The CAT Suggestion and Discussion Thread

Here is the place to start putting forward your ideas for next year's CATs and ancillary challenges, such as BingoDOG. Anyone who wants to can propose a CAT or several for next year, but try to provide some details about how you think it might be structured, especially if it's a new idea. (In the past, we have done Awards, Geo (twice), Mystery, History, Dewey Decimal, and SFF.) Also, if you'd like to see an old favorite return, such as the RandomCAT or BingoDOG, now is the time to say.

Also feel free to offer any feedback on how this year's CATs worked for you that would be helpful in structuring next year's CATs. We usually have three CATs, which seems like a good number to not be overwhelming but also offer something for everyone. However, we can consider alternate ways of structuring the CATs at this time as well.

Remember that we also have KITs, which are not official challenges, but are set up and hosted by one person. Anyone can propose and run a KIT with no need to vote on it. AlphaKIT for next year is already set up!

I figure we'll allow three weeks for discussion, until around October 8, to give everyone time to find this and get their ideas hashed out. However, let's be flexible and we'll allow more time if needed, or go ahead and start voting if discussion has wound down. I'll keep track of the suggestions in a running list on the next post.

Remember, CATs are for fun and are "take it or leave it" challenges--you can participate as much or as little as you like.

Here is where I'll keep a list of all the suggestions for future reference.

Here's what we have so far:

>4 LibraryCin: BioCAT (including memoirs)
>5 LibraryCin: SeriesCAT
>6 LibraryCin: YACAT (young adult/children's)
>7 LibraryCin: GenreCAT
>9 LibraryCin: RandomCAT - repeat
>9 LibraryCin: HistoryCAT - repeat
>9 LibraryCin: MysteryCAT - repeat
>10 DeltaQueen50: SFFCat - repeat
>12 RidgewayGirl: AwardsCAT - repeat
>17 whitewavedarling: CultureCAT (Cultural Studies/Current Issues)
>23 japaul22: CATWoman
>36 Kristelh: CalendarCAT

Please let me know if I miss something in this list!

Thanks for setting this up, sturlington! I have a few ideas, some have been proposed before (maybe all), but here are some that I was thinking (I'll do each one in a separate post, so people can easily reply and we'll all know which one is being referenced)...

Biographies/Memoirs (BioCAT? BiomemCAT?, MemoirCAT?)

Some monthly topics that I've thought of (though I know this gets hashed out, more ideas put forth, etc):

- political/world leaders
- celebrity/entertainment
- medical
- animal
- fictional
- sports
- travelogues
- regular people

Series (SeriesCAT?)

Each month could feature a different genre, and people would choose a book in a series in that genre.

- mystery
- YA/children's
- graphic novels
- historical fiction
- fantasy
- science fiction
- nonfiction? Are there very many nonfiction books in a series?

Young Adult (or YA/Children's Lit) (YACAT?)

Focus on YA and/or children's lit.

- preteen books
- mystery
- horror
- series
- fantasy/sci-fi
- nonfiction

Genres (GenreCAT?)

Focus on a different (broader) genre each month. We've done specific genres, where we've focused on subgenres, but I guess I envision this as being broader.

- mystery
- horror
- historical fiction
- fantasy
- science fiction
- romance

I think these were all banded about a bit last year and didn't make it through. They just stuck in my mind.

I also really enjoy RandomCAT, so I'd always be in for that one.

Other ones we've done previously that I'd do again:
- HistoryCAT
- MysteryCAT

I don't think we usually do a repeat immediately the following year, otherwise I'd be ok with another DeweyCAT.

I also enjoy BingoDOG, so I'd be up for that again.

I read Biographies, Series, YA and other genres so I like all of LibraryCin's suggestions!

I really enjoyed the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Cat that we did a couple of years ago and wouldn't mind a repeat of that but it has also worked well as a Kit challenge too.

Love BingoDog and hope we plan to set one up for 2017!

I always have fun doing RandomCAT and would be delighted to see it return. :)

The RandomCAT is fun and it's fun for the people who set up each month's challenge, too.

I'd like a return of the AwardsCAT, with an emphasis on the shortlists. If we can time it right, we could have the option of reading from an award's current shortlist, before the winner is announced, or delving into past years' shortlists, which should give a wide number of books to choose from. I'll flesh it out more after I've given it more thought.

I have a fondness for the RandomCAT and I also would like to see the return of the AwardsCAT.

HistoryCAT is also something I may be interested in.

>12 RidgewayGirl: My problem with the AwardsCAT last time was there were very few choices for some of the award months. I'd like to see a bit wider list of options. Long lists, maybe.

>14 majkia: I can't remember how we did AwardsCAT last time, but maybe do it by types of award? Something like:

January: Awards for children's lit
February: Awards for speculative fiction
March: Awards for mysteries
April: Awards for "production values" (illustrations, translations, audiobook narrators, etc.)
May: Awards based in a country/language not one's own
June: Awards for poetry/plays
July: Awards for non-fiction
August: Bestsellers and Best Of lists (NYT Bestsellers, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, BBC Big Read, Book Lust, etc.)
September: Regional awards and lists (100 Books in Literary Oregon, 100 Essential New England, all the Young Readers book awards that practically every state offers)
October: "Big prestigious awards" (Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, etc.)
November: Awards named after a person (Carnegie, Newbery, Andre Norton, Agatha Award, etc.)
December: Read your favorite award

Or something like that.

This ends up being like the GenreCAT in a lot of ways, but it does provide more flexibility.

ETA: For "award" I mean "anything that made it onto the LT Awards page" (Home > Stats/Memes > Awards), so there are a lot of lists there as well. I would leave it up to individual participants whether they want to do that or keep it strictly to awards proper. I would also include shortlists, longlists, nominees, etc., from any year, so you can read this year's nominees or a book that won an award 20 years ago or whatever suits your fancy.

