KITastrophe (or DisasterKIT) - any interest?

This is one I'd be interested in doing as a KIT. Someone suggested starting a new thread to see if others might be interested, as well.

katiekrug first suggested it here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/312074#6943176

These were some of her suggested themes:

"Fiction or nonfiction about or involving catastrophe/disaster.

Some possible topics:
Transportation
Hurricanes
Pre-1900
Famine/Drought
Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
Blizzards
Maritime
Historical fiction set during actual event
Nonfiction
War (maybe too broad)
Occurring outside the US (most of the books I could think of involved US disasters but that just may be my own bias or what's available to me) or Occurring outside your home country
Grab Bag/Miscellaneous

Fiction picks wouldn't have to be "about" the disaster, just feature a disaster as part of the plot (if that makes sense)."

Finalized Themes:

January: LibraryCin - Fires
February: majkia - Invasions
March: beebeereads - Epidemics and Famine
April: antqueen - Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
May: LisaMorr - Geologic Events (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, meteor strikes)
June: BookLizard - Man-Made
July: Dejah_Thoris - Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
August: sallylou61 - Transportation and Maritime
September: - Catch-up Month
October: Dejah_Thoris - Pre-1900
November: LisaMorr - Outside Your Home Country
December: tess_schoolmarm - Technology/Industrial

Transportation
Pre-1900
Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
Maritime
War (replaced with Invasions)
Occurring outside your home country
Grab Bag/Miscellaneous
Fires
Epidemics/Famine
Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
Geologic Events (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, and, perhaps meteor strikes)
Technology/Industrial

The link to the wiki:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/KITastrophe

I'm definitely interested.

Sounds interesting to me!

I read a book about the Hinckley Fire (Minnesota) in 1894 and it was a very hard read. It was written by a Swedish man who was there. It was translated into English in 1976. The reason I would read another book about disasters is because I learned so much. I knew there was a fire but did not know much about the destruction. Hinckley is about 45 minutes north of me.
Fires could be a category.

I'm always in for a good disaster read...call me crazy!

I'd be interested :)

>4 mnleona: Bushfires are always an issue here. I have Chloe Hooper's The Arsonist on my TBR, which is about the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia in 2009. And we currently have terrible fires burning, so early in the season.

Disasters always intrigue me. If we make this KIT happen, I'd like to suggest something like technology disasters - could be things like the space shuttle disasters, or maybe cyber crime, or Bhopal/Texas City/Macondo - do you think that would work as a theme?

>8 LisaMorr: I think that could work.

As I look closer, though I see Hurricanes and Blizzards listed, I don't see Tornadoes. Possibly another option? Or, if we have enough others, we could potentially combine those?

Or do other combinations: Land disasters could include Blizzards and Tornadoes, where Marine/Maritime disasters could include Hurricanes.

I confess, I adore a good plague book! What about a month devoted epidemics and famines? There are plenty of both fiction and nonfiction books to choose from.

Weather events: hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves.....

Geologic events: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, and, perhaps meteor strikes?

I like the transportation theme, and the idea of technological or industrial disasters.

There are many, many ways we could do this. We may end up being a small group, but I think the reading would be excellent!

>4 mnleona: I read a very good book about the Hinckley fire written by Daniel James Brown of The Boys in the Boat fame - Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894. I find fire very frightening, indeed. Fire could probably be a month on its own.

> Thanks. I may read another one for a prompt next year.
Hinckley is a nice town now and very busy.

I will do a new summary with topic options Sat or Sun.

I also wanted to know how many are willing to host a month? We seem to have a decent number interested, which makes me happy. I would like to host one month, and will do two, if necessary, but I want to be sure we have enough people to help out, otherwise!

>12 LibraryCin: I'll host a month - although my schedule may restrict which month.

All kinds of industrial disasters from the 1600's maple syrup disaster to Chernobyl? I could probably host a month, but if you get enough, I will bow out

I could host a month in the first half of the year. I'm hosting one for Reading Through Time on Epidemics, Famines and Other Health Disasters. I could overlap my research and host Famines/Droughts for this group. I don't know how many are dual enrollees in both groups. I'd be happy to choose Riots, Uprisings and Sieges instead. That one sounds like an interesting route to go as well.

Here is a summary of ideas. There was a suggestion here >10 Dejah_Thoris: that I thought was good that combined some of the separate ones listed. I added in the two combinations below, and put a strike through the ones that went into the combinations.

