In which Keith tracks KITs, CATs, and a DOG (2024 edition)

Hello! This will be my second full year at LT, and I'm going to dive heavily into the KITs and CATs. And I do mean heavily; I'm attempting to complete two CATs, three KITS, and the BingoDog. That's a total of 99 specific challenges to complete, and I expect my total books read for this year to be somewhere between 50 and 60. So if I'm going to pull this off, nearly every book will have to do double duty, or even more. (I've found one book that will be doing quintuple duty!) I've been having great fun the last couple of weeks wading through my various TBR lists: "Let's see, I need a book about a historical disaster, with either a D-word or a T-word in the title..."

It remains to be seen whether I'll find this an entertaining way to structure my reading, or whether I'll be frustrated by May over all of the other books I'd like to read and haven't gotten to because they don't fit any category. But it will be an interesting experiment.

I expect to keep my primary topic and full reviews over in Club Read, since that's where I'm used to "living," but I'll use this topic to keep track of my progress on the various Category Challenges, as well as one ongoing project of my own.

HistoryCat topics/hosts:

JAN: North & South American wars & conflicts; SillverWolf28 -- The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, Michael Leali
FEB: Georgian/Regency Britain; pamelad -- Mrs. Jeffries and the Midwinter Murders, Emily Brightwell
MAR: science & medicine; librarycin -- Ice, Amy Brady

(abandoned in April)

CalendarCat hosts:

JAN: majkia -- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu (author born in Jan)
FEB: Tess_W -- Tinseltown, William J. Mann (about an unsolved murder that took place in Feb)
MAR: pamelad -- Win Some, Lose Some, Mike Resnick (author born in Mar)

(abandoned in April)

SFFKit topics/hosts:

JAN: swords & sorcery/epic fantasy; christina_reads -- The Incomplete Enchanter, L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
FEB: critters/creatures; JayneCM -- Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow
MAR: space opera; DeltaQueen50 -- A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine
APR: time travel; KeithChaffee -- The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF, edited by Mike Ashley
MAY: archaeology; majkia -- The Engines of God, Jack McDevitt
JUN: monsters; whitewavedarling -- Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee
JUL: first contact; h-mb -- Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress
AUG: paranormal/space detectives; amberwitch -- The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older
SEP: gods/mythology; antqueen -- xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, Kate Bernheimer, ed.; Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi
OCT: women authors; susanna.fraser -- A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine
NOV: recommended by a friend/acquaintance; fuzzi -- Time and Again, Jack Finney
DEC: bookish fantasy; MissBrangwen -- The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean

MysteryKit topics/hosts:

JAN: short stories; Tess_W -- Guilty Creatures, edited by Martin Edwards
FEB: true unsolved mysteries; mstrust -- Tinseltown, William J. Mann
MAR: historical; Robertgreaves -- The Midnight Hour, Elly Griffiths
APR: series; DeltaQueen50 -- A Man Lay Dead, Ngaio Marsh
MAY: golden age; JayneCM -- Death from a Top Hat, Clayton Rawson
JUN: authors new to you; NinieB -- Still Life, Louise Penny
JUL: cross genre mysteries; antqueen -- Fortune Favors the Dead, Stephen Spotswood
AUG: amateurs; Christina_reads -- A Comedy of Murders, George Herman
SEP: upstairs/downstairs; MissBrangwen -- Death of an Old Sinner, Dorothy Salisbury Davis
OCT: not too scary mysteries; LadyoftheLodge -- Fast Company, Marco Page
NOV: noir; Ish63 -- The Big Bite, Charles Williams
DEC: culinary mysteries; KeithChaffee -- Arsenic and Adobo, Mia P. Manansala

AlphaKit letters:

JAN: A -- The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, Michael Leali; Y -- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu
FEB: F and E -- Hid from Our Eyes, Julia Spencer-Fleming
MAR: H -- The Midnight Hour, Elly Griffiths; R -- Win Some, Lose Some, Mike Resnick
APR: U and O -- The Regional Office Is Under Attack!, Manuel Gonzales
MAY: N and P -- Burn, Patrick Ness
JUN: B -- Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, Alfred Bester; J -- The Hanging Judge, Michael Ponsor
JUL: S -- Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress; I -- Ingathering: The Complete People Stories, Zenna Henderson
AUG: M -- The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older; G - A Comedy of Murders, George Herman
SEP: V and C -- The Endless Vessel, Charles Soule
OCT: D and T -- Dogland, Tommy Tomlinson
NOV: L and W -- A Lot Like Christmas: Stories, Connie Willis
DEC: K Q
Yearlong: Z -- Ingathering: The Complete People Stories, Zenna Henderson; X --xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, Kate Bernheimer, ed.

