agree, it would be nice to have the groupings as we have agreed for the twelve months. That wiki is an excellent starting point though.

I think that for the purposes of this vote, the way cyderry set things up is ideal. In this case, it will be easier to not fiddle with weighting second choices. If there's a tie along the way, we'll vote again. I know it will sometimes be hard to have to just choose one option for each region, but remember that if you really like the looks of an option that isn't chosen, you can still use it as it will fall under that month's broader region's parameters. I hope that this happens, because the options being offered are so interesting and well thought out. It would be a shame not to use them!

I love that we're already helping each other with title suggestions.

So here we go. Voting will go on through this week, with results announced next weekend. This will give us lots of time to share our suitable books and plan our reading.

CANADA & USA focus themes -- January's GeoCAT



I have chosen 3 possible focus themes for January's Canada/USA GeoCAT. Since this is a region that is intimately familiar to most of us, I have selected themes that I hoped would challenge us more than simply "New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice", or something similar. As a result, I felt compelled to write rather longer introductions and explanations than I would have preferred. My first option is about a large region shared by both US and Canada. The second is an important event also shared by both countries. The third option is a location/experience that is very localized and close to where I live. I hope you will find one of these themes appealing.

CANADA & USA focus theme Option #1: ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

The Rocky Mountains extend more than 3000 miles from Alaska, through western Canada, and southward to New Mexico. The mountains have a rich and varied history - the mountain men of the 19th century hunted and trapped and explored the wilderness. They opened the trails that were followed by the cross-country migration to the west coast by wagon trains, and by miners seeking wealth by digging for precious metals. Railroads were built across the mountains, connecting the Pacific Ocean with the cities in the east. Later came the sportsmen, hunters and fishermen, campers and hikers and climbers, and winter sports enthusiasts. People have headed for the mountains in an attempt to escape their pasts, or society, and to find peace, solitude and riches. They head there still.

For this challenge, you are to find books which spotlight the Rocky Mountains (and the other western mountain ranges). Their history and their role in the development of the modern nations of USA and Canada. Their ruggedness, their beauty, their challenge to the people who are drawn to them. People have lived and died in these mountains and continue to do so. There are thousands of stories. Find them.

CANADA & USA focus theme Option #2: GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE

Both Canada and the US are nations of immigrants. The majority of people in both countries have ancestors who came from somewhere else. But not every family has the same story. Some came early, some came recently. Some came willingly, some came in chains. Some came happily, others came in desperation. Some integrated into society, others kept to their own kind. Some thrived, others failed.

For this challenge, you are to find books which spotlight the immigrant experience in Canada and the US. Where did the people come from who built these two great nations? And why did they come? Did they find what they were looking for? How did 17th century immigrants differ from 19th century immigrants, and from 21st century immigrants? What about the cities where all these newcomers landed?, What impact did the immigrant population have on politics, on business, on religion, on education, on daily life in general?

CANADA & USA focus theme Option #3: OZARKS NOIR, OR, MODERN HILLBILLIES

Canada and the US are two of the wealthiest nations on earth. But there still exist large populations of people living in poverty. One such area is in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. The Ozarks are a breathtakingly beautiful region of rugged, rocky hills and steep valleys, heavily wooded with hardwood forests. In the last 50 years or so, many of the rivers have been dammed to create scenic lakes - Tablerock Lake and Lake of the Ozarks are especially well known. These lakes attract tourists who enjoy camping and fishing, and the town of Branson, MO has been developed to provide food and lodging and entertainment to hordes of visitors. For years, we would hear whispered threats not to venture off the beaten path when visiting that area, that there were still hill people who would shoot first and ask questions later if anyone showed up who didn't belong.

The truth of the matter is that there really are "hill" people living in relative seclusion in remote areas. These people have lived there for generations in poverty, merely surviving on the little they can grow or hunt. The stereotypical hillbilly has bad teeth, tattered clothes, no shoes, and limited literacy. That isn't far off the mark. These people have a culture of shunning towns and the rules and expectations of "civilization".

For this challenge, you are to find books which look at the plight of "hillbillies", either in the Ozarks or in the better known Appalachian area, or in another similar region that I'm unaware of. This challenge can be very easy because I will tell you what you can read: anything written by Daniel Woodrell - a native Missouri author who lives in West Plains, MO - in the heart of the Ozarks. He writes about the people who live there. He does not preach, he does not play guilt trips, but he does not pull his punches. He simply tells about the poverty, the teenage pregnancies, the drug use, the broken families, and the hopelessness of not knowing how to escape. His books are short and easy to read, and beautifully written. He is the author of Winters Bone, which was made into a popular movie a year or so ago, so his work should be easy to find. However, you are also free to find any other work which shines a light on this mostly hidden sub-culture of poverty living in the midst of our plenty.