Even with the combinations, we still have 15 categories. Underneath this post, shall we discuss which to cut out? (Or are there more combinations people see?)

Transportation
Hurricanes
Pre-1900
Famine/Drought
Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
Blizzards
Maritime
Historical fiction set during actual event
Nonfiction
War (maybe too broad)
Occurring outside the US (most of the books I could think of involved US disasters but that just may be my own bias or what's available to me) or Occurring outside your home country
Grab Bag/Miscellaneous
Fires
Technology
Tornadoes
Epidemics/Famine
Industrial Disasters

Combinations:
Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
Geologic Events (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, and, perhaps meteor strikes)
Technology/Industrial

Personally, I'd probably not include the "occurring outside the US or home country". Just my personal opinion,

I don't always necessarily think a Miscellaneous category is needed, BUT in this case, my concern is if anyone comes up with a disaster that doesn't really fit into the other categories. At the same time, it might be an easy one to cut out.

Other thoughts? Should we just go ahead and take a week to vote on these? Or do we think we can simply cut out 3 via discussion?

Also, we have 4 of us who have said we'd host a month (me, Dejah Thoris, tess, beebee). I am willing to do two months (if necessary). We need 7 more! Who else would like to help host a month?

And, do we have a title preference (small thing, I know!). I still like KITastrophe (which probably would have worked better as CATastrophe, but I still like it!). But, DisasterKIT is the other options. Preferences? Should we vote?

I'll host a month.

And also, I was thinking that we could combine technology with industrial; it's quite often that the technology is part of the cause of the industrial disasters.

Oh - and I like KITastrophe!

>20 LisaMorr: Good thought! I crossed them off individually and combined them under Combinations.

So, just need to decide against two others, then we can start choosing who is doing which themes in which months.

>19 LibraryCin: >21 LisaMorr: I like KITastrophe, too!

Just a suggestion, how about deleting non-fiction and historical fiction? Those should be options for any category anyway, correct? So if they are, then they are duplicates.

>24 Tess_W: Good point! Let me see if that leaves us with 12, or if we still have to cut one out...

ETA: That leaves us with 12! Perfect!

I will edit the original post to show our 12 themes, so let's start picking with ones we want to host!

Oh, I made one other change... I put in
"Occurring outside your home country"

Instead of "Occurring outside the US"

Does that sound ok, or should we go with outside the US?

>26 LibraryCin: I think outside your home country is good!

>26 LibraryCin: Outside of home country works for me.

Oh, here I am getting everything set up, but we still only have potentially half the year with hosts (5 people, I'm willing to do 2 months).

We need more hosts!

I waited a bit to give others a chance to choose their month, but I'm going to go ahead and pick one. I'll pick another later after others also get a chance.

I'll plan for Weather Events in January.

I vote for KITastrophes as well.
I will do March with Epidemics and Famine. I gather the time frame on this does not have to be historic so we can use recent events. That should expand it from the similar topic on Reading Through Time in August. Does anyone object to my doing both...are you all in the RTT challenge as well? If so , don't hesitate to ask me to change topics.

>31 beebeereads: That is correct. We aren't restricting this to history. I am also in the RTT group so will be doing that one, as well.

Thank you for choosing one to host!

I will host technological/industrial. Can I have December?

I'll take Weather Events - June, please.

If we don't have enough hosts, I can take a second.

Thank you both!

And I will change my January one to Fire.

>35 LibraryCin: I'm sorry - had you already picked Weather? I'd be just as happy with geologic events. Or fires, for that matter.

Can I do geologic events in May?

Also, if necessary, I would volunteer for a second month - can I pick 'outside your home country' for November? And if someone else wants it, that's fine too.

>36 Dejah_Thoris: It's no problem! You go ahead. :-)

>37 LisaMorr: Thank you so much! I will add both of those in for you!

>38 LibraryCin: Thank you!

And re: Transportation and Maritime - are we excluding sea disasters from Transportation? If I end up taking April, the Titanic must be included.....

Transportation and maritime are very similar. I notice that maritime is defined as being the sea (which I would assume includes oceans). I'm willing to take transportation if it can include ship wrecks in lakes and rivers in addition to other forms of transportation such airplane wrecks, train wrecks, auto wrecks, etc. If it cannot include lakes and river wrecks, then I will decline hosting a topic for this challenge. I would like to do July if I host a month.

