Good Morning and Happy Sunday everyone 😀
I’ve been busy reading and working hard to catch up with myself, and I’ve finally managed to be on track to accomplish my goal of 75 books by December 31st. I’m even a little ahead with 21% of my reading complete while there’s only 19% of the year spent. I read Wuthering Heights, The Appeal, Heart-Shaped Box, and Derailed this past week, and started The Book Thief Saturday evening. I doubt I’ll be breaking any reading records this week, though, since I have two dentist appointments, a choir concert, and a school meeting to go to, not to mention a serious need for spring cleaning, laundry, gardening, dishes and spring cleaning. I hope to at least get through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though.
All this frenzied reading, though, has made me remember all the ARCs and other books I’ve committed to reviewing… about 35 books. I dug them all out of Mt. TBR today and stack them in the Books on Deck shelf which is now making me a little claustrophobic sitting between the two: Imposing and collapsing Mt. TBR to my left and towering and condemning Books on Deck to my right. My plan is to declare April as ARC month… and probably May and half of June, too. I’ve been feeling a bit irresponsible with all those books just sitting around and waiting on me to fulfill my committment. And now I feel a bit better.
So, should I thoroughly shame myself by posting the list of the books I owe reviews for? Books that have been sitting on Mt. TBR, gathering dust, and being passed over and forgotten?
*sigh* full-disclosure and acknowledging my problem and all that, in no particular order:
1. Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland ~this is an LT ER book, and I can’t remember when I got it.
2. Memoirs of a Fortune Teller and Vigilante Witch Hunter by Gary Turcotte. I received these books recently, and the second is the sequel book to the first.
3. An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
4. The Tutu Ballet by Sally O. Lee ~ETA finished and reviewed 🙂
5. Mischief Maker’s Manual by Sir John Hargrave
6. The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal. This is an unbound galley I received after a cold request. I have trouble in and of myself with an unbound galley, like it’s not a real book. Anyone else have that problem?
7. Stealing Athena by Karen Essex. Yes, I really HAVE had it THAT long.
8. The Power Makers by Maury Klein
9. I, Robot by Howard S. Smith
10. The Spirit of the Place by Samuel Shem. What? I thought I read that one…
11. The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman
12. Surviving Ben’s Suicide by C. Comfort Shields
13. Guernica by Dave Boling
14. So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz. I don’t think I got this book in lieu of a review, I think I won in on a blog contest.
15. First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader.
16. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
17. The Art of Listening by Seth Barnes
18. Operation Blue Light by Phillip Chabot
19. When a Man Loves a Woman by LaConnie Taylor-Jones
20. My Father’s Paradise by Ariel Sabar
21. Shadow of Colossus by T. L. Higley
22. Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
23. Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
24. The Mysterious Receding Seas by Richard Guy
25. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti . Yes, like I said… I have had them THAT long… I’m a bad, bad kitty.
26. Red Letters by Tom Davis
27. Blue Genes by Christopher Lukas
28. The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis
29. Swimming With Strangers by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum
30. Forbidden Tales: Sword by Da Chen
31. The Icy Hand: Something Wickedly Wierd vol 2 by Chris Mould -finished and reviewed 😉
32. The Terminal Spy by Alan S. Cowell
33. Nation by Terry Pratchett
34. The Organ Grinder and the Monkey by Sam Moffie
35. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace by Dang Thuy Tram
ok… I think that’s it… for now… but I know I have a few more on the way. SO… any suggestions on how to organize this list? Any books I should read right away? Were there any that you particualarly liked or wanted to know about? HELP ME!!!! :-p
Filed under: Sunday Salon | Tagged: ARC, book reading, Book Reviews, Books, committment, second life, The Sunday Salon |
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR 
I am intrigued as to where everyone get the ARC books from. So many of the Sunday Saloners seem to receive them. I know what you mean about the mountain of books and that feeling of suffocation. Mine are all stacked beside my bed and there is that slight chance that they might topple over and suffocate me while I am asleep. Have a great reading day.
Hm, that was sure a bunch of books, and I can’t really say where you should start. Jyst pick up the first you find and commit to that 🙂
That’s quite an intimidating list! I read a number of these books back in the summer. If it was me choosing, I’d probably just read them in publication or reception order, if you kept records of that, or start with one you’re really interested in. I find it easiest to have a definite order and just keep going.
I have to say, I’m quite jealous that you’ve still got Zoe’s Tale. I didn’t manage to get that one as an ARC but I wish I had! If it was me, I’d read that first. =)
I have several of the books you listed that I still need to read — Any Given Doomsday, Surviving Ben’s Suicide (not technically an ARC, it was a contest win), and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. I really enjoyed First Daughter. There’s a nice jaw-dropping twist in the prologue that had me hooked for the rest of the book.
Wow! What a pile of ARC’s. I’ve read several already so I’d start with Nation or Guernica as I’ve heard good things about both of them.
I was going to say ‘wow, some of those books are old!’ and then I remembered that I have some that are just as old. Bleh. You have quite a few good ones, some I really loved in your list are Guernica, Zoe’s Tale, and My Father’s Paradise. I’d put any that still haven’t come out/have come out since February of this year first, then just stick the rest in some sort of order and get reading (permitting yourself to jump around a bit within the stack as the mood strikes you).
Guernica and My Father’s Paradise were two of my favorites from 2008, so I definitely recommend putting them at the top of the stack!
Just pick them according to your current mood.
You should have joined me in January for ARC reading month. I’ve been reading almost nothing but review books and I’m still behind with over 30. It’s hopeless really but I’m going to try!
As for how to organize your list, I would alternate ones you really want to read with ones that have been on the list for a long time. As for actual ARCs if they are being published soon, try to read them soon.