Vote YES for Rocky Mountain High
Vote NO for Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free
Vote UNDECIDED for Ozarks Noir, or, Modern Hillbillies

The Middle East and North Africa focus themes -- February's GeoCAT



The Middle East and North Africa focus theme option #1: The Holy Land.

When first thinking of the Middle East, my initial thoughts immediately turned to religion, in particular, the Holy Land. This is defined to refer to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and includes both modern Palestine and modern Israel. This is a place of pilgrimage for Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, which opens a myriad of possibilities in the nonfiction realm. Besides the obvious potential religious topics, travel books, and history appear to be great options for Holy Land reading.

The Middle East and North Africa focus theme #2: Turkey.

Of my three suggestions, I’m more familiar with Turkey, though I’ve read only a few books and have a good friend at work who is of Turkish descent (and visited just last year so I've seen plenty of pictures). Turkey seems to me to be one of the most interesting countries I know little of, but one I aim to learn more about.

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is the largest city in Turkey and the second largest city (by population within the city limits) in the world, with nearly 14 million people. It is also the world’s fifth most popular tourist destination. (Who knew? I didn't.) Part of the city is in Europe, part of it is in Asia. Turkey seems to straddle two worlds. It’s been called an “elusive and contradictory country.” East vs West. Old vs new. A Muslim nation with a strong history of secularism.

Nobel prizewinning author, Orham Pamuk, is probably Turkey’s most famous author. Besides Istanbul, a nonfiction book I loved, he has written many books of fiction, including The Museum of Innocence, Snow, and My Name Is Red.

There are a number of mysteries set in Turkey. Jason Goodwin’s mysteries set in 1830’s Turkey and featuring Yashim, the Turkish eunuch detective (the first one is The Janissary Tree). Mysteries by Mehmet Murat Somer whose Turkish Delight series features a sleuth, considered “Istanbul’s Miss Marple” who is a computer technician by day and a transvestite nightclub hostess by night. The first one The Kiss Murders. Barbara Nadel’s mysteries (she’s dubbed the Donna Leon of Istanbul). The first is Belshazzar’s Daughter. Istanbul Noir collects a number of Turkish-themed mystery stories.

The Middle East and North Africa focus theme #3: Cairo.

Cairo, called the “city of a thousand minarets” is the largest city in the Arab world and Africa. Besides the nonfiction possibilities, Cairo offers some possible fiction options. One series I’ve long wanted to read is Nobel Prize winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy consisting of Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street. Looking at some of the threads in the Reading Globally group, I find Proud Beggars by Albert Cossery, as well as Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat.

Vote YES for The Holy Land
Vote NO for Turkey
Vote UNDECIDED for Cairo

Useful wiki, though there's very limited works of other countries included, not even a lot of the prominent classics added in. I just added several titles to Russia and one to Belgium, will try to think of more.

Central America, Mexico and Caribbean focus themes -- March's GeoCAT



Central America, Mexico and Caribbean focus theme #1: The Commonwealth Nations.

Read a book set in, or by an author from, a Commonwealth nation. The Commonwealth nations in this region are: Belize, Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Saint Lucia. This option includes a lot of countries, there should be a lot of books in English to pick from, and I believe some LTers are doing a Commonwealth challenge anyway.

Central America, Mexico and Caribbean focus theme #2: The Nobel Prize in Literature

Read a book by one of the four authors from this region who won the Nobel Prize in Literature:
(a) V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago), "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories."
(b) Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia), "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."
(c) Octavio Paz (Mexico), "for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity."
(d) Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala), "for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America."
Since they're Nobel laureates, I'm assuming their books will be relatively easy to find. Plus, a lot of people like to read award-winning books, and we're not having the AwardCAT this year.

Central America, Mexico and Caribbean focus theme #3: Jamaica.

Read a book set in, or by an author from, Jamaica. This one is just selfish, as I have a Jamaican book on my TBR list that I'd like to read next year. :)

Vote YES for the Commonwealth Nations
Vote No for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Vote UNDECIDED for Jamaica

Eastern Europe focus themes -- April's GeoCAT



Eastern Europe focus theme #1: Occupation.

One thing that ties together the countries here is that at least once, and usually often, they were occupied by another power. Whether they were recently behind the Iron Curtain, under Nazi occupation, held by the Austro-Hungarian Empire or invaded by Rome, these countries all have had extended periods of hardship. Read a book set in Eastern Europe that is set during one of those periods of occupation. There are several books, both fiction and non-fiction, to choose from. For example, Purge by Sofi Oksanen is set in Estonia during both the Nazi and Soviet occupations. The Polish Officer by Alan Furst is a thriller set during the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Poland and The Glass Room by Simon Mawer is set in Czechoslovakia during the same period.