>41 sallylou61: >40 Dejah_Thoris: Hmmmm, good question.

In my mind, I had been thinking shipwrecks for Maritime (including Titanic), and Transportation as what you've suggested, Sally: airplane wrecks, train wrecks, auto wrecks, etc.

I was thinking Maritime as the ocean, yes, so in my opinion, I think travel on rivers and lakes would be ok for Transportation.

Trying to think of other Maritime disasters. I think the Halifax Explosion could be considered Maritime. There have to be others on the ocean.

Anyone else? Thoughts on that?

If we are all ok with that, it sounds like I could put Dejah_Thoris in April for Maritime and Sally in July for Transportation.

DT, it sounds like that's what you were thinking here >40 Dejah_Thoris: - am I correct?

>43 LibraryCin: I am definitely willing to take a second month and April/Maritime would be fine. But since I’ve already had a pick, I’d be happy to wait and see if anyone else wants it instead. I’m pretty interested in the pre-1900 idea, too, and if Aril suits someone else, I’m up for October, or in a pinch, August, although I may end up a host for MysteryKit.

Do you think we’ll see more potential hosts as more people find the 2020 group?

Do whatever you think is best!

>44 Dejah_Thoris: Oh, good thought! Let's hold off on adding you in for a 2nd one (I've been waiting a bit, myself).

I've also been thinking about the Maritime/Transportation overlap (Titanic, as the example).

Is it terrible if there is some overlap between themes? I'm thinking it could happen anyway. There might be a Marine disaster as a result of a Weather event!

So, maybe if people want to read Titanic for both Marine and Transportation, it's not so terrible. Or, one person wants Titanic for one month, and another wants it for the other.

How do others feel about that?

Another thought - where does tidal waves fit? I recently read a book where a tidal wave hit Newfoundland, can't recall the year. But, it's water/ocean, but the disaster was on land?

I'd probably use that for Marine, or we kept a Misc. one, didn't we? Ah, that could fit there!

>44 Dejah_Thoris: More potential hosts? That would be nice. I'm debating about mentioning it in the main planning thread, possible. Or, once I have KITastrophe added to the main info for the group as an additional KIT, maybe more will notice and pop in?

>46 LibraryCin: I think there will be overlap in many categories, and is only to be expected. Keeping Maritime as strictly ocean/sea is ok. I imagine we'll have overlap with Pre-1900, War, Industrial/Technology and Transportation. Some categories are narrower, and as such will be trickier - we'll just have to be more creative or look harder.

>47 LibraryCin: Both tidal waves and tsunamis seem to me to fall under the Geologic Events category, but it wouldn't be much of a stretch to consider them Maritime. I think we need to be flexible!

>48 LibraryCin: Perhaps more people will notice us when we're added to the group info. If not, we'll manage.

>49 Dejah_Thoris: Oh, yes - tidal waves/tsunamis = Geologic events. That makes sense!

I agree that there are a number of possible overlaps. Maritime and transportation could also overlap with war since a number of these disasters have been the result of war, especially those involving boats/ships, but also airplanes.

I notice that I have not yet been added to the schedule for July for transportation.

Overlaps are great---gives us more choices!

>51 sallylou61: I will add you in now. I was just waiting on confirmation that everyone was ok with our Transportation vs Maritime discussion and definitions!

We are still looking for people to host in February, April, August, September, October.

Themes still up for grabs are:
Pre-1900
Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
Maritime
War
Grab Bag/Miscellaneous

I'm still hoping we can get a few other people to help out before we have to start taking a 2nd month! Thanks!

I noticed that both TravelKIT and KITastrophe are at about half full for hosting. Would it make sense to combine the two KITs? There is some common ground.

>55 NinieB: The two KITs have different purposes, and I would prefer not to combine them even though several KITs have been suggested. The KITastrophe (or DisasterKIT) is concerned with disasters anywhere they may occur. The only topic they might have in common is modes of transportation which in TravelKIT does not specify transportation disasters.

I would like to keep them separate as I don't want to read about travel because I'm part of the geocat which is in some months somewhat like travelcat.

I agree with the ladies who have answered. I do agree that it would be nice if we had more hosts, but the two topics are quite different. The TravelKIT and GeoCAT are actually more similar, however, I still think the TravelKIT has a slightly different focus than the GeoCAT, as well.

