Friday Reads 6/5/15

This post is also known as Hello Netgalley, Goodbye TBR.

I discovered Netgalley.com this week. Publishers release ebook versions of the books they are publishing soon and reviewers can request them to review. I review books sometimes here and on my library's blog, so I thought "why not give it a try? I probably won't be approved for many books, so I'll request about 10 and see what happens." Well, what happened is that I got approved for 7 books. What the what? They have publishing dates from May 15 (last month) to Aug 18. It would be nice to get them read before they publish (well, except for the one last month), so that whole TBR thing I did a few days ago? Yeah, that's pretty much gone out the window. Here's what I'm working on right now.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - This is the book for both book clubs in the next month (how about that for planning, eh?). I started it last night, and it is really good for the first 35 pages. It's entirely readable and extremely interesting. On the off chance that you've never heard of it, it is about the woman whose cervical cancer cells became the HeLa cells that have been major contributors to all kinds of medical research for the last 65 years. The cells were harvested without her knowledge and she died just months after they were taken. Her family didn't know about the cells for 25 years, meanwhile they are broke and can't afford medical care. Oh Irony!

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan - This is the Netgalley book that was released last month. I'm about 20% through it. It's mysterious and lyrical and has been compared to The Night Circus. Plus, can we please talk about that cover? So gorgeous.

Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos - This is a Netgalley book due out June 9. The description makes it sound kind of difficult to pin down, but I gather it's about an English teacher who has trouble relating to his autistic son and his college-bound daughter. He has a midlife crisis of sorts and has some help redefining his life from some mysterious people. Also... That cover!!!

So that's what's on my plate for the next week. Also, this Saturday is Asian-American Festival, so I will be quite busy.

What are your reading plans?