I missed the AwardsCAT, but I'm not always a fan of award-winners, so if we were to go with it, I like the idea in >15 casvelyn: for more options.

I agree with >16 LibraryCin: on not always being a fan of awardwinners, and so I feel a bit lukewarm in that regard -- especially the last few award winners I've read have felt like busts, reading-wise, for me. >15 casvelyn: 's idea would give a lot more flexibility, though.

I really like the idea of a GenreCat or a MysteryCat, too, and I Always love RandomCat.

That said, I was batting around a new(?) idea in my head, too...

I wonder if folks would be interested in something like a Cultural Studies/Current Issues Cat? So, for instance, one month might be an Environmental month, and the goal would be to read fiction or nonfiction that dealt with a contemporary environmental issue (deforestation, biodiversity, water quality, etc.)

A breakdown of months could be something like:

January: Crime
February: Immigration
March: Environmentalism/Conservation
April: Terrorism
May: Disease/Illness
June: Poverty
July: Race Relations
August: War
September: Global Warming
October: Politics
November: Natural Disasters
December: War

Obviously, these are just topics I'm throwing out there, and we could break them down differently or extend them, but it would give a lot of opportunity for discussion and give readers the chance to focus more toward fiction or nonfiction if they wanted to.

In any case, just an idea...

I would probably do an awards CAT at least some of the time, especially if it was really flexible as described above.

I also like the idea in >17 whitewavedarling:.

>17 whitewavedarling: Oh, I like that idea!

>17 whitewavedarling: That's one that I might consider participating in.

>17 whitewavedarling: To shorten the name a bit, how about "SocialCAT" or something (I'm thinking "Social Issues CAT". Just a thought. :-)

>21 LibraryCin:, sounds good to me; I'm just glad there's some interest!

I've been interested in CATWoman (reading books by women authors) since it came up the last couple of years. One iteration could be something like this.

Classics by Women
Modern Novels by Women
Bailey's Prize Winners or nominees (formerly Orange Prize)
Other Prize Winners (Nobel, Pulitzer, etc.)
Regional reading (Middle Eastern women authors, Asian, African, etc)
African-American Women Authors
Lesbian Literature
Children's Book Favorites
Feminist Literature or Non-fiction
Biographies of Women
Autobiographies by Women
Genre Reading (mysteries by women, SciFi by women, Poetry, etc.)

We could easily expand the Regional Reading topic or the Genre Reading topic to replace some of the other categories and I'm sure there are lots of other options that others could come up with.

I think "CultureCAT" sounds better and more applicable. That's one that might actually drag me back to the group, lol. CATWoman, too, I wished that one had won a few years ago.

So far this year I read at least one book for the CATs every month - they really fit with helping me read the books off my shelves.

I just posted in the 2017 category challenge plans that I was thinking about making 2017 a series year for me - so the SeriesCAT sounds great.

I really enjoy the Random Cat just because I can't plan very far ahead and there are always some interesting ideas there. I also enjoyed the Awards Cat the year we did it as it did stretch my reading a bit.

>24 .Monkey.:, I like the sound of 'CultureCat' I have to admit.

I will say--I've got mixed feelings about a Series cat, but only because there are already so many series I'm behind on reading, and so I feel kind of tentative about trying to go out of my way to read new ones...

My thinking behind the series cat is to help continue on with series ive started, not necesarily start new ones. Maybe we could have one month for starting a new series, but for me, i would hope to continue ones ive already started (ideally, anyway)

>28 LibraryCin:, I like the idea of a Cat that would let me keep reading a lot of those already-started series, but realistically, I think all of the series I read fit into the categories of SF/F or suspense/mystery lol. I wonder if there'd be another way to structure it, that didn't revolve around genre? Of course, I may be the only one who stays so focused genre-wise when it comes to series, too.

>29 whitewavedarling: Well, I don't normally read series, but could you do it around the series constant? For instance, trilogies, character (maybe specify type of character), place, family saga, couple, war, I don't know...

Just talking out of my hat here. But that would get away from dividing it by genre. Hmm.

1. I really like the idea of a culture cat. This one works well for those that prefer nonfiction and also for fiction readers.
2. I also like the awards idea with a focus on short list rather than winners. I think it would be fun to read the books prior to the naming of the books but that might work better as a quarterly read rather than monthly. The above suggestions for awards seem to be quite similar to what we did last time.
3. I don't like biography, memoirs as a CAT specific as it too limiting for those who don't especially favor reading biographies or memoirs.
4. If a person goes with the simpler more open ended idea then I think random cat, Alpha Cat, Bingo's really fit that so well.
5. I really like Sci Fi/Fantasy but I know that is not a fave for everyone so probably better as a kit.
6. Catwoman would be good as it would be a new one rather than a repeat.

>29 whitewavedarling: Ahhh, I see. I read so widely that I could probably find something for most genres, though there would likely be a few that I wouldn't already have a series started. Maybe there is a way to set it up otherwise. That was just the easiest way I thought of.

>30 sturlington: That sounds like a good idea...

I'd love for the CATWoman to finally have its day.

And with the AwardsCAT, I think it can be jiggered into giving a large number of books to choose from each month. While, as much as possible, I'd like we were able to coordinate the awards with when the prizes are awarded, so that, for example, The Man Booker Prize would be featured in September or October, as the shortlist is announced in mid-September and the award chosen at the end of October. And including the longlists is a good idea - it gives us many more books to choose from.

>28 LibraryCin:, >29 whitewavedarling:, >30 sturlington: All good thoughts on a potential seriesCAT. And I agree, my goal next year is to make progress on series books I own (some which I haven't started yet, but certainly a priority to make progress on series already started).

>33 RidgewayGirl: Since awards tend to be given at the same time each year, we could assign awards to months based on when the award is given or the shortlist comes out. As long as there were multiple awards each month and people could read from previous years' winners (and nominees, shortlists, etc.) to provide flexibility, it should work out okay.