Eastern Europe focus theme #2: Prague.

Prague is a beautiful city with a rich history and has been home to some amazing writers. Read a book set in Prague or written by an author from Prague (such as Milan Kundera or Franz Kafka).

Eastern Europe focus theme #3: Culture Clash.

Literature is full of stories of someone from one culture adjusting, often in humorous or heart-breaking ways, to another culture. In this case, read a book about a westerner encountering life in Eastern Europe or someone from Eastern Europe living in the West. Some examples of suitable books include Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart or 22 Brittania Road by Amanda Hodgkinson.

Vote YES for Occupation
Vote NO for Prague
Vote UNDECIDED for Culture Clash

South Asia focus themes -- May's GeoCAT

A reminder that for the purposes of this challenge, South Asia consists of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar, as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.



South Asia focus theme #1: India.

Going through my library it turns out that I have read a lot of books that are Indian, but there are a lot more still to read. Some popular (and award winning) Indian authors that spring to mind are Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Rudyard Kipling, V.S. Naipaul, Rohinton Mistry, and Aravind Adiga. This focus area could also be a good excuse to read up on Ghandi or Mother Teresa. Or is this the month to tackle A Fine Balance or The Satanic Verses and see what all the fuss is about? I definitely think this is an easy area as there are books for all interests, including a mystery series featuring Inspector Ghote.

South Asia focus theme #2: The Himalayas.

The Himalayas are the northern boundary of South Asia and an area I have long been fascinated with, Mt. Everest in particular. There are many areas of the mountain range that can be explored in the comforts of home. Into Thin Air is probably the most popular book featuring the area (and a 5 star read IMO), written about the deadly storm that hit Everest climbers in May 1996, but there are many more accounts of that tragedy. One that I am looking forward to reading is Mountain Madness, a biography about Scott Fisher, one of the guides that died during that climb. Additionally there are many books about the mystery surrounding Mallory and Irvine’s Everest summit attempt, Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay’s successful summitting of Everest, other well know peaks in the range (K2 and Annapurna), the spiritual aspects of the mountain range, and also general fiction. I think this falls in the medium range for challenging, not because of the lack of books, but because the area might not pique everyone’s interest.

South Asia focus theme #3: Burma/Myanmar.

Myanmar is a country that has had a violet past, but seems to on the track towards calm and stability and I am interested in learning more about it. George Orwell was stationed in Burma when it was part of the English Empire and I am eager to read his book based on this time, Burmese Days. I’m also interested to read about Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and it looks like The Lady and the Peacock is a good place to start. I’m considering this a medium-hard focus area – it’s a small geographic area, but there have been some best sellers, like Saving Fish From Drowning or The Bridge Over the River Kwai, set in Burma/Myanmar.

Vote YES for India
Vote NO for the Himalayas
Vote UNDECIDED for Burma/Myanmar

Islands and Bodies of Water focus themes -- June's GeoCAT



Islands and Bodies of Water focus theme #1: The Atlantic Ocean.

The second largest of the world's oceanic divisions, the Atlantic covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface. The literary possibilities are nearly endless, with islands running from the Falklands in the South Atlantic to Iceland in the North, coastal areas, ocean voyages (historical and fictional), undersea adventures, and even a mythical lost city.
(Image: http://www.titanicuniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/titanic-new-york-ameri...

Islands and Bodies of Water focus theme #2: The Republic of the Philippines.

The Republic of the Philippines is a nation in Southeast Asia consisting of 7107 islands. It is a tropical country with fascinating landscapes, more than 200 volcanoes, coral waters, tropical forests, and over 3500 species of plants and animals.
(Image of the Banaue Rice Terraces: http://files.fbstatic.com/PostImages/2011953/0/665373aa-200f-4fc1-9c75-7ea60ebb6...

Islands and Bodies of Water focus theme #3: Guernsey.

Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. Together with the Channel Islands, Guernsey is the last surviving portion of the Dukedom of Normandy. During WWII, the island was the only part of British soil that was occupied by German troops.
(image: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/c9/51/eb/c951eb0aa0ec2548352f9f38d70...

Vote YES for the Atlantic Ocean
Vote No for the Republic of the Philippines
Vote UNDECIDED for Guernsey

>209 RidgewayGirl: Your links are broken

The Polar Regions focus themes -- July's GeoCAT



Polar Regions focus theme #1: Greenland.

Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from Canada. Norsemen settled on the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century. Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century. In the early 18th century, Scandinavia and Greenland came back into contact with each other, and Denmark established sovereignty over the island.

Books set in Greenland include Cold Earth by Sarah Moss, The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley and An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie .

Polar Regions focus theme #2: The Inuit or Eskimo of Arctic North America.