>58 LibraryCin: I think TravelKIT has less of an emphasis on specific geographic locations, and more of a focus on different aspects of travel and locations. Both are good ideas, but differ. I think we are slowly getting more hosts for TravelKIT, now that the wikis are up. We have two more now for TravelKIT.

I'll host Riots/Uprisings/Sieges in April.

>60 antqueen: Yay! Thank you so much!

>59 LadyoftheLodge: I realize they aren't the same (I actually prefer the TravelKIT, since we've done GeoCAT a few times before!), but I just find those two "more" similar than TravelKIT and KITastrophe. That's all.

>59 LadyoftheLodge: Yep, I agree. I prefer TravelKIT myself for the same reason. Just looking for something different. I think we were saying the same thing actually. It is great to think alike!

>63 LadyoftheLodge: Yes, I think you're right!

>44 Dejah_Thoris: Should we start picking a 2nd month, for those of us willing to do that? If you want to do that, I can add you in for Maritime (though I think someone has since chosen April).

If you want to start on a 2nd month, I will also choose one myself.

I'll take a second month, if needed. Just sign me up for anything, anytime!

I'll take a month but I confess I'm not crazy about the remaining ideas. Can I instead do Invasions, rather than the overly broad topic of war?

>67 majkia: I don't have a problem with that. What month would you like?

>66 Tess_W: If DT still wants Maritime, that will leave Pre-1900 and Grab Bag/Miscellaneous between you and me, tess. I'm unsure which one I want. You don't have a preference?

I have no preference, you choose first!

I've already got a KIT for February, so how about I take August here.

>71 majkia: Sounds good! I'll add you in to August...

>70 Tess_W: ok, I'll get back to you on that!

>68 LibraryCin: I have no great devotion to Maritime Disasters. In fact, I think I’d rather have Pre-1900, if no one else particularly wants it. How about October?

>1 LibraryCin:, >71 majkia:, >74 Dejah_Thoris: Some of the ones left on the list might not be as appealing to read, especially since they have not been selected yet.

However, several of the months have so many topics someone could easily spend 2 months reading from the topics.
I was thinking that Dejah_Thoris could use both June and July for Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves), and I will take September and October for Transportation including Maritime.

For these double months, we would each only need to write one description, but label it June and July or September and October. Are you willing to have your Weather Events cover 2 months, Dejah_Thoris, and give up October so that I could have 2 straight months. That would leave only February not covered, and possibly you could do Pre-1900 then even if it overlaps with another CAT/KIT you might be hosting.

I will be hosting another CAT in October, and would have preferred August and September, but majkia already has August.

Or, we might be able to rearrange the months another way so that 2 topics each have 2 consecutive months.

>75 sallylou61: If you want August I'd be willing to take a different month.

>74 Dejah_Thoris: DT, I will put you in to October for Pre-1900.

Since you've changed your mind on which, I'd like Maritime.

Let me rearrange and see what's left...

>75 sallylou61: Ok, now I've read your suggestion. What does everyone think of sally's idea?

You would then be covering Maritime with yours (and I really wanted to include that one!), so let me rearrange that way.

I will put yours into August and Sept, as majkia has said she's willing to switch to a different month.

Let me see where that leaves us...

>76 majkia: That would leave you with February - is that ok?

I guess we also need confirmation from DT that she's ok with the additional suggestion, though it really doesn't require any additional work, if just one thread for both months.

So, this is what I've come up with:

January: LibraryCin - Fires
February: majkia - Invasions
March: beebeereads - Epidemics and Famine
April: antqueen - Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
May: LisaMorr - Geologic Events (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, meteor strikes)
June: Dejah_Thoris - Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
July: Dejah_Thoris - Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
August: sallylou61 - Transportation and Maritime
September: sallylou61 - Transportation and Maritime
October: Dejah_Thoris - Pre-1900
November: LisaMorr - Outside Your Home Country
December: tess_schoolmarm - Technology/Industrial

Majkia, are you ok with February?

DT, are you ok with the two months (but just set up for one thread, and your theme hasn't changed)?

That means just the "Grab bag/Miscellaneous" is not being used.

>80 LibraryCin: February is okay.

>80 LibraryCin: Looks good!

>80 LibraryCin: Sure, it works for me!

YAY! We are full, then! I will edit the wiki (have I posted the link here yet? I will scroll back and look!) to add everyone and our themes!

Oops, guess I didn't share the wiki link... I'll also add it to our first post, and it is already posted in the description for the group.

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/KITastrophe

>66 Tess_W: Tess, turns out we are both off the hook for a second month! I hope that's ok.

>86 LibraryCin: Works for me, I was just jumping as needed.

>86 LibraryCin: >87 Tess_W: Well, if anyone comes along and wants a month of their own, they can have one of mine - no problem. :)

By the way, I want to thank everyone for offering to host a month... and even more so, for those who are hosting more than one!

>89 LibraryCin: Yes, thank you to all the hosts!
I already have my book for January's theme of Fires - The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper. This is about the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 and it seems to be getting a wide reading, all over the world, at the moment.

I am very interested in doing this KIT as Disasters/Survival Stories is one of the categories I have selected for next year.

My January selection will be Flames of Fear: History of Tasmanian Bushfires from 1820 by Roger McNeice. Much of the book is devoted to the 1967 bushfires. The day of those fires, 7 February 1967, is the most clearly remembered, and the most frightening day of my childhood. My aunt and my uncle are mentioned in this book and I will be interested to see if anyone else I know is mentioned.

>91 Zozette: I remember Ash Wednesday from my childhood as I was 13 then. And of course, Black Saturday, as we live rurally and my hubby is a volunteer firie. That was a terrible time, very frightening. It is horrifying to see that 25% of fires in Victoria are deliberately lit.

>92 JayneCM: it looks like things are going to get even worse this fire season. Even Tasmania has already had bushfires this spring and if even Tasmania can get spring bushfires it shows how bad things are.

I have been looking for books for this challenge. I have been a little disappointed when looking for books on certain maritime disasters. There seems to be hundreds of books on the Titanic but few books on other maritime disasters. I have been looking for books on certain ships - the Birkenhead, The Cataraqui, the Loch Ard, The Lake Illawarra etc - I might end up with reading something on the Wilhelm Gustloff. I really would have liked to have found a good book on the Birkenhead (the first known ship to have decided on ‘women and children first’)

I am also having trouble choosing a book for the Riots/Uprising/Sieges category.

>93 Zozette: Don't know what area of the world you are looking in, but just my 2 cents:

The White Nile although not technically an invasion in the military sense, it tells the stories of the first travelers down the White Nile into Africa. A good read. There is also Through a Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec, 1775 which I think I'm going to read for the Sieges category. Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March has been recommended to me, but it's a chunkster at 656 pages.

For riots/uprisings I am looking for any part of the world but I would prefer UK or Australia preferable before about 1960. I might end up with reading something on the Luddites. Maybe the Eureka Stockade.

For invasion I have settled on a novel Terra Nullius which is about the invasion of Australia.

Edited to add: The Great Siege of Malta 1565 sounds interesting.

Don't forget the Vikings.

I have to keep repeating the mantra :READ FROM YOUR OWN SHELF, READ FROM YOUR OWN SHELF! There are so many of these kitastrophes I want to read!

>97 Tess_W: I have a similar mantra though for me it is ‘from my own shelf or available on Scribd’.

>93 Zozette: It is very worrying indeed. So far we have still been having rains so paddocks have not dried off. Our hot season doesn't seem to start until January and extends to the end of March/early April.

I was thinking of the Eureka Stockade too for riots/uprisings. Not sure if you would prefer fiction or nonfiction, but there are quite a few fiction choices - Journey to Eureka, The Night We Made The Flag, The Night They Stormed Eureka.
For non-fiction, I have had The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka on my list for a while as it is about the women. It is also being made into a TV series, which I look forward to watching. The pilot is being written by a script writer for Outlander and produced by the creators of The Secret River so should be good!

We live quite close to Loch Ard Gorge so often visit there. And the Loch Ard peacock is in a local maritime museum here. I wonder if there would be any books available there on it? I'm sure I have a small book in my shelf that was published by a local historian on the Loch Ard. I will try and find it. There are a few older OOP books on the Loch Ard but would be hard to find and I wouldn't think they would be on audio.

I was thinking of Eureka: The Unfinished Revolution by Peter FitzSimons but his books are so long. Eureka is 700 pages. All his books are well researched but I already have two on my TRB list by him (the one about Nancy Wake, and The Catalpa Rescue). I have already read his books on Burke and Wills, and his Ned Kelly book.

The book about the Eureka women sounds very interesting.

