*State of the ARC* October 2017

So I'm hooking up with AvalinahsBooks for this newish meme, State of the ARC. According to the lovely Avalinah, this is a "fun way to share our ARC (advance reader copy) progress," but near as I can figure, it's just a way to self-shame for being greedy and getting behind on our ARC reading. I'm personally coming to the conclusion that I was born without a shame gene, so this may be an exercise in futility for me, but it's only a once a month post, so why not play along (also when I went on my graphics making spree, I created a header for it, so I've got to use it). 

To start with, I need to bloviate about what qualifies as an ARC for me. Obviously books on Netgalley count (this is scary all on it's own, you'll see for yourself in a minute just how scary). But sometimes I get "suckered" into reviewing non-Netgalley books too (or you know, I'm just so greedy because I want all of the books and the synopses sound good and I have no self-control), so those books should really get a place here too (probably even more than the Netgalley ARCs because they're usually physical copies). I will not be counting the ARCs that I win through Goodreads giveaways however, because I want to pretend that this list is still theoretically manageable. I'm also not going to count the books I get through Penguin's First to Read program because that list is constantly changing for me (it's the one thing I'm almost consistent on). 

So with all that in mind, where am I at right now? 

Netgalley

Netgalley is my biggest weakness because it's eARCs, so it's almost like they don't really exist (at least not in my mind). It's super easy for them to get lost on my Kindle. But to share my shame, I currently have...

125 Books

...to read on Netgalley total. But I'm going to break that down because not all Netgalley books are created equal. The following comprise the 125 books I have to review on Netgalley. 

8 samples or excerpts. 

11 children's or middle grade books.

6 books that I've already started or finished reading.

and 100 books that are still waiting for me to pay attention to them. 

In other words, things on this front are almost hopeless at the moment. I have to brag on myself though, because the past three months, I've basically only gotten samples and excerpts (with just two exceptions) through Netgalley and those are short, so faster reads, once I find some time to get to them. It may not seem like it, but that's progress. 

Physical Books

Now I don't get nearly as many offers for physical ARCs as I get access to on Netgalley, but I do get some because people don't know just how bad I am at commitment. So how many physical books do I have to read and review right now?

11 Books

Now that seems doable doesn't it? And it really should be because the breakdown there is...

6 children's books,

and 5 not children's chapter books. 

Now I'm going to be moving across the Atlantic Ocean in the next few months, so I really need to get these books read and reviewed before the movers arrive to pack up my stuff (at least the children's books because they will be fast reads with my kids). That still requires me to find the time to read them and get them reviewed, and somehow I never seem to have any of that just laying around. 

Wrap-up

So all in all, I have 136 books to read for review right now, which is only 16 more books than I read a year on average. So if I could just not add any new books to the list, and not read any other books, I could knock this list out in like thirteen months. But I'm not delusional enough to think THAT's ever going to happen (for one thing, I proofread about 40 books a year, and I get paid for that so I'm not putting that on a back burner). So I guess that would have me finishing up with just the ARCs listed here in like 2 1/2 years or something, and I just need to not add anything new to my list. I expect y'all to hold me accountable. - Katie 

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