BingoDog:



1: recent bestseller: The Husbands, Holly Gramazio
2: twins: Light Years from Home, Mike Chen
3: warriors or mercenaries: The Regional Office Is Under Attack!, Manuel Gonzales
4: re-read a favorite book: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu
5: fewer than 100 copies on LT: Guilty Creatures, edited by Martin Edwards (currently at 38 copies)
6: short story collection: Win Some, Lose Some, Mike Resnick
7: food or cooking: Anything's Pastable, Dan Pashman
8: three-word title: Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow
9: area of specific knowledge: Crochet Stitch Dictionary, Sarah Hazell
10: set in a city: Sleep With Slander, Dolores Hitchens (set in Los Angeles)
11: only author/title on cover: Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties, Foster Hirsch
12: author is 65+: Mrs. Jeffries and the Midwinter Murders, Emily Brightwell
13: read a CAT: Tinseltown, William J. Mann (Feb HistoryCAT)
14: person's name in title: Cocktails with George and Martha, Philip Gefter
15: epistolary or diary: The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, Michael Leali
16: features water: Ice, Amy Brady
17: ugly cover: The Incomplete Enchanter, L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
18: "big" or "little" in title: The Big Bite, Charles Williams
19: written in another cultural tradition: Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi
20: about friendship: Mona of the Manor, Armistead Maupin
21: book from similar LT library: The Past Through Tomorrow, Robert A. Heinlein (shared w/parasolofdoom)
22: set in multiple countries: 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
23: POC author: The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez
24: publication date ends in 24: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Seanan McGuire
25: paper-based object: A Comedy of Murders, George Herman

And my own personal category: I have been making my way through the history of award-nominated short science fiction (short stories, novellas, novelettes -- anything shorter than novel length). So far, I've been working mostly from old to new, and I still plan to progress through the "year's best" volumes during the year. But I'm also going to start hopping around in time more, picking up various anthologies and authors' "best of" retrospectives in a more chronologically random way. A lot of those will be chosen becase they either fit that month's AlphaKit or CalendarCat (author's birthdates).

I'm setting a (probably too) ambitious goal of 40 stories from this category this year. That's a mere drop in the ocean -- my spreadsheet of unread stories has more than 3000 titles -- but I've always known that this was an absurdly large project which I would never actually finish.

Stories read:

JANUARY
1. "The Roaring Trumpet," L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt -- 1941 Retro Hugo novella nominee
2. "The Mathematics of Magic," L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt -- 1941 Retro Hugo novella nominee
3. "The Roads Must Roll," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo novelette winner
4. "Blowups Happen," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
5. "The Man Who Sold the Moon," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1951 Retro Hugo novella winner
6. "Requiem," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo short story nominee
7. "If This Goes On--," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo novella winner
8. "Coventry," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo novella nominee
FEBRUARY
9. Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow -- 2010 Hugo/Nebula/Locus novella nominee; Sturgeon winner
10. "Mom and Dad at the Home Front," Sherwood Smith -- 2002 Nebula short story nominee
11. "Five British Dinosaurs," Michael Swanwick -- 2003 BSFA short fiction nominee
12. "The Best Christmas Ever," James Patrick Kelly -- 2005 Hugo short story nominee
13. "The Voluntary State," Christopher Rowe -- 2005 Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee; Sturgeon nominee
14. "The Lost Pilgrim," Gene Wolfe -- 2005 Sturgeon nominee
MARCH
15. "Kirinyaga," Mike Resnick -- 1989 Hugo short story winner/Nebula novelette nominee
16. "For I Have Touched the Sky," Mike Resnick -- 1990 Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee
17. "Bully!," Mike Resnick -- 1991 Hugo novella nominee; 1992 Nebula novella nominee
18. "The Manamouki," Mike Resnick -- 1991 Hugo novelette winner/Nebula novelette nominee
19. "One Perfect Morning, with Jackals," -- Mike Resnick -- 1992 Hugo short story nominee
20. "Winter Solstice," Mike Resnick -- 1992 Hugo short story nominee
21. "The Lotus and the Spear," Mike Resnick -- 1993 Hugo short story nominee
22. "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle," Mike Resnick -- 1994 Hugo short story nominee
23. "Barnaby in Exile," Mike Resnick -- 1995 Hugo short story nominee
24. "A Little Knowledge," Mike Resnick -- 1995 Hugo novelette nominee
25. "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge," Mike Resnick -- 1995 Hugo/Nebula novella winner; Sturgeon nominee
26. "When the Old Gods Die," Mike Resnick -- 1996 Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee
27. "Bibi," Mike Resnick & Susan Shwartz --1996 Hugo/Nebula novella nominee
28. "The Land of Nod," Mike Resnick -- 1997 Hugo novelette nominee
29. "The 43 Antarean Dynasties," Mike Resnick -- 1998 Hugo short story winner; Sturgeon nominee
30. "Hothouse Flowers," Mike Resnick -- 2000 Hugo short story nominee
31. "Hunting the Snark," Mike Resnick -- 2000 Hugo novella nominee; 2001 Nebula novella nominee
32. "The Elephants on Neptune," Mike Resnick -- 2001 Hugo short story nominee; 2002 Nebula short story nominee
33. "Redchapel," Mike Resnick -- 2001 Hugo novelette nominee
34. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," Mike Resnick -- 2002 Hugo short story nominee
35. "Robots Don't Cry," Mike Resnick -- 2004 Hugo short story nominee
36. "A Princess of Earth," Mike Resnick -- 2005 Hugo short story nominee
37. "Travels with My Cats," Mike Resnick -- 2005 Hugo short story winner, Nebula short story nominee
38. "Down Memory Lane," Mike Resnick -- 2006 Hugo short story nominee
39. "All the Things You Are," Mike Resnick -- 2007 Hugo novelette nominee
40. "Distant Replay," Mike Resnick -- 2008 Hugo short story nominee
41. "Article of Faith," Mike Resnick -- 2009 Hugo short story nominee
42. "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders," Mike Resnick -- 2009 Hugo novelette nominee
43. "The Bride of Frankenstein," Mike Resnick -- 2010 Hugo short story nominee
44. "The Homecoming," Mike Resnick -- 2012 Hugo short story nominee
45. River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey -- 2018 Hugo/Nebula novella nominee
46. "The Unholy Grail," Fritz Leiber -- 1963 Hugo short story nominee
47. "Ill Met in Lankhmar," Fritz Leiber -- 1971 Hugo/Nebula novella winner
48. "Red as Blood," Tanith Lee -- 1980 Nebula short story nominee
49. "Slow Communication," Dominique Dickey -- 2023 Sturgeon nominee
APRIL
50. "The Piper's Son," Lewis Padgett -- 1946 Hugo novelette nominee
51. "Goldfish Bowl," Anson MacDonald (pseudonym of Robert A. Heinlein) -- 1943 Hugo novelette nominee
52. "First Contact," Murray Leinster -- 1946 Hugo novelette winner
53. "Killdozer!," Theodore Sturgeon -- 1945 Hugo novella winner
54. "Walk to the Full Moon," Sean McMullen -- 2002 Aurealis winner
55. "The Truth About Weena," David J. Lake -- 1998 Aurealis winner
56. "Time Gypsy," Ellen Klages -- 1999 Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee
57. "The Chronology Protection Case," Paul Levinson -- 1997 Nebula novelette nominee; 1996 Sturgeon nominee
58. "The Very Slow Time Machine," Ian Watson -- 1979 Hugo short story nominee
59. "Legions in Time," Michael Swanwick -- 2004 Hugo novelette winner
60. "The Pusher," John Varley -- 1982 Hugo short story winner; Nebula short story nominee
61. "After-Images," Malcolm Edwards -- 1984 BSFA winner
62. "Palely Loitering," Christopher Priest -- 1980 Hugo novelette nominee; 1979 BSFA winner
MAY
63. "Terminal," Chaz Brenchley -- 2008 BSFA nominee
64. "Magic, Inc.," Robert A. Heinlein -- 1941 Retro Hugo novella nominee
65. "Waldo," Robert A. Heinlein (as Anson MacDonald) -- 1943 Retro Hugo novella winner
66. "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag," Robert A. Heinlein (as John Riverside) -- 1943 Retro Hugo novella nominee
67. "The Star Mouse," Fredric Brown -- 1943 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
68. "Asylum," A. E. van Vogt -- 1943 Retro Hugo novella nominee
69. "Foundation," Isaac Asimov -- 1943 Retro Hugo novelette winner
70. "Proof," Hal Clement -- 1943 Retro Hugo short story nominee
71. "Nerves," Lester del Rey -- 1943 Retro Hugo novella nominee
JUNE
72. "The Weapon Shop," A. E. van Vogt -- 1943 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
73. "The Twonky," C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (as Lewis Padgett) -- 1943 Retro Hugo short story winner
74. "Mimic," Donald A. Wollheim -- 1943 Retro Hugo short story nominee
75. "The Four-Hour Fugue," Alfred Bester -- 1975 Hugo short story nominee
76. "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed," Alfred Bester -- 1959 Hugo short story nominee
77. "Hell Is Forever," Alfred Bester -- 1943 Retro Hugo novella nominee
78. "Star Light, Star Bright," Alfred Bester -- 1954 Retro Hugo short story nominee
79. "The Pi Man," Alfred Bester -- 1960 Hugo short story nominee
80. Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee -- 2024 Nebula novella nominee
81. "Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters," Henry Lien -- 2014 Nebula novelette nominee
82. "To Live and Die in Gibbontown," Derek Künsken -- 2012 Aurora nominee
83. "The Man Who Bridged the Mist," Kij Johnson -- 2012 Hugo/Nebula novella winner
84. "Bloom," Gregory Norman Bossert -- 2014 Sturgeon nominee

And at this point, this post is getting too long and unwieldy to keep editing, so I'll continue the list in a new post downthread.

Welcome to LT and the category challenges. Good luck with your reading in 2024.

I'll be dodging BBs on that sci fi awards list I expect! And probably others. sigh... Good luck and happy reading.

Good luck to you! It sounds like it might be tricky for you, so I do wish you luck!

Welcome to the Category Challenge, Keith. You are really jumping in full throttle and I wish you luck - but, remember, it's perfectly acceptable to decide to change your categories around at any time! :)

That's quite an ambitious set up, and I'll be curious to see a book that does quintuple duty! Good luck with it and happy reading.

Hi Keith, good luck and lots of fun with your challenges!

Good luck for 2024!
I love going through lists and finding books to fit challenges. Sometimes I think I spend more time on the planning than the reading!
Looking forward to following along.

Welcome aboard! To piggyback on >15 JayneCM:, I have decided that planning my reading and actually reading are two separate hobbies (and buying books is a third, entirely different hobby), so have fun with both your planning and your reading.

Happy reading in 2024! I'm looking forward to MysteryKit this year.

