GeoCAT General Thread

With all but two categories having volunteers, and with our categories chosen and defined, it's time for the planning thread to become a general thread. Please continue to discuss the GeoCAT, your plans, your questions and ideas!

January tour guide: -Eva-, Destination: South America

February tour guide: mamzel, Destination:Central Asia

March tour guide: RidgewayGirl, Destination:Eastern Europe and Russia

April tour guide: luvamystery65, Destination:Polar regions, Islands, Bodies of Water

May tour guide: LoisB, Destination:North America (Including Mexico)

June tour guide: LibraryCin, Destination:Australia & New Zealand

July tour guide: sallylou61, Destination:Central America and Caribbean

August tour guide: DeltaQueen50, Destination:Southern Africa

September tour guide: lkernagh, Destination:Southern Asia

October tour guide: Tanya-dogearedcopy, Destination:Eastern Asia

November tour guide: Kristelh, Destination:Northern Africa and the Middle East

December tour guide: Chrischi_HH, Destination:Western Europe

The wiki is here:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2016CC_GeoCAT

There are two categories still in need of a host. They are Southern Asia, in September and Eastern Asia in October.

Southern Asia:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Eastern Asia:
Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

To recap the discussion going on in the last thread, sturlington has suggested that we add the country the book is set in/where the author is from in the wiki.

And how you choose to do the GeoCAT is up to you. If you want to read a book set in Madagascar during the Southern Africa month, that's fine. Equally fine is reading that book during the Polar Regions, Islands and Bodies of Water month. Or both. Up to you.

Has anyone else planned their reading yet?

I am putting together a plan. Question: does southern Africa equal sub Saharan Africa, as it did last time, or is the division intended to be different this time around?

I'll take Eastern Asia! :-)

leaving bread crumbs . . .

>3 sturlington: Yes, sub-Saharan Africa. It's a huge area, but so is Saharan Africa plus the Middle East.

>6 RidgewayGirl: That's what I was assuming, but thanks for confirming.

We just need more months!

I've planned everything except the No Africa, Middle East...

I am checking to see that I have a read or two for each month, but I hesitate to name them as once I do that, I tend to lose interest.

>10 DeltaQueen50: I can sooooo relate.

Just posting so I can keep up with the thread. :-)

>10 DeltaQueen50: I can't list books I intend to read either. It's sure to be the kiss of death.

My problem is that when I think about choosing books in advance I always find one I want to read right then. I'm way too fickle to plan my choices out in advance.

My plan for the Category Challenges part of my 2016 reading is to read one book for the Geo and one book for the Dewey, but I've also chosen one book which could suffice for both challenges, in case my other monthly reading makes me behind here and I have to drop the two books and make one do. Where my preferred book fit both, I didn't add an extra. For my preferred genre (historical fiction), which hit in October, I had too many to choose from. I'll be interested to see how closely I end up following my plan. So - my GeoCAT choices are:

January:
Love in the Time of Cholera (Colombia)
The Library at Night (DDC 027)(Argentina)

February:
The Kite Runner (DDC 145) (Afghanistan)

March:
The Bridge of Sighs (Germany)
A Confession, Tolstoy (DDC 230) (Russia)

April:
Red Bones, Ann Cleeves (Shetland Islands, Scotland))
Not a Hazardous Sport, Nigel Barley (DDC 305) (Indonesia)

May:
Hothouse Flower, Margot Berwin (Mexico)
Of the Night Wind's Telling (DDC 398) (Mexico)

June:
The Lieutenant, Kate Grenville (Australia)
Words Fail Me, Hugh Lunn (DDC 427) (Australia)

July:
In the Time of the Butterflies (Dominican Republic)
Southeastern and Caribbean Seashores, Eugene Kaplan (DDC 508) (Caribbean)

August:
Tears of the Giraffe (Botswana)
Maize and Grace, James C. McCann (DDC 633) (Africa)

September:
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Deborah Moggach (India)
India Style, Monisha Bharadwaj (DDC 747) (India)

October:
The Calligrapher's Daughter (DDC 813) (Korea)
Plum Wine, Angela Davis-Gardner (DDC 813) (Japan)
Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng (DDC 823) (Malaysia)
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, Colin Cotterill (DDC 823) (Cambodia)

November:
In the Country of Men (Libya)
Skeletons on the Zahara, Dean King (DDC 916) (North Africa)

December:
Out Stealing Horses (Norway)
Mistress of the Vatican (DDC 945) (Italy)

I was just told about this link to a bunch free ebooks (in English) by Brazilian authors:

http://ebook.visitbrasil.com/index.html

>1 RidgewayGirl: I see we still need takers for September Southern Asia and October Eastern Asia.

I would be happy to a) Give up my April: Polar regions, Islands and bodies of water if someone would love to host that month and take October or b)take on a second month and host April and October if you don't find any takers.

Roberta, let's wait and see. We've got plenty of time and a lot of people, especially new people, won't show up until the new year. I expect that volunteers will eventually appear, as that's happened in years past.

>18 RidgewayGirl: Sounds like a plan. I just wanted to offer to switch if someone was more interested in April than one of the open slots. I plan on reading a a book about the Hmong and of course I have Dr. Siri Paiboun lined up for October.

Tanya volunteered for Eastern Asia up in message 4 and Lori volunteered for South Asia in the previous thread. Sorry I can't put the reference tags, my computer is out and I'm on my phone

Hello! Yes, I did! I'm up for Eastern Asia! :-)

Awesome!

Ack! I can't believe I missed that! Thanks for catching it, VioletBramble.

A few years ago, the writer, Ann Morgan took on a personal challenge to read a book from every country in the world in one year! I thought this group might be interested in her reading list: http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/

>24 Tanya-dogearedcopy:
Seconding that recommendation. I found her page a while back and have bookmarked for the future - she's going to be my go-to for the really difficult countries!

