State of the ARC #3

Today, we're continuing State of the ARC - where I talk about how behind I am on my ARCs and make excuses for why I'm not through them yet. State of the ARC is run by Avalinah's Books. Read the official rules HERE.


ARCs can be really difficult for me. As much as I love reading, I don't often get books that I thoroughly enjoy in the form of ARCs - I'm still catching up from my initial flood of Netgalley requests and I requested every book in sight, no matter how odd they looked. Now that I'm starting to be a little more discerning about which books I'll request, things are getting better, but there's still that pile of books I no longer care about that I have to force myself through and that's just....bleh.

BUT in spite of this, I managed to get some ARCs read this month and make a little progress! Here is where I was at the beginning of May:

While my requests definitely aren't completely out of control (for now....), there's still a lot of work I could do in order to catch up (and try not to fall so far behind again). Here are the books I've finished since State of the ARC #2:

    

      

And while I did finish a lot of books (for which I'm very impressed with myself), I also requested a lot of books (there are so many good SFF books coming up!). So....my end of the month chart does not fully show how much progress I made and how proud of myself I am.

The overall numbers stayed about the same, but my overdue books went way down! And I'm striving to keep up on my books that are coming due (and actually doing a decent job of that). 

Have you heard of any of these books? How do you keep ahead of your ARCs? How many ARCs did you read this month?

State of the ARC #2

Today, we're continuing State of the ARC - where I talk about how behind I am on my ARCs and make excuses for why I'm not through them yet. State of the ARC is run by Avalinah's Books. Read the official rules HERE.

I skipped last month (partly because I forgot, and partly because I hadn't really made any progress anyway), so I'll combine my progress. When March began, my pile looked like this:

During the months of March and April, I actually got quite a few books read! It was refreshing to be catching up on my ARCs. But there was one problem - I requested a few books as I finished one book, thinking that I'd be approved for one of the many I requested. I ended up being approved for several....so now I have a bunch more books that are coming due. However, I got a lot done, so maybe it evens out? 

BOOKS I FINISHED

        

  

I'm unreasonably proud of myself for getting these books done - five books in two months isn't a huge amount, but it's showing me that my pile of ARCs can be dealt with! I was also worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the new ARCs that I've ordered, but my total number of ARCs has gone down over the past two months, so I'm really happy with myself. While I still have a decent amount to get to, it's a number I can handle over the next several months. Below is my chart for where I stand now that April is over:

I now have 23 total books to finish (until I order more...) and I feel like getting under the 25 book mark is a pretty big deal and I'm fairly content with myself and my progress. More books are done! And more will get done next month!

What progress have you made on your pile of ARCs this month? What was the best ARC you read? The worst? What do you plan to do once you have your pile under control?

Music Monday #2 and State of the ARC #1

Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE


Gah, it's hard to explain how much I love Paramore's new album - it's so full of 80's pop and yet it remains true to Paramore's sound.

I've also been in love with Odette's first single "Watch Me Read You." It was one of my top tracks of 2017 and I'm still blown away by how beautiful it is.

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Today, we're also starting State of the ARC - where I talk about how behind I am on my ARCs and make excuse for why I'm not through them yet. State of the ARC is run by Avalinah's Books. Read the official rules HERE.

I'll be honest - I haven't been great about keeping up with old ARCs, so this is my commitment to start catching up (I also have a challenge from The Herd Presents to finish 8 backlisted books this year, so I'm hoping I can combine these challenges and knock out some books). So here is where I was at in the beginning of the month.

This month, I read two books that weren't due yet to get ahead of the game so I can spend next month focusing on overdue books. Here are the two books linked to my reviews:

    

I also had to forego reading two books that I was no longer able to download. So since doing my initial count, I moved 4 books off my to-read shelf. I also was approved for one new book that isn't due for a few months. Today, my chart looks a bit more like this:

Hopefully next month I can start tackling those overdue books! Thanks to Avalinah's Books again for running this meme and helping motivate me to get working on my ARCs!


What have you been listening to lately? How many ARCs do you have to catch up on? And how do you motivate yourself to finish backlisted books?