So ambitious! I’ll be interested to see the books that do triple, quadruple, and especially quintuple duty. And also to hear about your SF reads, because that’s one of my favorite genres, but I don’t read a lot of short SF (other than MurderBot novellas).

>18 Charon07: Sadly, the quintuple book isn't going to happen; I decided that it didn't quite count as historical fiction, and replaced it on my tentative reading calendar with other things. I do still have a quadruple on my list, though.

My, my, aren't you organized!

Love it, have starred this thread.

I hadn't planned to complete the RandomKit this year, but if a book pops up that happens to fit, I'll make note of it. So for this month's "Early Birds" RandomKit, I read The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.

>21 KeithChaffee: Someone whose opinion I trust told me to definitely read this one and The Spear Cuts Through Water by the same author. What did you think of The Vanished Birds?

>22 JayneCM: Mildly disappointed. Longer thoughts here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/356188#8371114

I have also heard good things about The Spear Cuts Through Water, and it's still on my (ridiculously large) "I'll read that someday" list, but that "someday" doesn't feel as urgent as it did before I read The Vanished Birds.

My Club Read thread is where I post full reviews of what I read. I know some LT folks cross-post their reviews and comments in multiple threads, and that's cool if that's what works for you, but I've never been a cross-poster. I'm chronically insecure and introverted, so posting my opinions even once is already something that can set off "stop talking no one cares" alarm bells in the back of my brain; the thought that people might have to come across my ramblings twice horrifies me.😊 (Especially since I can go on at some length.)

I use this thread as a one-stop place to keep track of my progress on the various KITs and CATs. It had occured to me that because that means mostly editing and updating earlier posts, this thread won't pop up in people's lists if they did want to follow what I'm reading and don't venture much into other groups. I think I'll probably post a "what I read this month" summary post each month, just so this will pop up occasionally for the Category Challenge folks who are interested.

>23 KeithChaffee: Yes, definitely post occasional updates! I keep up with new posts on people's threads, but I don't usually scroll up to see if earlier posts have been updated, so I have been missing out!

>23 KeithChaffee: I have more than one thread, so I can post reviews for the challenges I join. People can comment, or not.

But, like you, I have a main thread I use as a place to track all my reads, editing the posts for each month. Adding an occasional post about what I'm doing or what I've read helps those who do like to stop by know when I've updated.

Now I'll hush... 😁

>23 KeithChaffee: I think your criticism of The Vanished Birds is spot on, but I loved this book anyway, so much that it was my favorite book in the year I read it. Or technically, listened to the audiobook. I think a book’s narrator definitely colors one’s impression of a book, and it may have helped that I listened to it in fits and starts while driving, which certainly alters my perception of pacing.

>26 Charon07: - I too mostly listen to audio books in the car and frequently back up a little every time I start to listen. I do agree that the narrator can make a big difference in one's appreciation of a book. I'm currently listening to Their Eyes Were Watching God which is narrated by Ruby Dee, and I would have had a difficult time with the dialect if I were reading it in print.

I didn't get the audiobook gene, it seems. Even as a little kid, once I could read on my own, I didn't like being read to. It's not that I object to getting info in audio form; I listen to a lot of podcasts. But almost all of them are conversations -- either panel shows or host/guest interviews -- as opposed to solo narrator shows.

A good enough solo narrator can get past my aversion if they can make me feel that I'm being casually talked to, that they're just telling me a story, rather than being read to.

But there aren't many of those narrators (Roman Mars and Nate DiMeo come to mind), and there are podcasts that I ought to love based on their subject matter -- You Must Remember This, about classic Hollywood history, Cocaine and Rhinestones, on the history of country music -- that I just can't listen to because I can hear the scriptedness of it. The hosts haven't mastered the art of making reading sound like conversation.

I suppose it's possible -- probable, even -- that good audiobook narrators have mastered that art, and that I would be able to get wrapped up in their storytelling. But the amount of listening time I have in the day is barely enough to keep up with the podcasts I enjoy; I can read a book faster than I can listen to one; and I enjoy the physical act of reading enough that I don't feel motivated to experiment with audiobooks.

I'm glad they exist, though, for all of the people who enjoy them, and especially for the people who need them because reading print is difficult or impossible.

>28 KeithChaffee: - I've only gotten into audio books a couple of years ago, mostly to keep my mind occupied as I was driving. (I also listen while I'm walking.) Before that I had only tried one once and the narrator was so bad, that I didn't think it was worth bothering with. I much prefer physically reading a book.

As discussed upthread, I'll be posting a monthly summary of each month's reading, if only to pop this topic onto the list of updated topics, which editing the older posts doesn't do. My thoughts on the books can be found in my Club Read topic.

January's reading:
1. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu (BingoDog: re-read a favorite; AlphaKit: Y; CalendarCat: Yu was born in January)
2: The Civil War of Amos Abernathy, Michael Leali (BingoDog: epistolary; AlphaKit: A; HistoryCat: American wars and conflicts)
3: Guilty Creatures, edited by Martin Edwards (BingoDog: fewer than 100 copies in LT libraries; MysteryKit: short stories)
4: The Incomplete Enchanter, L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt (BingoDog: book with an ugly cover; SFFKit: epic fantasy)
5: The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez (BingoDog: POC author; RandomKit: early birds)
6: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Seanan McGuire (BingoDog: published in year ending in 24)
7: The Past Through Tomorrow, Robert A. Heinlein (BingoDog: book from a similar LT library)
8: They Died in Vain, edited by Jim Huang

Total pages: 2,733. Unusually high for me.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: CalendarCat (1/12); HistoryCat (1/12); AlphaKit (2/26); MysteryKit (1/12); RandomKit (1/12); SFFKit (1/12); BingoDog (7/25)

Award-winning short SF progress: 8 stories read, by de Camp/Pratt and Heinlein. Looking at my planned reading calendar for the year, that goal of 40 stories for the year is starting to look low; I will probably come close to doubling that.

>30 KeithChaffee: I've read some of the stories in that Heinlein collection. How did you like it?

I enjoyed it. Holds up very well compared to most 1940s SF, and it's early enough Heinlein that his weird sexual/gender stuff isn't yet getting in the way. Longer thoughts at:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/356188#8386124

>32 KeithChaffee: I responded on your thread.

For the February RandomKit, rescue or escape: Sleep With Slander, Dolores Hitchens.

February reading update:

9: Tinseltown, William J. Mann (MysteryCat: true unsolved mysteries; CalendarCat: the book's murder happened in February; BingoDog: read a CAT)
10. Mystery Muses, edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar
11. Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (SFFKit: critters and creatures; BingoDog: three-word title: SF awards: 2010 Hugo/Nebula/Locus novella nominee, Sturgeon winner)
12. Mrs. Jeffries and the Midwinter Murders, Emily Brightwell (HistoryKit: Georgian/Regency/Victorian Britain; BingoDog: author is 65+; Brightwell was 73 when the book was published)
13. Hid From Our Eyes, Julia Spencer-Fleming (AlphaKit: E and F)
14. Sleep With Slander, Dolores Hitchens (RandomKit: rescue/escape; BingoDog: set in a city)
15. You Only Call When You're in Trouble, Stephen McCauley
16. Cocktails With George and Martha, Philip Gefter (BingoDog: person's name in title)

Pages read: 2,561; YTD: 5,294.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: CalendarCat (2/12); HistoryCat (2/12); AlphaKit (4/26); MysteryKit (2/12); RandomKit (2/12); SFFKit (2/12); BingoDog (12/25)

Award-winning short SF: 6 more stories, for a total of 14. That will leap a lot next month, since I'm planning to read Mike Resnick's collection of his 30(!) Hugo-nominated stories.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topic.

March RandomKit (World Wildlife Day): American Hippo, Sarah Gailey.

March reading update:

17. Ice, Amy Brady (BingoDog: features water; HistoryCat: science and medicine)
18. A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (SFFKit: space opera)
19. The Midnight Hour, Elly Griffiths (AlphaDog: H; MysteryKit: historical mystery)
20. Win Some, Lose Some, Mike Resnick (AlphaKit: R; CalendarCat: Resnick's birthday; BingoDog; short stories; SF awards: 30 nominated stories)
21. American Hippo, Sarah Gailey (RandomKit: World Wildlife Day; SF awards: 1 nominated story)
22. Swords and Deviltry, Fritz Leiber (SF awards: 2 nominated stories)

Pages read: 2,312; YTD: 7,606.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: CalendarCat (3/12); HistoryCat (3/12); AlphaKit (6/26); MysteryKit (3/12); RandomKit (3/12); SFFKit (3/12); BingoDog (14/25)

Award-winning short SF: 35 stories, for a total of 49.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topic.

Looking good!

Way back in >1 KeithChaffee:, I said this:

It remains to be seen whether I'll find this an entertaining way to structure my reading, or whether I'll be frustrated by May over all of the other books I'd like to read and haven't gotten to because they don't fit any category. But it will be an interesting experiment.

And it turns out it only took until April for the frustration to kick in.

So, I'm backing off a bit from the mega-dive into the Cats and Kits. I'm leaving CalendarCat, HistoryCat, and RandomKit behind; I will continue to work on AlphaKit, MysteryKit, SFFKit, and BingoDog.

The mega-dive meant that more than half of my monthly reading was stuff that I was reading to fill a challenge slot, and some of that was being read ONLY to fill a challenge, not because I was terribly interested in it. Cutting back means that even the challenge books will be books that I want to read, and I'll have time each month to read two or three books that don't fit any challenge at all.

I'm on the calendar to host a month in both CalendarCat and HistoryCat, and of course, I plan to keep to those commitments. But I have found that I need a little bit more room for spontaneity and random pleasure in my reading.

It was, indeed, an interesting experiment, and I've learned something about myself in the process. And who could want more from any experiment than that?

>39 KeithChaffee: I hear you on the CAT/KIT/Bingo challenges -- they're fun but can be overwhelming! I hope you have lots of fun, guilt-free reading under your new plan!

April reading update:

23. The Regional Office Is Under Attack!, Manual Gonzales (AlphaKit: O/U; BingoDog: warriors or mercenaries)
24. Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties, Foster Hirsch (BingoDog: only the title and author's name on cover)
25. A Man Lay Dead, Ngaio Marsh (MysteryKit: series)
26. The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF, edited by Mike Ashley (SFFKit: time travel)

Pages read: 1,899; YTD: 9,505.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (8/26); MysteryKit (4/12); SFFKit (4/12); BingoDog (16/25). This month, I officially cut back on my Cat/Kit goals, abandoning CalendarCat, HistoryCat, and RandomKit.

Award-winning short SF: 13 stories, for a total of 62. That "well, maybe I'll get to 40" looks a little silly now. At this rate, 150 is well within reach.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topic.

Tentatively planned for May:
The Engines of God, Jack McDevitt (SFFKit: archaeology)
Burn, Patrick Ness (AlphaKit: N/P)
Death from a Top Hat, Clayton Rawson (MysteryKit: Golden Age)

May reading update:

27. Crochet Stitch Dictionary, Sarah Hazell (BingoDog: area in which you have specific knowledge)
28. Death from a Top Hat, Clayton Rawson (MysteryKit: Golden Age mysteries)
29. The Engines of God, Jack McDevitt (SFFKit: archaeology)
30. Dictionary of Fine Distinctions, Eli Burnstein
31. Burn, Patrick Ness (AlphaKit: N/P)
32. The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein
33. Mona of the Manor, Armistead Maupin (BingoDog: friendship)
34. Light Years from Home, Mike Chen (BingoDog: twins)

Pages read: 2,652; total: 12,157.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (10/26); MysteryKit (5/12); SFFKit (5/12); BingoDog (19/25).

Award-winning short SF: 9 stories, for a total of 71.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topic.

Tentatively planned for June:

Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee (SFFKit: monsters)
Still Life, Louise Penny (MysteryKit: author new to you)
Nine Black Robes, Joan Biskupic (AlphaKit: J/B)
Ingathering, Zenna Henderson (Alpha Kit: Z)

June reading update:

35. Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 4 (1942), Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, eds.
36. Still Life, Louise Penny (MysteryKit: author new to you)
37. Anything's Pastable, Dan Pashman (BingoDog: book about food)
38. Starlight: The Great Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, Alfred Bester (AlphaKit: B)
39. The Hanging Judge, Michael Ponsor (AlphaKit: J)
40. Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee (SFFKit: monsters)
41. 50 Crochet Cable Stitches, Manuela Laitenberger
42. Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect, Benjamin Stevenson
43. Tidal Creatures, Seanan McGuire

Pages read: 3,149; total: 15,306.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (12/26); MysteryKit (6/12); SFFKit (6/12); BingoDog (20/25).

Award-winning short SF: 13 stories, for a total of 84.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topic.

Tentative plans for July:

The Primary Solution, Nick Troiano
Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress (AlphaKit: S; SFFKit: first contact)
The Death I Gave Him, Em X. Liu (AlphaKit: I/X; MysteryKit: cross-genre mystery)
Miss May Does Not Exist, Carrie Courogen
Ingathering, Zenna Henderson (AlphaKit: Z; didn't get to this last month)

Continuing my list of award-nominated SF story reading here, as the original post is getting overly long and unwieldy:

JULY
85. "Captivity," Zenna Henderson -- 1959 Hugo novelette nominee
86. "Etaoin Shrdlu," Fredric Brown -- 1943 Retro Hugo short story nominee
87. "And the Gods Laughed," Fredric Brown -- 1945 Retro Hugo short story nominee
88. "Arena," Fredric Brown -- 1945 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
89. "Pi in the Sky," Fredric Brown -- 1946 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
90. "The Waveries," Fredric Brown -- 1946 Retro Hugo short story nominee
AUGUST
91. The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older -- 2024 Hugo/Nebula/Ignyte novella nominee
92. The Four Profound Weaves, R. B. Lemberg -- 2021 Nebula/Ignyte novella nominee
93. "The Tomato Thief," Ursula Vernon -- 2017 Hugo novelette winner
94. "The Magic Bed-Knob," Mary Norton -- 1944 Retro Hugo novella nominee
95. "There Shall Be Darkness," C. L. Moore -- 1943 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
96. "the button, and what you know," W. Gregory Stewart -- 1992 Nebula short story nominee
97. "Ghosts of New York," Jennifer Pelland -- 2011 Nebula short story nominee
98. "Just Like Old Times," Robert J. Sawyer -- 1994 Aurora short fiction winner
99. "Peking Man," Robert J. Sawyer -- 1997 Aurora short fiction winner
100. "Identity Theft," Robert J. Sawyer -- 2006 Hugo/Nebula novella nominee, Aurora short fiction nominee
101. "Biding Time," Robert J. Sawyer -- 2007 Aurora short fiction winner
102. "The Shoulders of Giants," Robert J. Sawyer -- 2001 Aurora short fiction nominee
SEPTEMBER
103. "Q.U.R.," Anthony Boucher -- 1944 Retro Hugo short story nominee
104. "We Print the Truth," Anthony Boucher -- 1944 Retro Hugo novella nominee
105. "Attitude," Hal Clement -- 1944 Retro Hugo novella nominee
106. "Uncommon Sense," Hal Clement -- 1946 Retro Hugo short story winner
OCTOBER
107. "The Sunken Land," Fritz Leiber -- 1943 Retro Hugo short story nominee
108. "Thieves' House," Fritz Leiber -- 1944 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
109. "Mimsy Were the Borogoves," C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (as Lewis Padgett) -- 1944 Retro Hugo novelette winner
110. "The Halfling," Leigh Brackett -- 1944 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
111. "Clash by Night," C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (as Lawrence O'Donnell) -- 1944 Retro Hugo novella nominee
112. "Doorway Into Time," C. L. Moore -- 1944 Retro Hugo short story nominee
113. "The Proud Robot," Henry Kuttner1974 (as Lewis Padgett -- 1944 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
114. "Exile," Edmond Hamilton -- 1944 Retro Hugo short story nominee
115. "Symbiotica," Eric Frank Russell -- 1944 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
116. "Bridle and Saddle," Isaac Asimov -- 1943 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
117. "The Big and the Little," Isaac Asimov -- 1945 Retro Hugo novelette nominee
118. "The Wedge," Isaac Asimov -- 1945 Retro Hugo short story nominee
NOVEMBER
119. "Miracle," Connie Willis -- 1992 Hugo novelette nominee
120. "All Seated on the Ground," Connie Willis -- 2008 Hugo novella winner
121. "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know," Connie Willis -- 2004 Hugo novella nominee, 2005 Nebula novella nominee
122. "The Jewel of Bas," Leigh Brackett -- 1945 Retro Hugo novella nominee
123. "Mars: A Traveler's Guide," Ruth Nestvold -- 2009 Nebula short story nominee
124. "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," Harlan Ellison -- 1968 Hugo short story winner
125. "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," Harlan Ellison -- 1966 Hugo/Nebula short story winner
126. "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes," Harlan Ellison -- 1968 Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee
127. "The Deathbird," Harlan Ellison -- 1974 Hugo novelette winner/Nebula novelette nominee
128. "Shatterday," Harlan Ellison -- 1976 Nebula short story nominee
129. "Mefisto in Onyx," Harlan Ellison -- 1994 Hugo novella nominee, 1995 Nebula novella nominee
130. "On the Downhill Side," Harlan Ellison -- 1973 Nebula short story nominee
131. "Paladin of the Lost Hour," Harlan Ellison -- 1986 Hugo novelette winner, 1986 Nebula novelette nominee
132. "The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World," Harlan Ellison -- 1969 Hugo short story winner
133. "How Interesting: A Tiny Man," Harlan Ellison -- 2011 Nebula short story winner
134. "All the Lies That Are My Life," Harlan Ellison -- 1981 Hugo novella nominee
DECEMBER
135. "Winter's King," Ursula K. Le Guin -- 1970 Hugo short story nominee
136. "Nine Lives," Ursula K. Le Guin -- 1970 Nebula novelette nominee
137. "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow," Ursula K. Le Guin -- 1972 Hugo short story nominee
138. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," Ursula K. LeGuin -- 1974 Hugo short story winner
139. "The Day Before the Revolution," Ursula K. LeGuin -- 1975 Hugo short story nominee/Nebula short story winner
140. "The Gambler," Paolo Bacigalupi -- 2009 Hugo novelette nominee/Sturgeon nominee; 2010 Nebula novelette nominee
141. "Eros, Philia, Agape," Rachel Swirsky -- 2010 Hugo novelette nominee/Sturgeon nominee
142. "Tk'tk'tk," David D. Levine -- 2006 Hugo short story winner
143. "Space to Swing a Cat," Stanley Mullen -- 1959 Hugo short story nominee
144. "They've Been Working On...," Anton Lee Baker -- 1959 Hugo short story nominee
145. "Once a Cop," Rick Raphael -- 1965 Hugo short story nominee
146. "Maiden Voyage," J. W. Schutz -- 1966 Nebula novelette nominee
147. "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth," Roger Zelazny -- 1966 Hugo short story nominee/Nebula novelette winner
148. "Idiot's Mate," Robert Taylor -- 1969 Nebula short story nominee
149. "The Mischief Maker," Robert Olin -- 1966 Nebula short story nominee
150. "The Earth Merchants," Norman Kagan -- 1966 Nebula novelette nominee
151. "One of Our Bastards Is Missing," Paul Connell -- 2010 Hugo novelette nominee
152. "Tideline," Elizabeth Bear -- 2008 Hugo short story winner/Sturgeon winner
153. "Finisterra," David Moles -- 2008 Hugo novelette nominee
154. "Evil Robot Monkey," Mary Robinette Kowal -- 2009 Hugo short story nominee
155. "Savant Songs," Brenda Cooper -- 2005 Sturgeon nominee
156. "Second Person, Present Tense," Daryl Gregory -- 2006 Sturgeon nominee
157. "The Island," Peter Watts -- 2010 Hugo novelette winner/Sturgeon nominee

>43 KeithChaffee: I did hop over to your Club Read thread, as I was interested to see what you thought of the Louise Penny book -- I too disliked it, so I'm glad to know I'm not alone! And I also enjoyed Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect.

>45 christina_reads: There were a couple of other similar views after I posted. It's always such a relief to hear that you're not the *only* one who didn't connect with a broadly popular author.

July reading update:

44. Miss May Does Not Exist, Carrie Courogen
45. Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress (AlphaKit: S; SFFKit: first contact)
46. Fortune Favors the Dead, Stephen Spotswood (MysteryKit: cross-genre mysteries)
47. You Should Be So Lucky, Cat Sebastian
48. The Husbands, Holly Gramazio (BingoDog: recent bestseller)
49. Ingathering: The Complete People Stories, Zenna Henderson (AlphaKit: I, Z)

Pages read: 2,364; total: 17,670.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (15/26); MysteryKit (7/12); SFFKit (7/12); BingoDog (21/25).

Award-winning short SF: 6 stories, for a total of 90.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topics (January-June; July-December).

Tentative plans for August:

From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF, Fredric Brown
The Other Olympians, Michael Waters (BingoDog: set in multiple countries; Alpha M)
A Comedy of Murders, George Herman (MysteryKit: amateur detectives; AlphaKit: G/M)
The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (SFFKit: supernatural/space detectives; AlphaKit: M)
The Riddles of the Sphinx, Anna Shechtman

August reading update:

50: From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF, Fredric Brown
51. The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (AlphaKit: M; SFFKit: supernatural/space detectives)
52. A Comedy of Murders, George Herman (AlphaKit: G/M; MysteryKit: amateur detectives; BingoDog: plot features a paper object)
53. The Four Profound Weaves, R. B. Lemberg
54. The Platinum Age of Television, David Bianculli
55. Jackalope Wives and Other Stories, T. Kingfisher
56. Bed-Knob and Broomstick, Mary Norton
57. The Alchemy of Stars, ed. Roger Dutcher and Mike Allen
58. The Alchemy of Stars II, ed. Sandra J. Lindow
59. Stories 3: Time, Robert J. Sawyer

Pages read: 3,065; total: 20,735.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (17/26); MysteryKit (8/12); SFFKit (8/12); BingoDog (22/25).

Award-winning short SF: 12 stories, for a total of 102.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topics (January-June; July-December).

Tentative plans for September:

Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge, Vernor Vinge (Alpha: V/C)
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talibi (SFFKit: gods/mythology; BingoDog: story from a different cultural tradition)
Death of an Old Sinner, Dorothy Salisbury Davis (MysteryKit: upstairs/downstairs
Death of a Red Heroine, Qui Xiaolong (Alpha: X)

September reading update:

60. Death of an Old Sinner, Dorothy Salisbury Davis (MysteryKit: upstairs/downstairs)
61. xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, Kate Bernheimer, ed. (SFFKit: gods/mythology; AlphaKit: X)
62. The Endless Vessel, Charles Soule (AlphaKit: C/V)
63. Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (SFFKit: gods/mythology; BingoDog: written in another cultural tradition)
64. The Compleat Werewolf and Other Tales, Anthony Boucher
65. Lost: Back to the Island, Emily St. James & Noel Murray
66. Drive-Thru Dreams, Adam Chandler

Pages read: 2,774; total: 23,509.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (20/26); MysteryKit (9/12); SFFKit (9/12); BingoDog (23/25).

Award-winning short SF: 4 stories, for a total of 106.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topics (January-June; July-December).

Tentative plans for October:
Fast Company, Marco Page (MysteryKit: not too scary)
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (SFFKit: women authors)
Dogland, Tommy Tomlinson (AlphaKit: D/T)
Swords Against Death, Fritz Leiber (award-winning SF stories)

October reading update:

67. Dogland, Tommy Tomlinson (AlphaKit: D/T)
68. Hollywood Pride, Alonso Duralde
69. A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (SFFKit: women authors)
70. Fast Company, Marco Page (MysteryKit: not too scary)
71. Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, Matt Baume
72. What Goes With What, Julia Turshen
73. Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 5 (1943), Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, eds.
74. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff (BingoDog: takes place in multiple countries)
75. Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Pages read: 2,722; total: 26,231.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (22/26); MysteryKit (10/12); SFFKit (10/12); BingoDog (24/25).

Award-winning short SF: 12 stories, for a total of 118.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topics (January-June; July-December).

Tentative plans for November:

The Big Bite, Charles Williams (BingoDog: "big" or "little" in title; MysteryKit: noir)
Time and Again, Jack Finney (SFFKit: recommended to you by a person, not an algorithm)
A Lot Like Christmas, Connie Willis (AlphaKit: L/W)
The "I Don't Want to Cook" Book, Alyssa Brantley

November reading update:

76. The Big Bite, Charles Williams (MysteryKit: noir; BingoDog: "big" or "little" in title)
77. The "I Don't Want to Cook" Book, Alyssa Brantley
78. A Lot Like Christmas, Connie Willis (AlphaKit: L/W)
79. Time and Again, Jack Finney (SFFKit: recommended to you by a person, not an algorithm)
80. Greatest Hits, Harlan Ellison

Pages read: 2,281; total: 28,512.

Cats, Kits, and Dogs completed: AlphaKit (24/26); MysteryKit (11/12); SFFKit (11/12); BingoDog (25/25 -- FINISHED).

Award-winning short SF: 16 stories, for a total of 134.

My reviews can be found in my Club Read topics (January-June; July-December).

Tentative plans for December:

The Wind's Twelve Quarters, Ursula K. Le Guin (AlphaKit: K/Q)
The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean (SFFKit: bookish fantasy)
Arsenic and Adobo, Mia P. Manansala (MysteryKit: culinary mysteries)