Today I found a Kindle book about the Loch Ard. It is Wrecks and Reputations: The tragic tales of the Schomberg and the Loch Ard by Don Charlwood so it looks like I will be reading it as it is only $3.99.

>100 Zozette: I recently read two by Don Charlwood: The Long Farewell, which is a memoir of flying with bomber command in WWII, and The Long Farewell, about life on the ships that carried convicts and settlers from Britain to Australia. Would recommend them both. I had a look for books on the Melbourne-Voyager disaster, but there isn't much: The Cruel Legacy; Voices from Voyager; Postscript to Voyager.

Just saw Where Fate Calls, which might be an alternative title for The Cruel Legacy, and Breaking Ranks, also about the Voyager disaster.

For one of the weather books I will probably read a book about Cyclone Tracy, maybe the one written by Gary McKay.

The other book I am listening to for weather is Nature’s Mutiny by Philipp Blom which is about the Little Ice Age in Europe.

For famine I have selected Three Famines by Thomas Keneally.

i Would like to recommend a book I listened to earlier this year as a good book for the Maritime category. It is When the Dancing Stopped by Brian Hicks which is about the fire aboard the Morro Castle back in 1934.

Other books I would recommend are

The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin.
Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo which is about the Great Boston Molasses Flood.
The Circus Fire by Stewart O’Nan
Two Minutes To Noon by Noel F Busch, about the 1923 Great Kano Earthquake, Japan.
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

I was going to recommend a couple of other books but then realised they were more survival stories rather than books about disasters,

Just joining in now and I have a question. Are we doing the same theme for a couple of months because there are so many books in those categories or because we ran out of ideas? I was thinking of a "human error" category, but the books I was thinking about could fit into other existing categories.

I don't want to say that this sounds fun because that sounds like I enjoy other people's misery, but sharing such interesting books with you sounds fun!

I suggested doing 2 months for a couple of categories because we were not getting volunteers and a couple of categories left just did not sound interesting to read. Several of the categories have numerous events listed under them. I offered to do 2 months for transportation and maritime which had been two categories with considerable overlap.

>105 sallylou61: Good to know.

I'm probably going to read a book or two about the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Actually, it was exactly 102 years ago today. This could cover about half of the topics - fires, geological events, weather, maritime, outside home country (for me at least), industrial. You can read a brief description on the cover of Curse of the Narrows.

>104 BookLizard: If you'd like to host a Human Error month, you are certainly welcome to one of the weather months - June or July. There's no doubt in my mind that there are plenty of disasters that fall into this category.

>107 Dejah_Thoris: >104 BookLizard: I like the idea. I was just holding off on commenting until DT weighed in on whether or not she wanted to give up a month!

>104 BookLizard: Just let us know if you'd like to host "Human Error" and if so, whether or not you'd like June or July.

>106 BookLizard: I imagine I'll be reading something on the Halifax Explosion at some point over the year, as well, but it doesn't fit the "outside home country" for me! Still plenty of months to fit one in.

And I think human error could fit into a lot of the categories, also: Fire, maritime, invasions, technology, etc.

Phyllis A. Whitney set The Fire and the Gold in the Great San Francisco fire. She set The Trembling Hills in the city's big earthquake. I remember enjoying both of these when I read them in the 1970s.

I'm willing to host in June, but Human Error does seem to overlap with a bunch of other categories, and I got to thinking, what if it's not exactly an error, but negligence or worse? If we had a "Man-Made" category, it would include other types of catastrophes such as ecological, economic, etc. or terrorism/mass violence. Of course, it would still cover human error, but would open up other possibilities as well. What do you think?

>112 BookLizard: I like the idea of a Man-Made category. It would overlap with some of the other categories where events are caused by human greed or carelessness, but, in my opinion, that would be fine. It might be practically impossible to differentiate between the other categories in a number of cases for those already set up.

>112 BookLizard: I'm happy with whichever one you'd like to host. That is a good point that "Man-Made" could encompass more than "Human Error".

I'm not sure if you want to wait on a few more opinions, or if you just want to make the decision to do "Man Made" in June. Let me know, and I'll change it!

>112 BookLizard: I would probably choose a human error related book anyway - looking at River of Lost Souls about the Gold King Mine spill, Out of the Channel on Exxon Valdez, Five Past Midnight in Bhopal or Rainbow Warriors, Eyes of Fire on the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (although the Rainbow Warrior bombing was not human error, of course, but human malice).

Great category whichever way you go with it!