>24 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Thanks for the link! Here are a couple other sites that might be useful:

http://readtheworld.org/about/

http://bookssetin.com

Here's a list that might be helpful in planning next year's reads: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/49-books-countries_565cc3cae4b072e9d1c2ed1c

I'm still not sure yet if I'll do the GeoCAT (I'm picking randomly from Mount TBR, but am kind of tempted by GeoCAT too). But I did want to alert anyone who's not sure about the Polar Regions category that this month there is a free ebook Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle available from University of Chicago Press - see this link: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html (there will be a new book there from Jan 1st so you will only be able to download it this month).

Newbie question: can one add books to the wiki even if they were read in a different month? In other words, I want to read at least one book for each of the 12 regions, but not necessarily in the assigned months. Is that a major faux pas? If so, that's cool, and I'll just use the regions to guide my reading and not worry about posting in the dedicated GeoCAT threads and on the wiki.

Not even a minor faux pas IMO. They might even help others find books for the different regions.

>29 katiekrug: I plan to do the same! Mamzel has a good point that they could inspire others as well :)

Oh! Good to know! I hadn't been updating any of the wiki threads this past year after the month was over, thinking it was moot!

>32 Tanya-dogearedcopy:, same for me. I thought it was all done for when the month is over. That makes things user friendly for me.

I was going to pretty much skip the Geo and the Dewey because I didn't want to add those complications to my planning, but if we're updating the various options even if they are out of the month assigned, I'll be far more likely to play. :)

Yes, that would make me more likely to get involved in the Geo CAT.

One thing I like about the CATs is the lists that are generated each month. I often go back later and refer to them when looking for a book on a particular subject. So it definitely would not be wasted effort to add relevant books after the fact, as far as I'm concerned.

"...to add relevant books after the fact..."

Or beforehand, too, I presume? What I was thinking of doing was to list my options at the start of the year for each region under the appropriate wiki heading and then mark them as COMPLETED when I get to them.

This might help others find some titles when needed and allow me the freedom I was hoping for :)

Thanks to you all for chiming in. Looking forward to the challenge!

A map of the world with a book suggestion for each country. Definitely some ideas to be found here.

http://ideas.ted.com/your-guide-to-reading-the-world/?utm_campaign=social&ut...

The thread for January GeoCAT is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/208163

As I am covering Northern Africa, which countries in Afrrica are considered the north, where is the dividing line? Could someone list the countries in Northern and those in Southern, so it is clearer for planning. This probably was covered in an earlier thread but I would like to not go looking for it. Thanks.

Armenia, is it part of the Middle East? Wiki says it is is Western Asia. We don't have a Western Asia, so I assume it is part of the MIddle East. Is Turkey also part of the Middle East?

The thread for February is up. Pack your bags (and books) for Central Asia.

The March thread will be up in a few hours. My actual life is interfering with my plans to get this up.

>42 RidgewayGirl: Life has a way of doing that.

>42 RidgewayGirl: No worries! Happens sometimes!

And it's up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/219239

April GeoCAT thread is up! I'm still decorating but the main body of the thread is ready to go.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/220180

The May GeoCAT thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/221267

Book Riot offers this international reading list:

Around the World in 80 Books.

>48 mamzel: Thanks for the link. Some very interesting books there!

>48 mamzel: Excellent list! Thanks, mamzel.

>49 MissWatson: >50 RidgewayGirl: So glad you found it helpful. When I read through it I saw countries that I figured might be hard to find books that were written about or had authors that came from them.

The June thread is up, but the images aren't working for me again (that is, the sizes won't change no matter what number I tell it to use to resize). I'm leaving it for the moment, but may just delete the images later.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/223454

The July GeoCAT, Central America and the Caribbean is up at
http://www.librarything.com/topic/225270

A little early but since I am going away tomorrow I have posted the August GeoCat thread. It can be found Here

The September GeoCAT, Southern Asia is up. https://www.librarything.com/topic/229032

The October GeoCat discussion thread and Wiki for Eastern Asia is up!

DESTINATION COUNTRIES:Eastern Asia (Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
WIKI: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2016CC_GeoCAT#October
DISCUSSION THREAD: https://www.librarything.com/topic/232449#

We are voting on 2017 CATs here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/234010#

Hi, I finally realized it is my turn to set up the November GeoCAT. You can find it here. http://www.librarything.com/topic/235835.

Turkey is not in anyone's country list. :(

>59 jeanned: I thought it was included in an early one, but if not, add it to this one.

>60 Kristelh: Yay! I was looking at The Bastard of Istanbul but thought it wouldn't count. Thanks!

Just a reminder that we are still looking for monthly hosts in next year's CATs. Several categories are still up for grabs. Being a host is easy and low-pressure. On or about the 15th of the preceding month, you just open a thread with some information about the next month's topic and some reading suggestions. Pictures are entirely optional. It's fun! So consider being a host. Here are the threads where you can volunteer:

CATWoman: Three months are open, listed here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/235638#5777873

AwardsCAT: Four months are open, listed here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/235636#5779874

CultureCAT: A whopping ten months are open, listed here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/235637#5772459

(Yes, you can volunteer for more than one month and in more than one CAT!)

Just so you guys won't be waiting and wondering: I'll most likely NOT post the December thread tomorrow. But I promise it will be up and running on Thursday by the latest.

Thought I'd just pop over and see which CATs still need hosts. Looks like CATWoman is full, but

AwardsCAT still needs two: http://www.librarything.com/topic/235636#5779874
and
CultureCAT still needs five: http://www.librarything.com/topic/235637#5772459

The December GeoCAT thread is (partly) up! click here