2019 CalendarCAT Planning Thread

Welcome to CalendarCAT planning!

For this CAT I don't think we need a theme for each month, but leave it up to the host to suggest significant dates on the calendar. I was thinking we might want include authors or titles that include the month, like Enchanted April or April Henry. If this is ok with everyone, we are ready for volunteers to make themselves known.

A few Wikipedia sites that might help the hosts:

Holidays calendar 2019: http://www.holidayinsights.com/everyday-2019.htm
Multinational festivals and holidays: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multinational_festivals_and_holidays
Holidays by country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_holidays_by_country
National days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_day
Minor secular observances: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_secular_observances
Literary birthdays: http://librarybooklists.org/literarybirths/bjan.htm

As majkia pointed out we can also use birthstones, birth flowers, zodiac signs, etc.

Volunteer host names are listed here:

January: VivienneR

February: clue

March: LittleTaiko

April: majkia

May: DeltaQueen50

June: MissWatson

July: LadyoftheLodge

August: pamelad

September: The_Hibernator

October: LisaMorr

November: Kristelh

December: LibraryCin

I will volunteer for November or December.

I'll volunteer for April

Done! Thanks.

>1 VivienneR:, For what it's worth, I think I'd be more likely to participate consistently if we included instances of the month appearing in the title or author's name--that would make planning ahead quite a bit easier without my having to research all of the potential holiday connections.

>5 whitewavedarling: Not sure what you mean. My idea is to leave it up to the hosts each month to suggest significant dates on the calendar (National Cat Day, Halloween, Valentine's Day, birthday...) with an option for using the month's name in title or author open to the participant.

In previous CATs we often get questions from group members asking if their choice would fit the category description. In this CAT any significant date would be acceptable, not necessarily that suggested by the host, as would the name of the month in title or author name.

I hope this explains a bit better.

I've added some Wikipedia lists in the opening post that might help hosts - and participants - find dates to inspire reading.

If I am understanding this correctly, we are using the name of the month in title or author, international days like International Book Day which hosts can research, and our locally significant days whose date may vary from country to country such as Independence Day or Mother's Day. Is that right?

That's right, Robert. Although it seems a bit of a stretch to think we might find many authors or book titles with the name of a month, the option is available.

we can also use birthstone, birth flowers, zodiac signs, etc. lots of choices.

>10 majkia: Thanks, Jean. I forgot to add those options. I'll include them in the header description.

I'll take January to get the year started.

I am excited for this Cat. I will host May if it's available.

Welcome aboard, Judy!

>6 VivienneR:, No worries. I know the hosts will be offering particular suggestions, but I was just chiming in to say that I like your idea of including the months in titles/authors' names, as that will make it possible to plan ahead for some months without researching holidays/celebrations. I'm just lazy when it comes to research, but at the same time I like to plan ahead wherever possible :)

>15 whitewavedarling: Ah, I see. I like to plan ahead too but this is an easy CAT to research. You could even use your birthday or an otherwise special date in your life.

For including names, April, May, and June could work. March could be a last name. :-)

Sounds like fun - can I have October?

How about using names of main characters?

>19 hailelib: Seanan McGuire's series has October (Toby) Daye as a main character.

>17 LibraryCin: I don't see why not. I immediately thought of the March sisters in Little Women (although I won't be reading it).

>18 LisaMorr: Great, Lisa, October is yours!

>19 hailelib: Again, I don't see why not. It's your challenge, you can set the rules.

>20 owlie13: Good one!

>20 owlie13: Good idea for characters, as well. August is a name, too.

I would like to do August.

Done! Thanks, Pamela.

Go ahead and put me in for December.

Great! Thanks, Cin.

I remain a little conerned that this will be very similar to RandomCAT, where people often take an event during the month as the theme for the CAT. Take this month, the theme of RandomCAT is money because the budget happen in November. Could this just end up being all very similar?

>27 Helenliz: I would not be too worried about this. There's always the potential of the CATs having an overlap, but I'm sure they will not be too similar. The CalendarCAT will suggest different ways a book may tie into the month, whereas the RandomCAT will surely link to no more than one of these options and allow us to pick up books that would not fit here. Plus it's always fun to see if one can find a book that fits into all the CATs proposed...

>27 Helenliz: The variety of events to choose from each month should ensure a much broader choice of reading than RandomCAT. Each person who participates might choose a different event. I see it as offering as much variety as this year's ColourCAT.

>28 sushicat: I agree. Although I only count my books in one CAT it's fun to see how many times we can hit two CATs or even get a CATTrick.

Don't forget we still have some openings available for hosts!

I see the June slot is still open – I could take that.

It's yours! Thank you Birgit.

I will take July--that is my birthday month. I might need help setting up though.

I'd take September if people would be willing to do a suicide prevention month (Suicide Prevention Day is Sept 10th). But I understand if that is too depressing a topic...

>33 The_Hibernator:, there really are so many good books that address this issue and if people don't want to, then they can choose something else about the month; Sapphire for birthstone, or an author born in September. The options are really endless.

Oh, my understanding was that I was supposed to pick a theme....

>35 The_Hibernator:, I think you can but I think it is also fairly open to other options, but if I have that wrong Vivenne will set it straight.

>32 LadyoftheLodge: You have it! Thanks, Cheryl.

>33 The_Hibernator: September is yours, Rachel.

And I guess I wasn't very clear on the matter - we will all make our own choices for the date or event. No need for everyone to do the same topic although you might inspire others to use the date.

>34 Kristelh: "The options are really endless."

That's what I am beginning to think too!

>36 Kristelh: You have it right. I think it will be fun to see what everyone chooses.

Only two months left open! Grab one now before they're all gone!

* bump *

We still need hosts for February and March. Any takers?

I'll take March.

Thank you, Stacy! March is yours.

I can take February.

>42 clue: Wonderful! I'll add you to February.

Thanks everyone for hosting the months of this challenge!

My thanks to all the volunteer hosts. I'm sure it will be a fun challenge.

I'll be posting the January thread in the first week of December because I'll be away from home mid-month.

It will also be time to visit all the 2019 threads posted already. I try to wait until at least December before I start thinking about the new year but I have to admit I've been tempted to have a peek.

wiki is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2019_CalendarCAT

>46 majkia: Thank you, Jean. Your help is very much appreciated.

>47 VivienneR: You are most welcome.

The January thread has been posted: https://www.librarything.com/topic/299779

The February thread has been posted: https://www.librarything.com/topic/302424

Apparently this is the International Year of the Periodic Table, so chemistry and elements would fit any month :-)

The Marc thread is up. https://www.librarything.com/topic/303854#

April thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/304803

May thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/305915

June thread is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/306996

July thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/308006

August thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/308875

I have finished A Guide to Birding by Joseph Forshaw and others. It's not a strong identification guide unless you are new to identification in your area of the U.S., but the additional information, and there's a lot of it, is great.

Our September host is not responding so I have taken the liberty of stepping in for her.

September thread is posted here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/310354

October thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/311238#

Sorry, posted in the wrong place!

November Calendar thread is up; https://www.librarything.com/topic/312158#

The 2020 Planning Thread for CATs next year has started here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/312074#6945930

The 2020 CATs Voting thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/312553

I'm scheduled to do December's CalendarCAT. I know the 15th is Friday. I should have had a reminder in my calendar to work on it this past weekend, but it seems I didn't. (I ended up with company on the weekend, so may not have had time to work on it, anyway.) I will probably not get it posted until Sat or Sun this weekend. Just an advance fyi.

December CalendarCAT is posted:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/313103