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and the United States. Some possible books include White Heat by M.J. McGrath, Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, Consumption by Kevin Patterson and My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson.

Polar Regions focus theme #3: Antarctic Research Station.

A number of governments maintain permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the bases set up in the Arctic, the research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rock or on ice that is (for practical purposes) fixed in place. Many of the stations are staffed around the year. A total of 30 countries (as of October 2006), all signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, operate seasonal (summer) and year-round research stations on the continent. The population of people doing and supporting science on the continent and nearby islands varies from approximately 4,000 during the summer season to 1,000 during winter (June). In addition to these permanent stations, approximately 30 field camps are established each summer to support specific projects.

Possible titles include Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier or even Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

Vote YES for Greenland
Vote No for The Inuit or Eskimo of Arctic North America
Vote UNDECIDED for an Antarctic Research Station

East Asia focus themes -- September GeoCAT

A reminder that for the purposes of this challenge, East Asia consists of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia and Eastern Russia, as well as Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.



East Asia focus theme #1: Women of China.

There are so many books set in China that are written from a woman’s point of view, this would be an opportunity to learn about this country through the eyes of strong, unique women who often have quite the story to tell.

Examples:

- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - Historical Fiction
- The Moon Pearl by Ruthanne Lum McCann - Family Saga
- The Dark Road by Ma Jian - Contemporary Fiction
- Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang - Non-Fiction, memoirs

East Asia focus theme #2: The Country of Cambodia

This is a country I have read very little about and would like an opportunity to learn more of. Much is written of it’s scenic beauty and peaceful people, but although tourism is on the rise today, it still is classed internationally as a dangerous place to travel in. With it varied historical and political background, I think there are books about this country that could be interesting to most people.

Examples:

- The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Kay - Angkor Wat, Archaeology
- The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner - Coming -of Age in the time of the Khmer Rouge
- Temple of a Thousand Faces by John Shors - Historical Fiction
- First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung - Memoirs

East Asia focus theme #3: The Viet Nam War

Influencing more that just the United States, this is a war that shaped a generation and helped define the 1960’s. Fashion, music, arts, and politics all were shaped by the Viet Nam War. Even today many improvements on how we treat our veterans is a direct result on what the Viet Nam vet faced at home. Personally, I think this is an important war to learn about and there are some very good books about this subject.

Examples:

- Matterhorn by Karl Marlntes
- The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- Dispatches by Michael Herr - non-fiction

Vote YES for Women of China
Vote NO for Cambodia
Vote UNDECIDED for the Viet Nam War

South America focus themes -- October GeoCAT



South America focus theme #1: Peru -- indigenous problem

Suggested readings:
Aves sin nido (translated as “Torn from the Nest” or “Birds without a Nest”) by Clorinda Matto de Turner (one of the most important novels of “indigenismo” in 19th century (female author)
La Serpiente de Oro (“Golden Serpent”) and Mundo es Ancho y Ajeno (“Broad and Alien is the World”) by Ciro Alegria
Manuel Gonzalez Prada, Jose Carlos Mariategui, and Jose Maria Arguedas wrote about this problem in the 20th century
Alternative for smaller area: City – Cuzco (or Cusco) – a home of the Quechua -- in my opinion a beautiful city – declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO – declared the “Archeological Capital of the Americas” by the Congress of Americanists in 1933.

South America focus theme #2: Argentina – Gauchos

Gauchos (cowboys) who inhabit the Pampas found in parts of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile – focusing on Argentine authors – suggested readings:
Martin Fierro, an epic poem by Jose Hernandez (considered by some to be the national epic of Argentina)
Fausto (Faust) by Estanislao del Campo (a poem)
Jorge Luis Borges also wrote about gauchos in his short stories “The South” and in “Gaucho and the City.’ I don’t know whether he wrote anything else on the topic.
Don Segundo Sombra, a novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, has been translated into English with the title: Don Segundo Sombra; Shadows of the Pampas.
Eduardo Gutierrez and Benito Lynch have also written novels about gauchos, but I did not find English translations for their works.
An important non-fiction work is Facundo : Civilization and Barbarism by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.

