state of the arc #2

State of the ARC is a monthly meme hosted by Avalinah's Books. It's a way to track your reading progress and see how fellow book bloggers are doing as well.

The rules for State of the ARC are quite simple; I couldn't put them any better than Evelina already has:

• Mention that you’re linking up with State of the ARC @ AvalinahsBooks, which is a fun way to share our ARC progress, challenges, wins, woes and mishaps.
• Include the link to this post, or the current State of the ARC post. You can use my State of the ARC image too.
• Don’t forget to visit all the other people in the link-up and comment.
• And most importantly – have fun!

ARC STATS

My ARC pile has grown (15-->27) since the last check-in, but thankfully I've stayed on top of my review schedule! There are seven finished reviews waiting patiently in my blog's queue right now and I have nine ARCs with release dates in the next two months. (Technically one came out in January, but it was part of a recent trade, so I'm letting the 'overdue' tag slide on it...) Unlike my frenzied requesting at the start of my book blog, I've tried to exhibit a little more restraint in the review copies I seek out. There are already a few summer and fall titles I'm hoping to get a hold of, but with a little luck and some planning I should make enough progress on my current pile that they won't be unmanageable additions!

SYMBOLS DECODED

I've posted two ARC reviews over the last month:

A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
The Storm King by Brendan Duffy

In addition, I already have seven (!!) ARC reviews queued up and ready for posting. (The last was a late addition and I was too lazy to add another alethiometer...) Tomorrow I'll share my thoughts on The Bad Daughter by Joy Fielding, which was a competent if predictable mystery. March sees a spate of ARC reviews, including: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier, The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw, The Strange Bird by Jeff VanderMeer, The Balcony by Jane Delury, and My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. You'll have to wait a little while for my review of Madeline Miller's new novel CIRCE, though—I couldn't hold off reading it any longer, but it doesn't come out until April!

Sadly, I had to DNF one NetGalley ARC that I was looking forward to reading. After plowing through more than a quarter of the novel, I realized that I simply didn't care how it turned out. And it was a mystery! As disappointed as I was to let it go I did the smart thing and dropped the publisher a quick note before moving on. I also DNF'd a literary fiction ARC I received in a book subscription box last fall. Only twenty pages in, I realized I hated the first-person narrator's voice; I don't feel too bad about sticking that one back on the shelf.

ON THE HORIZON

Most of my progress this month was thanks to some tempting physical ARCs that I couldn't resist any longer. It's time to turn back to my e-galleys and work on getting my NetGalley completion rate closer to 80%! I already five April releases to look forward to reading soon: The Beloveds by Maureen Lindley, Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody, Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, Macbeth by Jo Nesbo, and Liar's Candle by August Thomas. Also on my to-do list is To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I'm thrilled to have traded for them and am hoping to read and review them in a timely fashion for their approaching release dates!

Will we be covering any of the same ARCs this month? What review are you looking forward to reading? Let me know which review you're most looking forward to in the comments below!