And we could use the various reading lists to pad the months that are sparse.

I thought of an idea for a CAT this morning but perhaps it will be too much like a random CAT but I am going to put it down anyway. I thought of a CalendarCAT with emphasis on something unique or holiday of that month;
examples could be
January... New, New to you, Chinese New Year, World Religion Day, Black History Month
February...Romance, Mexico History, President and rulers
March...Leprechauns (magic), Roman History (Ides of March), Irish themes, Pagan themes, Spring/Equinox
April...Fools, Earth day so Evironment issues, Jewish themes
May...Mother's, WWI or wars
June...Fathers, Solstice/Pagan themes, marriages, weddings
July..."I forgot", Independence, Bastille Day (French themes), Health and Happiness themes
August...Heroes, Girlfriend Day, Minority
September...Work/Labor, History of labor Movement, Journalism, Grandparents, Police/Firemen,
October...Horror, Exploration or Spain
November...War, Soldiers, Thanksgiving
December...Christmas/Boxing Day, African, Kwanzaa

>35 casvelyn: To add some variety, perhaps in January you could do a general best of lists month, but not restrict it to just best of 2016. For instance, Amazon, Kirkus, NY Times, etc. from all years past.

You could also do one month that focuses on 100 best or 1000/1001 best of all times. A lot of those winners are recorded in the CK on LibraryThing.

Another month idea could be books recognized by American Library Association. They have a lot of lists and don't they also do most frequently challenged books, so there would be a lot of variety there.

Just throwing out ideas... :-)

>30 sturlington: and >32 LibraryCin: -- I like that idea for a series cat, too. I could certainly use a challenge to help me focus in on continuing more of the series I already love instead of wondering around and forgetting about them!

>36 Kristelh: Oh, I like that idea, Kristel!

I like the CalendarCAT idea as well!

Lots of interesting ideas on this thread! I'd probably join in each suggested CAT for at least a couple of the months. :) The only thing I have a strong opinion about is that I really want to do Bingo again next year!

Since we're discussing, are we all happy with having three CATs again? Do we need to put it up for a vote?

Three seems like a good number to me.

I agree that three is a good number.

IIRC, that it has usually been been three CATS with one CAT being a return CAT from previous years?

>45 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I think it has just been a result of the voting process that we've had repeats. I think last year we voted on RandomCAT in the same process as choosing the other two. I suspect RandomCAT is so popular it will easily hold its own in the voting process.

This year (2016) we are having 2 repeats: RandomCAT and GeoCAT (although without the added focus challenge) which meant that only one new CAT was voted in last year. Do we want to put any limit on the number of new CATs versus repeat CATS for 2017?

Three CATs is perfect , however as much as I love the RandomCat , I think I would vote for the CalendarCAT instead. So maybe just one repeat and two new CATs.

In all honesty, I'm not sure there's any Cat I'd vote for over the RandomCat (repeat or new), though I don't know how many others feel the same way; it's just enjoyable to know there's a surprise theme coming for each coming month--at least for me! I'm not good at planning far in advance, so having at least one Cat where I don't know what's coming is refreshing.

I like the idea of voting on all the Cats so that the final three have really earned their position. Every year we have voted and every year RandomCat has been in the final three. Personally I would like to see three different Cats chosen this year but whatever the final outcome is, I am certainly willing to go along with the majority.

>50 DeltaQueen50: I agree that I'd like voting to determine the choices.

I say stick with 3 as we end up with actually more because of kits, dogs/bongos, etc and it appears that we ought to vote on all 3 choices including Random.

>53 This-n-That: Hi LisaAnn, welcome to the Category Challenge. I like your specific breakdown for a CalendarCat, as it leaves room for plenty of choices.

>45 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I agree with this. Three CATs, one of them can be a repeat.

ETA: As I see more discussion, let me clarify. When I was thinking "repeat", I was thinking an "immediate" repeat from this year.

So, one immediate repeat (possible, but not required) and at least one new CAT. The third one, in my opinion, can be new OR a repeat from previous years (but not a 2nd repeat from this year). Does that make sense!? It does in my own head. :-)

Let me try that another way...
CAT 1. New or repeat from this year (if a repeat is voted in)
CAT 2. New or repeat from previous years (if a repeat is voted in)
CAT 3. New

I would like to see at least one new CAT.

>53 This-n-That:, nice idea. I like the sound of that.

Personally I would rather see more new things that have just barely missed the cut previously than continuing to have the same ones repeated. Those could always be kits/personal if people wanted to continue them on their own. My own preference would be nothing that had been done before, with the possible exception of Random (which, again personally, I would rather see make way for something new and should definitely be voted on not automatic, but I'm aware I may be in a minority there).
There's always so many ideas and so many that people are interested in, why not try out new ones instead?

I have made a separate thread for BingoDOG discussion here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/233008

>53 This-n-That: - I had a similar idea for 2017 (months based on events), but am going to be moving right at the first of the year and so will probably be doing a "non-challenge" challenge next year. I had also thought that a whole year of just Cats, kits, and Dogs and pups could fill up my reading for a challenge.

ETA: hit post before I finished. I think the top three should be the top three. I'd like to see different ones, but I also really enjoy the Random.

>58 .Monkey.: I basically agree with this comment about wanting new CATs although not limiting it to CATs which just missed winning before. People are suggesting some new CATs which have not seriously been discussed previously. I think the point about having repeats as KITs is good. We already have the AlphaKIT which used to be a CAT, and is still very popular as a KIT.

(I'm not saying to disregard near losers. I'm hoping that CATWoman will make it this year.)

>61 sallylou61: Right, I didn't mean just those, was really saying, clearly there's a bunch more things people have been really keen on, so let's not keep them out in favor of others that have already been enjoyed by some.

