GeoCAT Planning Thread

Welcome to the 2023 GeoCAT! Themes and hosts for each of the month are listed below.

January -- Central and Eastern Europe (Jackie_K)
February -- A place you would like to visit (mathgirl40)
March -- Australia & New Zealand (pamelad)
April -- South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (NinieB)
May -- Polar regions, islands, bodies of water (JayneCM)
June -- South Asia and South East Asia (MissBrangwen)
July -- Western Europe (susannah.fraser)
August -- Central and Western Asia (Tess_W)
September -- Africa (whitewavedarling)
October -- Canada and US (DeltaQueen)
November -- East Asia (MissWatson)
December -- Books you didn't get around to reading in the earlier months (Robertgreaves)

Our Wiki page is here:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/GeoCAT_2023

Here are suggested regions. The ones striked out have already been assigned to volunteers.

Central and Western Asia
Central and Eastern Europe
Polar regions, Islands, Bodies of Water
Canada and US
Australia & New Zealand
South America, Mexico, Central America and Caribbean
Africa
South Asia and South East Asia
East Asia
Western Europe

ETA: Feel free to suggest other geography-related themes. We don't have to cover all the regions listed above, and themes like "outer space" or "country I'd like to visit" would be fine.

I'd like to volunteer for Australia and New Zealand in March.

I'd like to do Polar regions, etc. in May please.

>2 mathgirl40: We've got Southern Africa and Northern Africa, but what about Central Africa?

>5 Robertgreaves: If I recall, I think Southern Africa was actually referring to all of Sub-Saharan Africa.

>3 pamelad: >4 JayneCM: Thank you! I'll add your names to the list.

>5 Robertgreaves: >6 sturlington: It seems that, in the 2014 GeoCAT, we did have "Sub-Saharan Africa". I'll update the entry in our list. Thanks for the correction.

>2 mathgirl40:. One year we did an optional area of focus for the various regions. Fo example, I hosted South America, and our focus was the Amazon River/Region.

When I hosted South America, I found that a lot of the material was also pertinent to Mexico and was sorry it was not included. However if we do Latin America including Mexico and Central America, that is a very large area. Doing the Caribbean by itself would be a very small region.

I would like to volunteer for Russia and the 'stans, Estonia, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania, and the Ukraine. How about August?

I look forward to trying to participate in this CAT next year, but feel that I know too little about any of the interesting* regions to offer to host.

* interesting being all bar the one I live in, of course.

I will take the month of February with North America - just let me know if Mexico is still to be included.

>9 Tess_W: If you don't want to do all of eastern Europe, would you do the whole of the former Soviet Union (FSU)? You've got most of it in your list, but Moldova, Latvia, Azerbaijan and Armenia are missing. (sorry, am a bit of a completist!)

I think this is the only CAT that I'll be semi-regularly dipping into this time.

>12 Jackie_K:
>9 Tess_W:
Yes, and Yes! I just thought eastern Europe proper (Serbia, Poland, etc.) should be a category by itself!

>8 sallylou61: I checked the Wiki pages of previous GeoCAT challenges and separating Mexico from the North America category would result in a better balance (in terms of books read, rather than land mass). It would be nice to put Mexico and Central America with South America, but as you point out, that would cause a different imbalance.

In 2014, we had Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean together, with South America on its own.

Does that sound reasonable to you and >11 DeltaQueen50:? I'll go ahead and temporarily make that change, but I'm open to adjustments if another division is preferred.

ETA: I changed "North America" to "Canada and US", as we had it in 2014, rather than list all the regions that were excluded.

>8 sallylou61: I would be happy for hosts to suggest an option focus region or city. If any host wants to include one, I'll make a note of it in our list.

>14 mathgirl40: That will work fine for me!

>9 Tess_W: Thanks for volunteering! About the comments from >12 Jackie_K: and >13 Tess_W: ... indeed, it is tricky splitting Europe up! It is true that this area is large enough to deserve 3 separate months. However, we only have 2 unless we combine 2 of the other regions.

