Today I received my very, very first advance reader copy (ARC) in the mail. Swoon!
While I will forever be addicted to bookstores and the irreplaceable joy of browsing the stacks for a gem, there is something intoxicating about receiving books in the mail. Even though you know they are coming, it's still like receiving a present... you get all the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive, and then you get to tear open the packaging to get at your "gift." Love it. Even though the post-office is kind of antiquated these days, I'd rather receive something via snail mail than email any day.
Anyway. This ARC is The Stories of Devil-Girl, a piece of "urban fiction," and I received it through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. Technically it went on sale in May, so I'm not sure how "advance" it is. But. I still got it free through LTER, and therefore I am classifying it as an ARC, say what you will.
I'm excited to break into it and see how my first ARC experience goes. Holding it in my hands, I'm pretty sure I never would have picked this book up all by me onesies -- I like to buy used books, almost as a rule. Devil-Girl is so... unblemished. I am also a book cover snob, unfortunately (please don't tell anyone! I try to live with this shame in secret) and the cover does not hold up to my exacting bookstore-browsing standards. I'm glad I'm going to get to read a book that my own prejudices would have kept me from buying.
It's a pretty slim read though, so I'm moving it up to the top of my TBR stack (right after I finish Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates. Twenty pages in and I think I might have to kill myself because Oates is so good.)
Anyone else get ARCs? Any advice on how to approach these books with an open mind?
*Don't worry jessi, I'm still going to write about my high school's brush with literary/drama censorship! It is becoming quite a lengthy post so I'm working on it here and there as I have time.
*In other reading news, I am currently sipping my tea-of-choice. The quote on the tag of this particular bag is from the devastatingly perfect Mae West: "You're never too old to become younger." So true, Delicious Tea, so true. I love it when my beverages go all philosophical on me.
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reinventing bookselling
5 hours ago
9 comments:
Hee, good to know. I'm looking forward to reading it! :)
I really need to get on an ARC list. The only ones I've ever read have been from my library. Of course, that's how I read Matt Haig's The Dead Father's Club, which was a post-modern retelling of Hamlet. Awesome.
ARC's are amazing-ness wrapped up into one little tiny package that ends up in your mailbox. :) I remember the day I got my first ARC... :)
Off the list that was on my Sunday Salon post, I would either start with Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehram, or the Violet series by Melissa Walker. The first one, which I read a while back, is called Violet on the runway, the second on is titled Violet by Design, and the third, out in August (which i read this month, also) is Violet in Private. All four of those are amazing.
Also, to answer your last question, which i just saw, ARC's aren't usually bad. The worst I've seen was just some quotation marks and commas not in the writing, and, like, one spelling mistake. So, just go at it like you were reading a novel that was already published. :)
Congrats on your first A.R.C! I've been reviewing for several years now, and you're right -- it's like getting a present in the mail!
I love my mail-delivery people! I wait anxiously for them to show up and bring me books! :P
MizB
Funny. Since I copyedit for a living, I don't think I could handle an ARC. Just knowing it needs one more read before publishing would make me want to get out my colored pencils and mark it up!
I have enough to read anyway without getting on an ARC list, though getting great books early does sound like fun.
since you are on librarything, please join the ARC junkies group...we give each other tips on how to find other ARCs. :)
Congratulations on your first ARC. It is a great feeling. I didn't know about the ARC group though. Thanks for the mention, I'll be over to sign up AMY!!! Thanks.
ARCs have turned into a guilt thing for me. My favorite source of them, though is curledup.com, if you want to get lots more!
Amy, thanks I'll look into it!
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