Has it already been decided that the Alphabet challenge will be a KIT not a CAT?

>63 leslie.98: I think so, since it has already been set up.

I love RandomCAT too, but I think we should make it a KIT this year and choose 3 new CAT themes.

In addition to the AlphaKIT, an unofficial/official SFFKit has been set up. This doesn't put SFFCat out of the running, but if we want to try new things as CATs, some old favorites are pretty much guaranteed to return as Kits...

>53 This-n-That:, my suggestions that I made were just a bunch that I quickly gathered. I was thinking that if CalendarCAT was one that got chosen, everyone could make suggestions and possible more votes to finalize the monthly topics.

I would love to have a repeat of the AwardCAT. I liked the structure last time with a major award paired with a more focused genre award.

I am still enjoying RandomCAT and I'd love to see it return.

I am lukewarm about the GenreCAT idea. A lot of us seem to set up our personal challenges by genre. If there's a lot of enthusiasm for it and the AwardCAT doesn't make the cut, I'd probably want pair GenreCAT with an AwardKIT for my own reading. That could be a good compromise since there are some in the group who don't enjoy the kinds of books that tend to win major awards.

Although mystery is my favorite genre, I didn't really enjoy the MysteryCAT and I probably wouldn't participate in it every month a second time around.

I'm a very casual participant in the CATs. If I have something on the physical or virtual TBR shelves I'll join in. If not, not.

Having said that, I'm more likely to join in with something where I can see at a glance whether a book fits. I'd be much less likely to join in with an AwardsCAT, for example, because unless it says on the cover I won't know whether a book fits. GenreCAT sounds interesting, but if we're going to have a year-long genre, I would vote for mystery. I don't know about a calendarCAT. I'd have to see how it actually worked out. Some of the suggestions make no sense to me. Why is labour in September rather than May, for example? CATwoman is a possibility, again it would depend on the categories chosen.

>70 Robertgreaves: Why is labour in September rather than May, for example?

September is Labour Day (at least in North America...). Is it not elsewhere?

>71 LibraryCin: In most of the world it's 1 May. In the UK it's the first Monday in May.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day#/media/File:Observanc...

All the suggestions for CalendarCat are very US oriented.

Many countries in the Northern hemisphere have official or unofficial harvest celebrations in October. Late November is very long after the harvest in most places.

While the US and France celebrate their national days in July, that is very different elsewhere.

In agreement that if a Calendar were to happen it really shouldn't be US-centric. Things celebrated in the vast majority of places that the US does different, should be planned with respect to that.

Yes, I agree it should not be US or anything else centric.

The person who suggested it did say she was thinking of it for her personal challenge which may be why it's more US centric than it would probably be if it is elected as a Cat. I'd like to see people wait to set up Kits until we know what the actual Cats will be.

When I threw my CalendarCAT together it was done quickly. I actually tried not to make it US centric as that was not what I was going for but, browsers such as they are probably work off my location. I checked now and we can certainly go for international days. I found a lot so it won't be hard. If,,,, CalendarCAT gets chosen, it will make for lots of fun discussion.

I have a question, and feel really thick asking it, but I couldn't find a clear explanation on searching. What is the difference between a CAT, DOG, KIT or PUP?

I'm with Robert in that I only join in sporadically if I have a TBR book that fits the theme. But now that I've (more or less) decided to join in again in 2017, I think I might be searching the Cat and Dog etc threads more on the hunt for good BBs.

Apologies if I'm asking the obvious! :)

Sigh. What have I just found at the top of the group page but a really clear answer to my question. Better go to Specsavers.

As you were :)

>74 .Monkey.: Yes, I agree. If we went with CalendarCAT, it should be made to be international, for sure.

The list of proposed CATs is in >2 sturlington:

So far, 7 CATs have been proposed that we have not done before. Would anyone like to expand on any of these ideas or make a case for choosing one? Does anyone else have a CAT to propose?

GenreCAT and CalendarCAT look best to me. Although I like the idea of reading award-winning books, I am finding using that as a 'focus' for the GeoCAT this year works well for me and I am not sure that I would want to devote a month to reading books from specific awards (especially as I find that some awards like the Man Booker prize invariably go to books I find BORING to the extreme).

As there are certain genres (like the first two mentioned in >7 LibraryCin:) that I don't read, I wouldn't participate in GenreCAT.

I don't see how CalendarCAT could work unless there are no categories given for the months. People could discuss during the previous month what holiday or characteristic of the month they plan on basing their read on.

I agree with >84 leslie.98: that I avoid many award winners because I have not enjoyed previous books chosen.

It is highly unlikely I would partake of any repeat CATs, maybe a month or two they might fit with my reading, but meh, unlikely. Of the rest, I have less than zero interest in series, YA, or genre; my series are limited and I certainly don't need challenges to read them, YA is nil, and genre reading is sporadic where I want a change of pace for a moment, wouldn't fit well. Calendar, depending how it was worked out, I may or may not partake much of, probably less than more often.

Bio, culture, and woman, I would be really happy to see happen. Personally I like to expand my horizons and my knowledge and discover new interesting things and delve deeper into others, and everyone can always read more women!, which is what those are all about. I kind of just don't see the point in a "challenge" just to work in the reading of the same old stuff. I want challenges to prompt me to find other exciting books/authors that I might not have picked up, or may have left languishing on the shelves for years yet, etc.

Since the SFFKit has already been set up, we should probably take SFFCat off the list of possibles.

Lots of great suggestions. I like the AwardCAT and CATWoman ones best, but I'll be reading those books regardless, and so would also be happy with the ones that pull me in unexpected directions.

Taking a closer look at the description of what's been suggested,

Couldn't Young Adult actually fit into the other CATs as they are suggested? I love to read some of the YA books but I'm not sure that I'd want to dedicate an entire CAT to that when those books could fit into other CATs - i.e. Genre CAT, CATwoman.