South America focus theme #3: Brazil – Amazon River Region (primarily in Brazil but also in other South American countries)

There are many books (both fiction and nonfiction) written about the Amazon River region, but most by Latin American authors appear to be difficult to find, especially in English translation.
For the more challenging option, let’s take a trip on the Amazon, and limit the reading to the exploration of the river and its surrounding area. There are many reading candidates; a few are mentioned here.
Journey of the Pink Dolphins : an Amazon Quest by Sy Montgomery
Journeys Down the Amazon by J.M. Cohen
The Last Great Journey on Earth by Brian Branston
The Lost City of Z : a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The Mapmaker’s Wife : a True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon by Robert Whitaker
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
The Sea and the Jungle by H.M. Tomlinson
The Yage Letters Redux by William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg
If you prefer to read fiction with the Amazon River Region as its location, relatively current titles by popular authors include:
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende (Chilean author)
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

Vote YES for Peru -- indigenous problem
Vote NO for Argentina -- Gauchos
Vote UNDECIDED for Brazil -- Amazon River Region

Australia and Oceania focus themes -- November GeoCAT



Australia and Oceania focus theme #1: Fiji

This would be a more difficult option. Fiji is an island country in Melanesia with a population of 874 742. It is a popular holiday destination providing white sandy beaches, soft coral diving and a pristine natural environment. On searching I have found a limited number of books set in Fiji, and only one author.

Australia and Oceania focus theme #2: New Zealand’s South Island

This location is also popular with tourists with the diverse natural landscapes, ski fields and glaciers. There is also a gold rush history which has featured in a few novels that I know of.

Australia and Oceania focus theme #3: Outback Australia

The outback is a vast and remote arid area of Australia including locations such as the Kimberleys in Western Australia and most of the Northern Territory. The outback is known for big clear skies and theatrical landscapes. There are a number of travel memoirs, adventures and rural romances set in this location.

Vote YES for Fiji
Vote NO for New Zealand's South Island
Vote UNDECIDED for Outback Australia

Sub-Saharan Africa focus themes -- December GeoCAT



Sub-Saharan Africa focus theme #1: Southern Africa region/South Africa

The UN includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland
Regional authors include Bessie Head (who I think wrote about Botswana but was South African by birth)
Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series
Michael Stanley (Pen name for two authors, of which at least one is South African. They write the Detective Kubu series set in Botswana - not a cozy series.)

South Africa has options for readers with different tastes. For the mystery lovers: Jassy Mackenzie, James McClure, Deon Meyer, Malla Nunn, Roger Smith. For sci-fi/fantasy readers, Lauren Beukes. For non-fiction readers, books by or about Nobel prize winners F. W. de Klerk, Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu. For general/literary fiction readers: Nobel prize winners J. M. Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer, Chris Barnard, Andre Brink, Bryce Courtenay, Athol Fugard, Zakes Mda, Beverley Naidoo (children's/YA fiction), Alan Paton, Olive Schreiner, Zoe Wicomb.

Some novels set in South Africa: The Covenant by James Michener, The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie, Prester John by John Buchan, Smokescreen by Dick Francis, The White Lioness by Henning Mankell.

Sub-Saharan Africa focus theme #2: Guinea region/Nigeria

Includes Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and southern Nigeria. (Since Guinea doesn't include all of Nigeria, perhaps we should expand the region to West Africa?)

Regional authors include Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Kofi Annan (Ghana), Ayi Kwei Armah (Ghana), Mariama Ba (Senegal), Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone), Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia; Nobel prize winner), Kwei Quartey (writes a police procedural series set in Ghana), Ousmane Sembene (Senegal), and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia; Nobel prize winner). There would be lots of options for history readers about the region's trade history, including the slave trade.

Nigerian authors include Chris Abani, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Buchi Emecheta, Uzodinma Iweala, Flora Nwapa, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Nnedi Okorafor, Ben Okri, Helen Oyeyim, Lola Shoneyin, and Wole Soyinka.

Recent books set in Nigeria include 419 by Will Ferguson, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, and Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson.

Sub-Saharan Africa focus theme #3: African Great Lakes region/Kenya

Includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi

The region gives non-fiction readers a lot to choose from, including the genocide in Rwanda and Idi Amin in Uganda. I haven't come up with a list of novelists/fiction writers for countries other than Kenya. Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin is set in Rwanda, Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji is set in Uganda during Ida Amin's time, and Death in Zanzibar by M. M. Kaye is set in what is now Tanzania. Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa describes East Africa/Tanzania.

Kenyan authors/authors who write about Kenya include Isak Dinesen, Corinne Hofmann, Elspeth Huxley (an option for mystery readers), Beryl Markham, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and M. G. Vassanji.

Books set in Kenya include Born Free by Joy Adamson, The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton, A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve, The Constant Gardener by John le Carre, Death in Kenya by M. M. Kaye, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson, An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd(set partly in Kenya and partly in Tanzania, I think), the Jade del Cameron mysteries by Suzanne Arruda, and White Mischief by James Fox (a true crime story).

Vote YES for South Africa region
Vote NO for Guinea region/Nigeria
Vote UNDECIDED for African Great Lakes region/Kenya

There has been an alteration to the third option on the South American region (post 213). Please take a look at it and change your vote if necessary.

Speaking of that region, um, would you like to clarify what "Peru -- indigenous problem" is? >_> There's no text to go with it, what exactly is this "indigenous problem" that'd we'd be choosing to read about?

