Thursday, May 31, 2018

State of the ARC 5



State of the ARC is a monthly feature hosted by Avalinah's Books. I am so glad I stumbled upon it, because it is really helping me with my 2018 Reading Goals (also find a related Top Ten Tuesday HERE). Links go to Goodreads, unless I have finished the review, in which case it goes to that. All ARCs are from NetGalley or Edelweiss, unless otherwise noted.

(Format equals = title/% complete, pub date)

Pending Approval/Denial = None

Not Started = None

Started = Five
The First Congress (33%), 2-9-16 (Received one month after publication)

The Price of Greatness (24%), 6-5-18

George Washington's Washington (10%), 4-1-18 (received in May from my NetGalley Wishlist!)

Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia (55%), 6-26-18

Cecily Neville: Mother of Richard III (11%), 4-30-18 (received three weeks after publication)

DNF = Two

Finished/Review to Come = Nine
Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, 4-15-16 (Received three days after publication)

Queens of the Conquest, 9-26-17

Whose Promised Land, 10-15-15 (received four months after publication)

We Were Eight Years in Power, 10-3-17

American Gothic, 10-4-16

The Black Prince, 5-1-18

Those Three Words, 5-15-18 (from publisher)

The Poison Plot, 5-1-18

Review or Feedback Sent = Five

How successful were you this month in getting your ARCs under control? I am pretty proud of the progress I have made this month, and also for letting myself DNF two that were not holding my interest, no matter how many times I tried.

Happy Reading!
Sarah

10 comments:

  1. I'm glad I don't need to worry about ARCs! It would be too stressful for me!

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    1. Honestly, it is not too bad - I just let myself get behind when I started writing my book. And then I would browse NetGalley and fine one or three to request, so I kind of dug myself a deeper hole. The bigger problem right now is the review part, I have to make a bigger dent in that section for June!

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  2. I feel like DNF's are kinda crucial at this point, with the volume of stuff we read as book bloggers? Although I don't normally request ARC's, so I don't have as much trouble w/ that as most. Looks like you had a good month though!

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    1. It took me so long to not freak out at the thought of DNF-ing a book. It was seriously traumatic, I have never done that before. But when I looked at my TBR, and logically thought about it, there is simply no way I will be able to read everything and enjoy everything. There are too many books out there for me to get to that I need to stop wasting my time when I am sure that the book is not for me. At least I can say so earlier on, instead of leaving a review about not liking it. I don't want to discourage someone else from a book they might enjoy. I am pleasantly surprised with the successes this month, woohoo!

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  3. Seems like you were pretty successful :) DNFs are good too! At least you're letting them know.

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    1. Right - and I tried for a loooooong time on those. I hate to DNF a book from NetGalley, but because in that instance I can send a note to the publisher - or now I can even select that I will not be leaving feedback. That is super helpful. Even so, I still try to let the publisher know why I am not posting a review. it's not fair to just leave them hanging, wondering what the problem might have been.

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  4. I am usually pretty lucky at NetGalley that the books I get approved for are ones that I really can finish reading. I feel guilty when I DNF a review book but better that than trudging through it and giving it a back review because it didn't work for me. Keep up the good work! Here's my State of the Stack. Happy reading!

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    1. Thanks so much Kathy! I only request books I am really interested in, I think I am just in a funk and burned out on Rev War era books. I may go back to them in the future, maybe not, we will see. I am slowly but surely getting more comfortable with DNF-ing a book that is not working for me, though it is still tough!

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  5. Good job DNFing those 2 books!! I will admit this is a struggle for me... My POV allows that I have a lot to say about a book I dislike so I feel bad DNFing even though I tell myself I'm allowed, lol. ❤️ And good, good job getting feedback sent in! That is the sticking point, isn't it!?

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    1. Thanks! I used to have such a hard time DNF-ing, I felt like I HAD to read every book I started. I always worried about DNF-ing too soon - like, what if I DNFed right before it became really interesting?? But I don't worry anymore, too many books, too little time!

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