>4 LibraryCin: How do you find a bio/memoir of a fictional character? Are you talking about books like Madame Bovary, Doctor Zhivago, the Scarlet Pimpernel? I don't understand that one. How would travelogues get in there?

>28 LibraryCin: >29 whitewavedarling: >30 sturlington: In 2015 and 2016 I actually had my categories so that I could continue the series that I already started so that some of my categories were related to books, favorite authors, foreign settings, romance, food, crafts, historical fiction, young adult, and starting new series. It's worked well for me - in that in 2015 83% of the books I read (108/130) were series related and in 2016, so far 79% (59/75) are in series. If instead of choosing types of series (mystery, SciFi, etc.) we went with something more general (foreign settings, female protagonists, food, etc.) many different types of series would fit in more months.

>17 whitewavedarling: Much as I like the idea of the CultureCAT it seems to me to lean more toward non-fiction and since my non-fiction reads are pretty much taken up with my USPC/history reads, I probably wouldn't participate much - only when the theme was war or poverty (I'm currently at the Great Depression/start of WWII).

I would like to make a suggestion regarding the HistoryCAT - maybe it's self-serving. We've had the HistoryCAT before but what if we gave it a different focus?

I'm thinking what if we looked at the history of war? How it's changed over the years, different areas conquered, etc.

we could have:

Revolutions and their causes
Ancient wars
modern wars
Political leaders
inventions during wars
cultural impact of wars
religious wars
civil wars
economic impact of war

Well, I guess that's my 2¢ maybe more like 5¢ or 10¢ but I like the discussion and everyone's interest.

>87 sturlington: I agree that we should take SFFCat off the list as it has been set up for 2017 as a Kit.

I will be participating most of the time no matter what challenges we end up with but at this point in time I am leaning toward the AwardCat, and CatWoman.

I like the idea of a mix of challenges where one or two require some planning like the AwardCat and then another is more spontaneous, like the RandomCat or CalendarCat, that allows you to go to your shelves and find something that matches that month's theme.

When we did the AwardCat before, we featured two very different awards each month so that if you didn't care for one of the awards there was another one that might appeal.

I'll try to participate regardless, but based on past experience, I have a feeling the only one I'd leave alone would be an awardcat. Even when there are two different awards, I'm just often underwhelmed by award winners (to the extent that it's hard for me to desire searching them out), and I also want to prioritize moving through the books that are already on mountainous TBR pile.

In terms of the CultureCat, I think that, ideally, any given month's host could try to suggest both fiction and nonfiction to fit the category. The nonfiction would be pretty easy to find based on a reader's interest and basic tags, but I know there's fiction out there also for each category. Just offhand, I can think of fiction to go along with the all of the categories I mentioned as ideas Except for global warming. It would just be one of those things to be aware of when introducing each month, like folks have mostly done with the GeoCat this year in terms of pointing out different directions that could appeal to various readers. >89 cyderry:, I'm 100% positive that most of my reading for even the CultureCat would also be fiction, for at least 8 of the months, I'm sure, knowing me.

>91 whitewavedarling: There are lots of sci-fi books featuring the future after the effects of global warming.

If SFFkit has knocked itself off, how about another MysteryCAT? We had one two or three years ago and I found some good authors through it.

>89 cyderry: How do you find a bio/memoir of a fictional character? Are you talking about books like Madame Bovary, Doctor Zhivago, the Scarlet Pimpernel? I don't understand that one.

I just did a search for "fictional biography" and specified Tags. Quite a bit came up. I see one for Sherlock Holmes ("Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective"), Cleopatra ("The Memoirs of Cleopatra"), oh, another one for Holmes, I see one for Miss Marple. Those are just a few I'm seeing listed there, but there are lots more.

How would travelogues get in there?

Many travelogues are also memoirs. "A Walk in the Woods", "Travels with Charley", "Eat Pray Love", Hitching Rides with Buddha"...

I'm likely to participate in whatever gets chosen, though AwardsCAT will likely be the trickiest for me.

Most appealing of the new suggestions for me are probably BioCAT, CultureCAT, and SeriesCAT at this point. And, of course, RandomCAT is always fun.

I liked the idea of CalendarCAT, but as others have pointed out, that gets very tricky with such an international group like we have.

I know people say YA can be slotted into whatever other CAT is chosen, but one can say that about many of the proposed CATs. We worked biographies into HistoryCAT a couple years ago. CATWoman can easily be worked into any other CAT, as well. As could Awards and Genres. Just putting that out there - that there are lots of CATs that can be worked "into" others.

I also really enjoyed the MysteryCAT.

I guess my preferences in the above post are 3/4 new CATs. Of potential returning CATs, I like all three of Random, History and Mystery.

(I am thinking, though, that a more specific focus for the HistoryCAT for an entire year might be a bit too much of that one topic for me, personally!)

I like calendar cat and I think it could be modified to include international holidays and such.

>98 Tess_W: I don't see why not either. We could use many country's holidays, other religious holidays than Christianity (Diwali, Chinese New Year etc), birthstones, names of moons, astrology, astronomy, major historical happenings (what month was the Magna Carta signed) for instance, etc.

>99 majkia: I like these ideas. Here are some fun (IMO)designations by month that we could use.

March
Youth Art Month
April
National Poetry Month
May
National Bike Month
July
National Ice Cream Month (United States)
September
National Honey Month
November
National Novel Writing Month
December
National Egg Nog Month
National Fruit Cake Month
National Pear Month

There are all kinds of different ones for health issues and heritages that could also be considered.

Personally, I'd definitely want to do National Ice Cream Month!

>100 cyderry: I don't see what those things have the least to do with books, aside of poetry/novel. I don't understand what one is supposed to do with such "categories" as "honey" and "ice cream" and "eggnog" regarding books. >.>

Not to mention that I thought we were going to try to not be US-centered.

What if we sort of combined the idea of CultureCAT and CalendarCAT and made a very, very loose reading challenge where we individually choose a holiday or monthly theme celebrated in our country or a country of our choosing that relates to a book we read that month. In this case, we would be sharing and learning more about a holiday we might not have heard of or known about rather than actually reading books in common. And we'd see different holidays from all over the place each month. I personally think it would be interesting to see what different countries celebrate in different months. Even if I didn't participate with a reading challenge I would be much more interested in checking out the CAT thread each month to see everyone's different holidays. And since there is very little actual book overlap in most CAT months, I don't think this would harm the idea of coherence.

Just a thought!

>103 japaul22: That's an interesting take on it.

There are a whole bunch of INTERNATIONAL" holidays:"
World Braille Day
World Leprosy Day
International Day of the Seal
International Midwives Day
World Turtle Day
International Day
World Nurses Day

Just to name a few.............

I don't see how the culture idea would combine with the calendar. Those ideas are utterly different. A more "personal culture" approach to the calendar is an entirely different idea, that may or may not work out/be desired, but it is completely unrelated to the idea of the CultureCAT proposed and shouldn't be conflated as such.

I think what it does is take people's individual cultures/holidays and puts them into the CalendarCAT.

>105 Tess_W: Here is a list of international observances:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_observances

I think many of these suggest broad reading themes:

January: New Year's Day, International Day of Commemoration in Memory of Victims of the Holocaust

February: World Valentine Day, World Day of Social Justice, International Mother Language Day

March: International Women's Day, World Poetry Day, International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Slavery

April: World Autism Awareness Day, International Children's Book Day, International Mother Earth Day, World Book and Copyright Day

May: International Workers' Day, World Press Freedom Day, Time of Remembrance for Those Who Lost Their Lives in World War II, International Day Against Homophobia, Geek Pride Day

June: International Children's Day, World Music Day

July: International Day of Friendship

August: International Day of the World's Indigenous People, International Youth Day

September: International Translation Day

October: World Food Day, International Day of Older Persons, World Cities Day

November: Day of the Imprisoned Writer, World Philosophy Day,

December: International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Human Rights Day

>107 LibraryCin: But that's not remotely like what the CultureCAT was suggested as.

No, but it could be an additional suggestion. It is more the CalendarCAT than CultureCAT.

Or, it could be considered a variation on the CalendarCAT (in addition to the international suggestions that are being mentioned).

Not ones that appeal to me: BioCAT, SeriesCAT, YACAT (young adult/children's)
Maybe: GenreCAT, AwardsCAT (I did not like how this was done last time and would like something different if it is repeated)
Stronger leanings; RandomCAT ( I find that this one often does not work for me though), HistoryCAT, MysteryCAT,
New ones that I think have real possibilities: CultureCAT (Cultural Studies/Current Issues), CATWoman, CalendarCAT

>110 LibraryCin: Right, as I said, it's a fine suggestion for the calendar theme.

>92 LisaMorr:, That's a great idea! I figured somebody would see I got stuck on that one and be able to fill in the blank immediately :)

Meanwhile, I have to add that I'd like the idea of a calendarcat a lot more if it were based more on what's suggested by >108 sturlington: above in post 108. On one hand, I like the idea of learning about other country's calendars/holidays, but the truth is that I'm not all that inclined to celebrate (U.S.) holidays with reading. Halloween is the one exception, I guess, since I love horror, but when it comes to other holidays, they're enough in the air without my trying to fit them into my reading. That said, I look at some of the days mentioned (National Honey Day, National Ice Cream Day, World Braille Day, World Leprosy Day) and I have No idea how I'd translate them into reading and still be able to read from my TBR mountain, large as it is, so I think we'd potentially have to include a number of 'days/holidays/celebrations' in order to make it really work.

What about pulling a prominent national holiday from several countries?

May Day is celebrated in many countries and is the equivalent of the US's Labor Day, so books about work, unions or socialist movements would fit. Likewise, Remembrance Day in November, which would fit books about war, the homefront or the aftermath of wars.

And then, with specific countries, we could either choose a few national days (like Independence Day or Bastille Day), or interesting holidays (like Hallowe'en or Diwali (Festival of Light) or Three Kings Day or Hogmanay). We could have a lot of fun coming up with holidays for each month that are interesting, international and provide ample book choices.

That said, if we were deciding today, I'd choose the CATWoman, the AwardCAT and the RandomCAT. But I haven't seen any suggestions that haven't had some appeal, although I don't know if the SeriesCAT or the GenreCAT would be challenges I could participate in every month. But I don't manage that no matter what CATs are on offer.

I think we can get so much out of the holiday theme. Just for example, May Day----it originated in pre-Christian times with the Romans--goddess of flowesr. Type of books from this: pre-christian Roman history, Roman mythology, . It was adopted by the Celts-lot of good reading there. May Day was abolished by the Puritans but re-instated by Charles II. Reading possibilites: The English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell lead the Roundheads, Charles II abdicates and William and Mary comes to the throne via The Glorious Revolution. To more modern themes: The Socialists chose May Day as the International Workers Day, specifically to commemorate The Haymarket Affair--lots of reading possibilities there. I'm sure I've only touched the surface because I only had 2 minutes!

National Leprosy Day-Ben Hur's mother and sister in a leper colony, how about any book about a disease--The Hot Zone-about ebola. Also there is the Moloki Leper Colony. World Braille Day-Louis Braille, of course, numerous people who have overcome their blindness to go on to greater things. There are so many possibiliites!

National Leprosy Day-Ben Hur's mother and sister in a leper colony, how about any book about a disease--The Hot Zone-about ebola. Also there is the Moloki Leper Colony. World Braille Day-Louis Braille, of course, numerous people who have overcome their blindness to go on to greater things. There are so many possibilities!

It seems RandomCAT is the only CAT that is some kind of challenge for me so that one is at the top of my list. I'd also vote for CATWoman and AwardsCAT.

>117 Tess_W:, There are definitely tons of possibilities--I don't doubt that! I just know how many of us try to prioritize our TBR piles at home, and could find such specific themes difficult. For the folks who use the challenges to get out of their reading comfort zones, though, it could be ideal to focus on something like National Leprosy Day or World Braille Day, etc....

Here's a list of some INTERNATIONAL/WORLD DAYS and what months they are celebrated. Don't you think we could take such a list and find books related to those days for a CalendarCAT? Some days are amusing (International Toilet Day or International No Diet Day) and some more serious (International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or World Day Against Child Labour) There are more than this list but I think with multiple days each month (maybe 4-5) we could find a book related to one of the topics.

Would this work do you think?

January
• Intl Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust – Jan 27
• International Street Children's Day – January 31
February
• World Wetlands Day – February 2
• World Cancer Day – February 4
• World Radio Day – February 13
• World Day of Social Justice – February 20
• International Mother Language Day – February 21
March
• Self-injury Awareness Day – March 1
• World Wildlife Day – March 3
• International Women's Day – March 8
• World Consumer Rights Day – March 15
• World Sleep Day – March 18
• International Day of Happiness – March 20
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – March 21
• International Day of Forests – March 21
• International Colour Day – March 21
• World Poetry Day – March 21
• World Water Day – March 22
• World Tuberculosis Day – March 24
April
• International Children's Book Day – April 2
• World Autism Awareness Day – April 2
• World Health Day – April 7
• International Romani Day – April 8
• World Hemophilia Day – April 17
• International Day For Monuments and Sites - 18th April
• Earth Day – April 22
• World Book Day – April 23
• International Sculpture Day - 24th April
• World Malaria Day – April 25
• World Intellectual Property Day – April 26
• International Dance Day – April 29
• International Jazz Day – April 30
May
• World Laughter Day – First Sunday of May every year
• International Workers' Day – May 1
• May Day – May 1
• World Press Freedom Day – May 3
• Remembrance of the Dead – May 4
• International Midwives' Day – May 5
• International No Diet Day – May 6
• International Nurses Day – May 12
• International Day of Families – May 15
• International Day for Biological Diversity – May 22
• World Turtle Day – May 23
• World Multiple Sclerosis Day – May 25 1
• International Missing Children's Day – May 25
June
• World Environment Day – June 5
• D-Day – June 6
• World Oceans Day – June 8
• World Day Against Child Labour − June 12
• World Blood Donor Day – June 14
• World Refugee Day – June 20
• International Yoga Day – June 21
• International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking – June 26
July
• World UFO Day – July 2
• World Population Day – July 11
• World Day for International Justice – July 17
• International Tiger Day – July 29
August
• International Beer Day – First Friday of August
• Friendship Day – First Sunday of August
• International Youth Day – August 12
• International Lefthanders Day – August 13
• World Mosquito Day – August 20
• International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition – August 23
• Women's Equality Day – August 26
September
• International Day of Charity – September 5
• World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10
• International Day of Democracy – September 15
• International Talk Like a Pirate Day – September 19
• International Day of Peace – September 21
• World Car Free Day - September 22
• World Tourism Day – September 27
• World Heart Day – September 29
• World Mathematics Day - September 30
October
• World Habitat Day – First Monday of October
• World Sight Day – Second Thursday of October
• International Coffee Day – October 1
• World Vegetarian Day – October 1
• International Day of Non-Violence – October 2
• World Animal Day – October 4
• World Teachers' Day – October 5
• World Mental Health Day – October 10
• International Day of the Girl Child – October 11
• World Standards Day – October 14
• World Food Day – October 16
• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – October 17
• United Nations Day – October 24
November
• World Pneumonia Day – November 12
• World Kindness Day – November 13
• World Diabetes Day – November 14
• International Men's Day – November 19
• World Toilet Day – November 19
• Universal Children's Day – November 20
• World Television Day – November 21
December
• World AIDS Day – December 1
• United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities – December 3
• International Volunteer Day – December 5
• World Soil Day – December 5
• International Civil Aviation Day – December 7
• International Anti-Corruption Day - December 9
• Human Rights Day – December 10
• International Tea Day – December 15

Are we actually planning to hash out the exact things that would go in the calendar option before even voting to see if people want it?

>121 .Monkey.: I think we are trying to get an idea of what a CalendarCat would look like so we have a good idea of what we are voting for.

>120 cyderry: Thank you for listing all those holiday choices! Perhaps if voted in, the host of each month for this Cat could provide us with a few choices so those of us reading from our TBR's have a selection to choose from. I think this Cat could be a nice change from the RandomCat.

I think it would work as long as it wasn't just one or two days per month. I'd think 3-5 days would be workable for most folks...

I think we do need something like CalendarCAT fleshed out a bit so that we'll know what we're voting on.

If we were voting today, my votes would go to AwardCAT, RandomCAT, and CatWoman.

We can take some time to flesh it out.

>120 cyderry: There are some good options there!

There are more international Days - I was just trying to give an idea

I'm not sure I'd be interested in learning more about these artificially created "international" holidays. They seem unnatural and disconnected. Does anyone outside a few PR people pay attention to any of these? I'm sure I'll be able to coincidentally fit a book or two into this CAT if it's chosen, but it lacks meaning to me. (with apologies to anyone for whom one of these days is deeply meaningful.)

On the other hand, it is a fun, if arbitrary, way to pull a book or two off of the tbr or library shelf. I would like to know what the CalendarCAT would look like before we vote.

I agree with >129 RidgewayGirl: 100%.