If no one objects, I'll do Man-Made in June. It's silly, but I was feeling bad for singling out one person for "Human Error" when there are usually lots of circumstances leading to a catastrophe.

I looked through my books and I think that I might choose One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway for a Man-Made category.

>116 BookLizard: Thank you! I will update the first post and the wiki!

January KITastrophe has been posted here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/313973

February thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/315583

March thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/316724

Just an FYI...looks like I goofed on the title of the March thread. I did not include March as the first word. I don't think I can fix that now so be on the look out for KITastrophe: Epidemics and Famine. Not much activity there yet so I thought maybe some had missed it. Or maybe not much interest?

>122 beebeereads: Hopefully more people will join in, as the month gets going. Thanks for the heads up on the title of the thread!

>122 beebeereads: I spotted it, but I haven't gone through my stash to see what I might have. If nothing there I want to read (as I've already read most things on those topics that might have been in the stash, I suspect), I'll need to see what is available through the library or what I can find without spending much.

>123 LibraryCin: >124 thornton37814: No hurry at all...just wanted to make sure it was visible. Thanks for the response.

Thanks for the heads up - I usually do a search on the month to pick up all the CATs and KITs, but glad I stopped in here too!

April thread is up! https://www.librarything.com/topic/317678

Hi everyone, I'll have the May thread up by Saturday at the latest - sorry, having a brutal work week.

>128 LisaMorr: We still have plenty of time until May - don't sweat it! And I'm sorry about the brutal work week.

>129 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you - it was kind of a mind-numbing week and my brain has been frazzled!

And the May thread is posted: https://www.librarything.com/topic/319132

Probably many of us do not have books on hand to read on the various disasters during this pandemic. I have both August and September for Transportation and Maritime combined. Perhaps we could do both those topics in August and have September for a catch-up month to read books we were unable to access during the shut-down. I certainly hope by then things will be more back to normal by September although this might not have occurred.

What do people think about this suggestion?

>132 sallylou61: Just saw your suggestion in the other thread. I like it.

I can fix the wiki, and I can add a thread for September, directing/reminding everyone to post their reads and in the wiki in the month it actually fit.

I think it's a very good idea as well.

The June thread is posted: https://www.librarything.com/topic/320389

In case anyone missed the conversation in the May thread, August and September were going to be two months for the same topic. We've changed that due to not being able to access library books as readily, lately, so that September will now be a "catch-up month" instead.

I have changed the wiki to reflect this and will edit >1 LibraryCin:.

I will likely post a thread to remind people, but I think it would be good to still post your reviews in the "proper" thread for whichever topic your book covers.

It will probably be helpful if I post links to each of those threads in my post. We can also discuss our plans in that thread, as well, just not use it to report what you've read.

Hey everbody - I'm so sorry for the delay in getting the July thread up. I was called back to work late last week and I've been swamped. I'm still working this weekend, but I'll have them up ASAP.

Here's the July thread:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/321799

My thanks to everyone for their patience!

>138 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you!

I am working on the thread for August. Unfortunately, this week has been super-busy. I have three zoom meetings (including my book group) today and today was the first time in approximately 4 months when we have been able to go off-campus in my retirement community. I plan to get the thread up in the next few days.

The August tread is up now: https://www.librarything.com/topic/322386

September thread for "Catch-Up Month" posted:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/323282

Hi! Unless I've missed it, I didn't notice until someone brought it to my attention that we don't have the October thread posted yet. I've contacted Dejah_Thoris to see if she can set it up in the next day or two, but I don't hear back from her, I'll do something short/quick tomorrow (Monday) evening.

Sorry about that. Just as a reminder - it's Pre-1900 if anyone still needs to plan.

>143 LibraryCin: Dejah_Thoris hasn't been on LT since early July. I can post the thread if you want me to.

>144 SilverWolf28: Oh, shoot! It's almost time for bed for me tonight, and I am at work in person tomorrow, so won't be online until late afternoon or evening, so if you get a chance to post earlier than that, I am ok with that. Thank you!

>144 SilverWolf28: Ok, I'm here now. It doesn't look like you set up a thread, and I haven't heard from DT. I'll go ahead and set up a quick/short thread now.

It's sparse, but the October thread is now set up here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/325079

Is it worth doing this one again next year? Or is it too narrow a theme to do two years in a row?