I was thinking that Russia could belong to both Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and certainly some of the 'stans belong to Central Asia. Would it be best if we don't specify where Russia and the 'stans fit, but just have Eastern Europe and Central Asia as our two categories, and let readers decide where the book best fits?

Tess_W, I'll put you down for Eastern Europe for August for now, but if you'd prefer Central Asia, I can make that switch.

>10 Helenliz: If you'd like to volunteer for a region, please feel free to do so. I don't think it's necessary to know a lot about a region to be the host. If you're interested in learning more about a region, then that's a good enough reason to do it. :)

You can try to find published articles that feature lists of books or authors from the region, or get some recommendations from the Wiki lists of previous GeoCATs, if you want to give readers a starting point.

Wow, I didn't think it would be so hard to divide the world into 12 equal pieces! :)

After staring at the categories for a while, I'm inclined to think:
1. It's OK to have the regions overlap.
2. We shouldn't worry too much about actual geographic and political borders.

Sometimes a book may belong to one region because of current political borders but the cultural or historical themes make it fit more with another. So think of the regions as guidelines, so that we can all read books with some shared themes, and not as hard rules.

Having said that, I'm still open to tweaking the categories if there are better ways to divide up the world. :)

>16 DeltaQueen50: Thanks! Consider yourself signed up. :)

>19 mathgirl40: Almost impossible to divide world into 12 sections. Also, there might be someone who wants to host space, etc. I think even if some areas are omitted, they will find their way into our reading lives, nonetheless!

>21 Tess_W: Very true! We don't have to cover all regions. I think that was the case for the 2020 GeoCAT and it worked just fine.

Could I change to Central Asia in August? Please and thank you!

>23 Tess_W: Done! Central Asia is now assigned to you for August, and Eastern Europe is up for grabs again!

In which region does South East Asia belong?
I mean Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, ...

I would like to do either South Asia or East Asia (depending on where these countries belong) in June. Or should we adjust the region and I should just do South East Asia?

>25 MissBrangwen: Let's put South Asia and South East Asia together and I'll put your name down for that region for the month of June. Thank you for volunteering!

>26 mathgirl40: Excellent! Thank you!

I will do South America for April, please!

>28 NinieB: I've added you to the list. Thanks for volunteering!

>25 MissBrangwen: >26 mathgirl40: last time we included SE Asia with East Asia (I hosted), so it will be interesting to see the cultural influences from the other direction

>30 Robertgreaves: Yes indeed! I'm looking forward to seeing what books our readers will choose for this category.

I think there's a host shortage because there are so many CATs and KITs, so perhaps some of these regions could be combined into larger ones and run for two months.

I'm wondering if folks would be open to approaching some of the months in different ways, too? I'm a little overwhelmed, personally, by the thought of setting myself up to do research on a region and its authors, well enough to be a decent 'host'. But if we approached some of the categories more generally--things like 'read a book set in a country/city you've dreamed of going to, but not been', or 'read a book whose author comes from the same place as some of your own ancestors,' I know I'd feel more comfortable hosting, and perhaps others would also?

I'm also 100% fine with the way things are going now--just sharing why I'm kind of hanging back. (Note, I'm certainly not suggesting we change any plans that are already in place, and I wasn't around for initial discussions of the cat, so feel free to ignore me.)

>32 pamelad: That's certainly a possibility. I'm inclined to wait just a bit longer in case we get more volunteers, but it's a good idea.

>33 whitewavedarling: In the 2020 GeoCAT, there was a combination of regions and more general topics. I listed the regions as a starting point, but I'd definitely be open to using other topics for some of the months. One topic I'd love to see is "a book set in a place you plan to visit soon", as I always try to read books about a place in advance of a visit.

So feel free to offer some suggestions and/or volunteer for a month!

Please keep in mind that we don't need to have coverage of all the regions of the world and if you do want to host a region, you don't have to be very knowledgeable about the subject to act as a host.

I can take Western Europe in July.

>35 susanna.fraser: Thank you for volunteering! I've added your name to the list in the first post.

