Clearing the Shelf for ‘ARC April’

I’ve actually already done this week’s Top 10 Tuesday– I wrote a post a while back titled “Books to Read if You’re in the Mood for Activism.” It’s not the exact same thing, but it’s close enough that I don’t feel like making a similar list at the moment. I’m also in the midst of an awful reading and writing slump at the moment, and am hoping this new topic will put the fire under my behind.

I’ve signed up for ARC April, which is an opportunity for bloggers and reviewers to get some built up advanced reader copies off their bookshelves. Not all of these are necessarily ARCs, but they’re all books that a publisher/writer/website has sent to me. Let me know which of these you’re most excited to read about, and maybe I’ll push them to the fore.

1. The Association of Small Bombs: a novel, by Karan Mahajan: I already posted a bit about this book. There’s been so much hype, that I’m really excited to read it… I just have to get to it!
2. Goslyn County, by A.M. McKnight: This review is slated to be finished on Wednesday– wish me luck, because I’m in the midst of the worst writer’s block at the moment. It’s incredibly promising, especially considering that I haven’t reviewed any black lesbian fiction on the blog.
3. Consequence: a memoir, by Eric Fair: This book takes me back to my international security courses. Consequence is the memoir of a man who has decided to speak the unspeakable horrors of Abu Ghraib. I don’t read too much nonfiction related to Iraq or Afghanistan– mostly because I did enough of that in graduate school– but I have hope that this one will be a little bit different than the others.
4. The Hospital Always Wins, by Issa Ibrahim: I’ll be honest, and let you all know that I have absolutely no idea what to expect from this book. However, I’ve been looking for some way to investigate the relationship between incarceration and mental illness, and think this might be a good stepping stone. I don’t even know how to properly summarize this book in a sentence, so I’ll leave you with the Amazon summary here. In short, The Hospital Always Wins, details Ibrahim’s 20 years spent  in a Queens, New York mental institution. It promises to be dark…perhaps even too dark for me.
5. Slow Boat to China and Other Stories, by Ng Kim Chew: This weekend, I’m digging right into this. I’m almost certain that the best way to get me out of my reading slump is to get immersed in a book of short stories. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of it thus far, so this could be the one. I also have had a tendency to veer toward Asian literature lately, and feel like this could satiate my appetite.
6. The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America, by Michael Eric Dyson: My feelings about Michael Eric Dyson tend to flip flop quite often. But I’m incredibly interested in the subject matter, and do think he has the ability to do it justice.
7. Everyone Brave is Forgiven, by Chris Cleave: I know– I said brown books. Well here’s the thing. As many of you know, I read (and surprisingly really liked) one of his other books, Little Bee, but hated his book Incendiary. This is me giving Cleave another change. There’s nothing particularly interesting about this book so far, but I’m hoping it changes my mind.

 

Me, looking at the books I have to finish reading.

I’m so swamped by ARCs that I have to take executive action  now before I lose my mind! Are any of y’all participating in ARC April? Let me know what ARCs you have to get off of your shelves. Better yet, let me know if you refuse advance copies altogether! And if you did the regular Top 10 Tuesday subject and you think I’d like it, link me below!

 

Follow BB&GT on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram!