Advice on CTFs and good reads

I started an internship in a hardcore computer security company (protecting very big clients, no consumer products), and today was our first day, we did a bit of x86 ASM, system calls and such and we got asked if we would like to participate in the company's CTF team. I really like the concept and would like to join, however I do want to know what to expect, how much work and frustration go into it, so any advice would be appreciated. Also we got recommended a few books to read and such. I think the guy mentioned Practical Malware Analysis and The Art of Assembly Programming. Are those titles more or less current, and are there any must-read resources/books?

Context: if I stay I will most likely deal with analasys of unknown binaries, so what can I excpect out of that?

Thanks in advance for responses.

I've been in your shoes a few months ago. They don't really expect you to "help" them with that. They just need you to expand your knowledge, observe them, understand their mentality and way of thinking. Bear in mind that such CTFs are meant to be difficult, but this doesn't mean that this level of difficulty will be applied in all of your real life assessments.