>33 whitewavedarling: I find GeoCAT a bit daunting because sometimes it's not easy to come up with a book that fits as well as satisfying my reading preferences. I'm all in favour of reading a book with any kind of connection to the country: author, setting, country or personal, e.g. would like to visit.

>33 whitewavedarling: I like this idea a lot!

I could host central & eastern Europe in January.

>33 whitewavedarling: Great idea!

ETA: I could do East Asia in November.

If nobody else wants it, I could try "Books I didn't get round to in their proper month" for December.

>37 VivienneR: Yes, definitely! Any kind of connection to the theme is good. For example, you could choose the work of an author born in the region, even if the book is not set there, or a book about immigrants originally from that region.

Also, as we've discussed, a more general theme is fine too!

>39 Jackie_K: >40 MissWatson: >41 Robertgreaves: Thank you for volunteering! We're filling up all the slots nicely. The December choice is an especially good one. :)

We only have 2 slots left to fill, for September and October!

Of the regions originally listed, we have these three left:
Mexico, Central America and Caribbean
Sub-Saharan Africa
Northern Africa and the Middle East

Though it's not necessary to get complete coverage, I thought it would still be nice to have most regions represented.

Perhaps we could make Africa a single topic, and those reading books set in the Middle East can choose that month or one of the Europe months.
>23 Tess_W: Would it make sense to change "Central Asia" to be "Central and Western Asia" to cover those countries not in Africa?

Is anyone interested in volunteering for Africa? I could cover it myself, though I'd prefer to give someone else the chance, if anyone would like to take it.

For the final slot, we can do "Mexico, Central America and Caribbean" or split these among the two existing America slots, assuming >11 DeltaQueen50: and >28 NinieB: are OK with it, and have a general theme instead.

I'd hate to see Africa not covered, and if it's as general as 'Africa', I could cover that without a ton of extra research, so I'm glad to volunteer for that. I could do that in September?

>45 whitewavedarling: Thank you! Don't worry about doing a lot of research. In your opening message of the thread, you can just invite others to offer their recommendations.

>45 whitewavedarling: We also had an African Author read and it is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/343523#n7942232

>47 Tess_W: Thanks for sharing that link. That thread is a good resource.

>46 mathgirl40: and >47 Tess_W:, thank you!

We now have only October left. Since so many people like reading scary or spooky books for the Hallowe'en season, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in the following idea: "Scary place you'd like to visit".

I was thinking of books set in places like: isolated Nordic areas where a lot of Scandi-noir mysteries are set, deep in an Egyptian pyramid, the Tower of London, streets where Jack the Ripper roamed, forests of Transylvania, Bermuda Triangle, etc.

Unfortunately, October is the one month I cannot host. I'm co-organizer of a big work-related conference that always takes place the first week of November. (I'm just recovering from the last one!) So I'm tossing this idea out there in case someone else wants to adopt it, but I'm also open to other suggestions.

As mentioned, if we end up using a general theme for October, we'll add Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean to the other regions.

>47 Tess_W: Would you be OK with our changing "Central Asia" to "Central and Western Asia" to include the Middle Eastern countries not in Africa?

>50 mathgirl40: I think in the TravelKIT last year we had a month where we read books from/about places we'd like to visit. That was a nice free-for-all and might work well here.

>52 Jackie_K: Yes, that's a good idea too. I guess we'll wait to see if we get a volunteer for October and that person can decide on the theme.

>51 mathgirl40: that will work!

>54 Tess_W: Thanks! I've updated the list.

For our final slot, I'm inclined to go with >52 Jackie_K:'s suggestion of "A Place You'd Like to Visit". I can host it myself, but as mentioned, I expect to be very busy in October.

Would anyone be interested in swapping with me? It might also be better to have this open theme earlier in the year, as we have another open theme in December.

>55 mathgirl40: I will switch with you - you can have February and I will move Canada & the United States to October.

>56 DeltaQueen50: That's perfect, thank you!

ETA: I like that the "Place you'd like to visit" theme is early in the year, as we can check back in December to see if anyone was successful in reaching their destination. :)

We have our 12 themes and 12 hosts! Thanks to everyone who volunteered or contributed to the planning and discussion. I'm really looking forward to this CAT!

>11 DeltaQueen50: >28 NinieB: The region "Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean" did not get covered. I'm wondering if we should group these regions with South America, given >8 sallylou61:'s comments. Also, in previous GeoCATs, the US and Canada category gets filled up very easily, while readers have more difficulty finding books for regions where English is not the primary language. What do you both think of this plan?

>58 mathgirl40: Happy to include Mexico, etc. with South America during that month!

>59 NinieB: Perfect, thanks!

I've created our Wiki page: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/GeoCAT_2023
I've also added the link to the first message.

I've been reading with interest the discussion in the general thread (https://www.librarything.com/topic/345056) about the format of the CATs. It seems that some people are feeling overwhelmed by the challenges and many would like more flexibility.

I do not want to change the format for this year, since we've got all our hosts and topics. However, I'd like to suggest the following guidelines.

The host is not required to make an elaborate first post with images and list of resources. Some people like doing this and have the time and skill, and we do appreciate the effort. However, it is absolutely not necessary. The only requirement is that you start the thread (usually around the 15th of the previous month). It would be helpful if you could post the link in this thread and add the link to the Wiki page, but I can help with the latter if you're not familiar with editing the Wiki.

I'd prefer not to think of the challenge as, "Read a book about topic T in month M." Instead, I'd rather think of it as, "Let's start discussing books about topic T in month M." This means you can read a book about Africa anytime before September. When the September thread is created, please feel free to talk about the book then and add to the Wiki if you like. Also, there is no end date to any of the monthly challenges, so you can keep posting until the end of the year.

>62 mathgirl40: Oh I like the "Let's start discussing books about topic..." framework!

>62 mathgirl40: I agree. I only read the CAT and KIT books in the correct month about 50% of the time. I just have them as categories in my thread and read matching books when I get to them.
I am thinking maybe people were worrying too early - not everyone wants to start planning 2023 in October, so I am sure more people will join the group closer to the end of the year.

Hello all - can I ask a quick question? I'm hosting in January (Central & Eastern Europe), and I was thinking that it might make sense to include the European former Soviet states in that category, rather than with Central/South Asia later in the year. Does this make sense to people? (the former Soviet states I'd include are the 3 Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, plus Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Russia west of the Ural mountains).

>65 Jackie_K: Yes, that does seem to make more sense geographically!

>65 Jackie_K: Yes, that sounds fine to me. To be honest, I don't think of these regions as having strict boundaries, so I'm happy to let hosts and readers decide where the books fit best. For example, Wikipedia says that Kazakhstan is located partly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe, so it could be associated with either region.

January's thread is now up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346581#n8001871

If someone is interested in an extra year long Geo-based challenge (bonus points are always fun, right?), come join us in the Read Locally Challenge over in Reading Globally II (https://www.librarything.com/topic/345600).

Reading Globally II is the sister group of Reading Globally and covers the countries the big group excludes (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). The 2023 challenge tries to go locally into some of the areas covered by the group - local authors writing about and in local settings.

I seem to have missed February's thread, can someone point me in the right direction please.

>70 Helenliz: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347732#

>70 Helenliz: Sorry, I forgot to post it here. Thanks >71 Robertgreaves:!

>71 Robertgreaves:, >72 mathgirl40: thanks both. I'm not sure how I missed it, it has all the relevant words in the title! February & GeoCat.

>73 Helenliz: Also I forgot to pin it to the top of the group until the evening after you posted! February snuck up on me.

The March thread is up. https://www.librarything.com/topic/348590

>75 pamelad: Thanks for setting up the thread, as well as adding the link to the Wiki!

The April thread is live: https://www.librarything.com/topic/349432

May is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350250

The June thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350836

The July thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/351555

I am so sorry I took so long to get the September thread up! Here it is! https://www.librarything.com/topic/353067

The October thread is up and can be found here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/353627

November thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/354387#n8256387

The December thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355217