I had started a potential challenge idea for next year using some holidays as categories: i.e. New Year's Day for books published in 2017, etc. but am probably not going to go with it as I'm planning an open read year right now. But in looking for "holidays" to go with categories I like to read, I agree with Kay that most of them are just made up and carry no significance to anything. (National Toilet Day - really?) I don't really have any other ideas than the ones that have been mentioned as potential ways to interpret a Calendar Cat. I sort-of like the idea of letting each person pick whatever day they want and explain the holiday as well as the book they chose. I could see this as a way that I could learn more about holidays in other countries that I'm not that familiar with.

>131 dudes22: I agree. Most of these ridiculous "holidays" are bs invented by god knows who for god only knows what purpose, and quite few of them lend themselves to books. It may be less cohesive in nature than the themes usually are, but I think for it to be a viable option, the calendar theme needs to be open to the individual to do how they see fit ...with a nudge to use local holidays, lol.

>131 dudes22: and >132 .Monkey.: I think that would make it more like the RandomCAT than like the more structured challenges, for people to interpret as they see fit. You could also structure it for yourself around seasons or whatever monthly associations you see fit. I'm not sure how happy most people would be with that lack of structure, especially if we also have the RandomCAT. Would we want to decide before voting whether the CalendarCAT would be structured or more loose?

Well I for one would prefer a less-structured calendar over the random being around yet again.

To be honest, the 2 categories I am most likely to participate in have been taken out of the running by being made into KITs before we even started voting (AlphaKIT and SFF). I can't see myself having the interest or energy in taking part in 3 CATs plus 2 KITs especially as none of the proposed categories here particularly interest me.

I am curious about the reasoning behind selecting certain categories to be ruled to be KITs so early...

>135 leslie.98: I'll let the Kit organizers speak for themselves on that one, but there is nothing to prevent us from having fewer CATs. I'll set up a poll on the number if you all want to vote on that.

I can usually make the alphakit fit in among my other challenges/reading, so I guess I don't particularly consider that one a challenge unto itself. I don't know if any others feel the same, though, of course...

I do think having both the RandomCat and the CalendarCat (however structured or unstructured) could be somewhat repetitive, though. Much as I'm partial to the RandomCat, perhaps an early vote should be on whether we should be limited to only one of the two? In other words, if both were in the top three of final votes, then the one with fewer votes would be eliminated just so that we'd avoid having both? I suppose another option would be to strongly suggest the monthly hosts for RandomCat not base their themes on the calendar, but I'd still be in favor of just doing only one of these two options (maximum, not guaranteed) as a Cat, regardless.

>136 sturlington: Don't bother on my account. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I agree with >137 whitewavedarling:, having both a RandomCat and CalendarCat would be quite repetitive. I think one or the other would be the way to go. To my way of thinking the monthly host of CalendarCat could highlight a few holidays or important dates for the month and then it would be up to the participants to interpret how those themes would fit the books they decide to read.

Much the same as RandomCat, for example one month the theme of RandomCat was "Camping" but each participant chose their books according to what this meant to them. Some read of family camping trips, others read of wagon trains while others chose to read fantasy/sci-fi quests - but all touched on camping in some way.

With CalendarCat if the host chose the themes of Women's Equality Day and/or International Day of Remembering the Slave Trade and It's Abolition and/or International Youth Day (using August as an example), then the participants could read a book that they felt fit any or all the themes. They could chose to read a YA story about a woman slave which would cover all three or they could just pick one of presented topics to read about.

In this way the only difference between RandomCat and a CalendarCat would be that the host wouldn't have to think up a theme instead they would chose two or three from the holiday list.

I would love to do AwardsCAT or MysteryCAT again. SeriesCAT and BioCAT also sound good.

I've really enjoyed participating in the CATs, so I'll probably join in, no matter which ones end up being chosen.

WRT AphaCAT or KIT, most folks after we'd done it as a CAT the first year, said it was too general given there are two Letters per month only. At the same time, a lot of folks really like it to help ruffle through their TBR so they have a more reasonable number of books to choose from.

I'd have no objection to folks voting on it for a CAT, but those of us who use it wanted to be certain we had one version of it for next year.

I think we are getting close to being ready for a vote, but the CalendarCAT feels fairly nebulous to me, so let's do a poll.

We should also vote on whether we want to have both a RandomCAT and CalendarCAT or only one of these.In other words, we are voting to have either a RandomCAT or CalendarCAT if they both win, but not to have both in the same year. If neither win, this won't affect the final results. Vote yes if you agree with this. Vote no if you think that if both CATs win, they should both become official CATs.

I'll leave voting open over the weekend.

Based on the votes, it looks like the majority of folks would like CalendarCAT to be less structured, with participants choosing their own holidays/themes for each month. It also looks like most people would not want to have RandomCAT and CalendarCAT in the same year, so only the one that gets the most votes will become an official CAT, if it's in the top three.

Are we ready to vote on CATs now? If so, I'll set up a new thread for that.

I'm really hoping that CatWoman will win this year. I like the topics suggested in >23 japaul22: although I would suggest placing one of the awards suggestions with a choice of a form of literature such as "Plays or Poetry" and use the genre for types of books such as mysteries, SciFi, etc.

Classics by Women
Modern Novels by Women
Bailey's Prize Winners or nominees (formerly Orange Prize)
Other Prize Winners (Nobel, Pulitzer, etc.)
Regional reading (Middle Eastern women authors, Asian, African, etc)
African-American Women Authors
Lesbian Literature
Children's Book Favorites
Feminist Literature or Non-fiction
Biographies of Women
Autobiographies by Women
Genre Reading (mysteries by women, SciFi by women, Poetry, etc.)

However, I'm certainly open to other suggestions -- or to leaving it the way proposed by japaul.

The voting thread is open here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/234010#

Voting will go on through October 10.