I'm guessing that is is to do with the Maya population?????

Although it is not often talked about, some prejudice exists towards the native population - much like the aborigines in Australia, but to a lesser degree. I assume that is what the focus refers to.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that I did not describe the first 2 focus themes for South America (post 213) in more detail. The indigenous peoples of Peru are the ethnic groups which inhabited Peru prior to its discovery by the Europeans. According to Wikipedia (which I agree is not always a reliable source), approximately 45% of the total population of Peru is currently comprised of the indigenous people, which belong to more than 45 ethnic groups. These people generally are the lowest class people. When I was in Peru for 2 months nearly 50 years ago, I saw how these people were living in poverty. When giving suggested readings, I was focusing on Peruvian literature, translated into English. However, of course, participants are free to read any fiction or nonfiction about these peoples in Spanish, English, or another language of choice. In many library online catalogs, the works would be listed under the subject heading Indians of South America -- Peru.

The Gauchos of Argentina are the cowboys of Argentina. Once again I was focusing on Argentinian literature translated into English. However, once again, participants are free to read fiction or nonfiction on the topic.

I was away this weekend and came back to lots to think about. I really like the maps to help me along in my choices, but the one in post 206 isn't there. I've got a blue box with a ? In it.

I would just like to thank all the "tour guides" who put together the focus options - in most cases it was difficult to vote for one option, they were all so interesting!

>222 kiwiflowa: in most cases it was difficult to vote for one option, they were all so interesting

I agree! I don't think there are any bad choices, so we all win even if our first choice in a region isn't the one selected. I think I could fill up a multi-year reading list just from the books already mentioned for the various options.

All these options are making me wish I had a category just for the CATS!

I was smart - I have a Geographical category for GEOCATs and another category for the Mystery CAT!

Now that I've finish the focus points for my GEO CAT and most of the info for my hosting of the Mystery CAT, I'll finish up and setup my thread for the Category Challenge.

I have a Reading by Location category so am fairly set for this interesting challenge. I'm not sure if i'll participate every month but I'll give it a try. The micro challenges are all quite interesting, I like the idea of a focus and seeing what other people read for it.

About the wiki: I'm sorry that I'd failed to break out the category of "Oceans and Islands." I've broken it out a bit more to include New Zealand as well as some of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean Islands that weren't included as countries in one of the "continental groupings."

My goal is not to match the groupings we have for this challenge but to try to make it useful even after this challenge.

I do hope other people will add to the wiki. A few of you already have. Thank you! I have been trying to run through some of the things I've read in the challenges since 2010, but I haven't made it through all of them yet. This is something that will be more useful as more people contribute to it.

It was brought to my attention that a CATtrick will be difficult in April and that the easy solution to this is to switch April and August's themes, so that Western Europe comes in April and Eastern Europe comes in August. Can anyone think of why we shouldn't do this?

>227 thornton37814: @thornton37814 I agree that keeping it for general multi-purpose use is the way to go, people can do a tiny bit of checking on their own to make sure the specifics match what they want. Something like this is a very large endeavor and would be silly to use just for a single purpose! I've added about half a dozen titles and will continue to try to think up more. :) (Though I'm only bothering to add the first title of series, it seems redundant/overkill to go adding them all, lol.)

And @DeltaQueen50, the year hasn't started yet, you can still shake up your categories if you want! ;)

@ 228 -- But a CAT trick in August is so easy when we have Western Europe for the GeoCAT and British mysteries for the MysteryCAT! If we switched, we'd just be changing the month in which a CAT trick is easy.

>228 RidgewayGirl:, 230 How about swapping either Islands & Bodies of Water or Polar Regions with Eastern Europe? Either of those would allow the possibility of a CAT trick with Nordic mysteries. Islands & Bodies of Water would also work with British mysteries.

>RidgewayGirl - Could you add Lori's wiki link to the first thread to make it easier to see instead of trolling through the thread each time?

ETA: Never mind. I finally saw that I could add it as a watched item.

ETA2: well it says I'm watching it bit I can't figure out from where

>231 cbl_tn: Sound like a good idea.

I've added the wiki link to the first post.

I've added a few to the wiki, too, (especially for my home state), but I thought I'd also point out there's another way to find locations besides using tags--the Important Places field in the common knowledge of the book page.

You can do this a couple ways. If you have one book in mind from the area-- say the first book on the wiki, Mrs Mike is set in Alberta, but you are looking for more Alberta books: go to Mrs Mike's book page, scroll down past the reviews to the common knowledge 'Important Places' and click on 'Alberta, Canada' for a list of books.

Or you can go to your home page, click on stats/memes and under common knowledge in your library click on Places. On the Places page, you have a choice of looking for books in your library (which I think is easier done by searching your tags), or All Books for an alphabetical listing of places. It's not really handy because you can't do a search on the list and so have to go page by page to find what you're looking for.