We don't usually do two CATs in a row, but this wasn't a CAT this year. Do we propose to see if there is more interest in it as a CAT for next year? Thoughts?

Aw, well I'm disappointed not as many people enjoyed this as I did. I'd love to do this one again, but I guess not as many people liked it as much as I did.

>149 LibraryCin:. I really liked the themes for this KIT. Unfortunately, I had very few books for these themes which I had not read, and, with the pandemic coming for three months no residents were allowed off the campus of our senior living facility. During this time, our public library was not open at all and thus not delivering books. Then I managed to get a concussion, and for approximately a month really cut down on my reading. Moreover, I think that a big problem this year was the number of KITs; I hope there are not as many next year. Of course, people can select which CATs, KITs they want to read for which month.

If we do have a KITastrophe next year, what would you think of running it more like a BingoDOG? Have people who are interested in reading from a certain kind of disaster, set up a year-long or quarter-long discussion of the topic which others could read at the time which suits them, and have separate threads for each kind of disaster.

>150 sallylou61: Have people who are interested in reading from a certain kind of disaster, set up a year-long or quarter-long discussion of the topic which others could read at the time which suits them, and have separate threads for each kind of disaster.

That's not a bad idea. What do others think?

I'd have to wrap my head a bit around how to set it up, as I'm used to doing monthly themed challenges (I don't usually do the quarterly ones that are sometimes set up). Unless someone else wanted to take the lead on that set up (or help me out a bit!).

>151 LibraryCin:. It will be interesting to see how many people respond. After posting my suggestion, I looked at the wiki and discovered that you and I seem to have done a large portion of the reading listed there.

>152 sallylou61: Oh, I didn't check that close. Maybe there won't be enough interest, then. Guess we'll wait to see if anyone else comments.

(I've read something every month! Including our catch-up month, though I didn't need to catch up. I just read a 2nd book for one of the topics I wanted to go back to!)

Took a quick look. Looks like the start of the year started off stronger with more participating, but it has dropped off. COVID, maybe? People didn't want to read about disasters as much? Or just too many KITs this year, maybe.

I am always on board for a good disaster book. I didn't get to as many as I wanted this year because I overcommitted to other challenges and my RL book club. I don't read as many books per month as most of the people here. I usually get to four so that doesn't allow me to meet each challenge each month. However, I love planning what I would read if I could get to them all and I eventually get those books read.
So that said, I'd be in favor of the group continuing, but I won't likely complete each month. That makes me not a very valid vote ;-)

>155 beebeereads: That could still work if we do a quarterly theme instead of monthly.

I really liked this KIT. And I must admit, I am absolutely hopeless with the wiki, in all my groups! I will have to make that a resolution for next year. It never occurred to me that others might look at it as a gauge of interest.

I pretty much dropped most challenges except for the Donna Leon, Lord Peter, and Viveca Sten ones. I just read what I wanted to read. I kind of lost my "mo-jo" as many people did when the COVID-19 mess began. The only way I could get it back was to focus on what I wanted to read. I enjoy reading about disasters, but I doubt I'll commit to any monthly challenges in 2021. Quarterly -- perhaps.

>156 LibraryCin: Yes the quarterly format would work. Just as a clarification, I don't mind the monthly format because I enjoy the discussions and selections to enhance my TBR. So I would be on board with whichever the group decides. I am going to try to do fewer challenges in 2021. Usually by the end of a year, I am behind in every one and just move on to read what I want to read that month. I am definitely a "mood" reader. So I will try to be more selective in the ones that I commit to doing, even if I follow others for interest. KITastrophe would definitely be at the top of my list.

Not tonight, but maybe I'll start a thread over in the 2021 group to get a conversation started on just doing a quarterly KITastrophe for next year. We can sort out themes and decide how we want to continue.

Has anyone been in touch with LisaMorr? She is meant to set up November's thread. I posted a note to her last weekend, I think it was, but haven't heard back.

Is there anyone who wants to step in? Thanks!

I'll step in. I should have it posted by 9 pm tonight.

>162 SilverWolf28: Thank you so much!

If anyone else wants to be involved in a discussion to figure out what themes to use in a quarterly format next year, I started the thread here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/325729

Here's November's thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/325739#7297751

>165 SilverWolf28: Thank you for stepping in. I'm sorry I dropped the ball on this. I thought that the last one I had for this year was the October RandomCAT.

>166 LisaMorr: You're welcome! It was fun!