>235 streamsong: Thanks for the info. There is a lot about this site that I don't know.

I gave Ridgeway Girl only a list of my three focus themes and she fleshed it out into the lovely Polar Regions post #211. Thank you Alison.

#231-cbl-tn - as the Polar Regions tour guide and the April RandomCAT person I don't think I could do two CATs in one month. Esp at tax time. Also Nordic countries belong to Western Europe. (see map in post #187). Only the very far north of Finland and Sweden are within the Arctic Circle. Plus, we wanted to do cold countries in warm months.

>237 VioletBramble: Nordic countries belong to Western Europe. (see map in post #187).

So does Great Britain. Since Nordic mysteries and British mysteries are two categories and Western Europe is one, they can't both be paired with Western Europe.

You're welcome, Kelly. I cribbed it from wikipedia.

How long will voting remain open?

Thanks to all of my fellow travel hosts for coming up with such interesting focus challenges!!

By the way, on the wiki what I did was include the link to the series instead of to specific books. That way people can look at all of them. Those links work the same way as the others. You just have to click the series heading to get the series link. In some cases, a few books in the series are set in other locations as the main character travels. I have generally listed those separately.

Yeah I haven't read all the books in the ones I listed, so I don't know if they move about, plus I figured anyone would want to start with #1 anyhow, and if they click on the page for it, the series link will be right there on the book's page ;)

I'm worried. The more I think about it, the more I'm unsure that "RELIGIOUS CHANGES OVER THE YEARS" is really a valid focus for a Geographical challenge. It's currently winning in poll and that's why I'm concerned. Will it really lead us to understand more about a specific area in Western Europe or is it off track and looking toward an activity in the broad area?

What do you think?

I'm going to see if the lead detectives on the mystery CAT may switch the Nordic and British months.

>243 cyderry: I actually like the idea of have a general theme like that covering the geographical area. I think it will probably give us a better understanding of Western Europe than a focus on one particular tiny area would anyway.

I think people will choose whatever they're happy with, and it will all work out, regardless of whether it follows strict rules laid out in advance. People said they wanted difficult focus areas too, but when it comes down to the voting, it's often the easiest of the three choices that's winning (India, Amazon River). And that's okay. We'll still end up with a good range of discussion topics :)

>243 cyderry: I'm going to see if the lead detectives on the mystery CAT may switch the Nordic and British months.

I think, as Christina pointed out, that would just shift the problem, not solve it.

243> I think religious changes are a key part in understanding European history. The specific forms of those changes were unique to different areas.

Not really, because there are British Empire locations that were in Eastern Europe prior to WWI. The broader sweep of the British empire allows for British mysteries to work in different regions, while Nordic mysteries doesn't.

>244 _Zoe_: Well I, for one, didn't base anything on being "easy" (not that I'm really sure what that's even supposed to mean), I chose things that appealed to me. Many of the options are things I really have no interest in reading about, so if those things win I won't be partaking of them. I have way too much I do want to read to bother with things that hold no interest for me.

And I also disagree, as others have said, about "religious changes" not being applicable. The religious background is a huge thing and if anyone wants to look into the area that is one of the first things they should be focusing on. I don't understand how that one would be any more irrelevant than many of the other topics suggested.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought that the purpose of the cat challenges was to read books and have fun. With a cat trick, a person is only reading one book from all 3 challenges instead of reading 3 books. I have not seen any prizes for having a cat trick; are they posted somewhere?

Well, you can't really plan for CAT-tricks, since you don't know what the RandomCAT for that month will be - perhaps it's a "book that has no murder in it" and then the Nordic mysteries are out! :P

>249 sallylou61:: Good point. Maybe cat tricks are overrated. :) They're fun to get but don't really promote reading broadly.

>248 .Monkey.: It wasn't meant as a criticism, just an observation. I'm glad to have categories that people want to read about.

>249 sallylou61: You are very right, it is the point, and I also am not understanding all this fuss trying to rearrange things to make it "easy to accomplish." I thought it was supposed to be more difficult to do, and therefore more exciting if you were "able" to match books up to all three at once. Going out of the way to make it simpler just seems like cheating, and a bit pointless, since the point is just to read.

** Hands in the air** Okay, I give in. I was only trying to make it possible.

I tried for CAT tricks for the first half of this year, and certainly read some books I would not have otherwise read. Then I quit because I didn't enjoy most of them.

The voting time is at the halfway mark (let's count them up this weekend, so plan to vote by Friday) and while there are a few clear winners already, there are more than a few regions where the voting is neck and neck and there is even one tie. Please vote, even if you aren't sure you'll participate, or are having trouble deciding.

Once the voting is over, do we want the tour guides to put their introductions up in the wiki for the GeoCAT? When would we like threads to be opened? If the introductions are up on the wiki, then we can open each thread on the first of the month in question, if not, we'll need to decide if we'd like a few weeks of lead time. Lori has set up a wiki for the locations of books, so if you need help finding a book for a specific area check here:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/FictionLocation

This link is also on post 1, so we can find it easily. Also, please add books to the wiki so that we all have plenty of choices.

As I mentioned on the MysteryCAT, I don't think the monthly "tour guides" should have to post their intros yet...especially those whose months aren't until later in the year! I was anticipating writing my intro when I posted my monthly thread, which I assumed would happen 2-3 weeks before the start of the month. But if the group wants to do it differently, I'll go along with the consensus.

It usually takes two weeks for books to get here once I have ordered them. Add in a bit of discusion about possible choices, and I would think that 2 weeks to a month of lead time would be useful.

I agree.

I agree that a couple of weeks to a month ahead should be sufficient.

On another topic, the wiki for list of fiction books by place looks very helpful. Could such a list be set up for non-fiction books? At this point, I don't have the expertise to set up such a wiki.

Suggestion: Since this thread is getting longgggg, when the voting is over, the winners be announced on the next page, that way they will be at the very top!

Good idea.

>260 sallylou61: I suppose I could set it up, others would have to contribute a lot though, I can toss in ones I know off the top of my head but I doubt I'll really feel like scouring the site to fill it myself.

Oops. I've added a grand total of one book to the wiki. It was nonfiction. I'll pull it out.

A good one though. Nonfiction about the Antarctic.

Is the wiki intentionally just for fiction? I would have thought that non-fiction would fulfill the requirements of the CAT as well as fiction does.

Re message 263 Hi PolymathicMonkey, I did NOT expect you to fill in the titles. I thought with the edit buttons that individuals who were working on the various regions could add the titles themselves like we do for the 2013 Random Cat and Alpha Cat. Or, another option would be to make the wiki you already set up be for both fiction and non-fiction with some kind of designation to show which it was.

>265 Helenliz: Yes, that particular wiki is specifically for fiction.

>266 sallylou61: hah, of course I wouldn't fill out the entire thing alone, but I meant more, I'll throw up the bare bones but while I do like particular non-fic, it's not a huge thing of mine so I probably won't have very many to add in on my own. :) I do think having two is better, it'd start getting really complex, and overcrowded, with everything mixed up in the one. (Oh and I can take no credit for the fiction one, that one was made by thornton37814! Whose work I will be borrowing a bit to set up the other ;))

Alrighty, here ya go, a nice empty non-fic wiki for everyone to help fill out. :P

Re 268: Thanks so much for setting this wiki up. I added some books for Brazil and Argentina, and notice that someone has already added some books for specific states in the U.S.

I added about 20 to the NF wiki.

ETA: eeeek --I keep thinking of more to add.

No problem, glad folks are getting the ball rolling! :)

I've added the non-fiction wiki link to post one. I'll open a new thread this weekend -- one we can use throughout the year -- and I'll include these wiki links as well as a list of all topics to the first post so they are always easy to look up.

Would it be possible to add the Arctic to the fiction and non-fiction wikis? I have a long list of books set in the arctic and no where to list them.

Could someone indulge my lack of wiki knowledge and let me know how to contribute to the fiction and nonfiction lists? I know how to get into the editing part, but I'm not sure how to get a touchstone into the list. I tried to add under Norway and bracketing the books doesn't seem to work the same way as it does in messages. Thanks!

To add books to the wiki go to that books work page --the open book icon in your library- copy the address in the URL box, go to the wiki, paste the address then type the book title. Enclose everything in the same open brackets used for touchstones. When you're in edit mode you should be able to see how others have posted- just copy how they've posted.

>274 japaul22: That's because it's a wiki, not LT Talk. You do [WorkURL Title]

>273 VioletBramble: What do you mean specifically by "Arctic"?

PolymathicMonkey, would you please add the Republic of Kiribati to the Islands part of the wiki? What a shocking omission! ; ) (I'm very proud to have a suitable book)

VioletBramble, I've added a book that takes place in the Arctic, but as it's specifically set in Nunavut Territory in Canada, that's where I put it. I think for "Arctic" we'll just have to look at the appropriate countries.

I just added both wikis to the "Lists" link off the main WikiThing page.

>277 RidgewayGirl: Sure, I'll add it to both of them :)

And yeah, that's why I was asking, because all the countries that are part of it should already be on the list.

Thanks! Isn't it fun to see how fast books are being added?

:) It is indeed

It is great to see them being added. I added several to the non-fiction wiki today from going through what I've read since 2010.