Book Riot Quarterly Spring 2015 (March) Review

Box: Book Riot Quarterly

Cost: $50/quarter + $5 Shipping + tax where applicable.  So for me - it is more of a $60 subscription.

What is it: books and bookish items

Best for: Novel readers who still enjoy the feel of a flipping actual pages.

Please note, those who are previously Quarterly subscribers, they recently added shipping to their boxes. See their new policy here.

For each shipment, a theme is selected, and the items are picked according to the theme.  This shipment's theme is "Chilling", "to with the oh-so-chilly weather. Hunker down, huddle up, and wrap your mind around some matters of life and death and the in-between."

The box on arrival.  I have always liked their simple packaging, an unmarked box, with the only branding in the tape. 

One of my favorite part of their packaging - "Packed with radness in LA" inside every box.

The initial look upon opening the box. 

The cards explaining the selection for this month.

The paragraph starts with "We come to you from the frozen tundra of Book Riot HQ..." How funny - since I had assumed their HQ is located in LA - from the sticker telling me the entire box is packaged in LA, where the weather is between 70-80 degrees in the winter...hmmm.....

The last card tells subscribers what they could have gotten in addition IF they are lucky...and unless I get a Book Lamp a few days later (the 4 lucky winners will receive a book lamp in a separate package),  I am totally not a lucky subscriber this time.  I didn't get any Lottery Items - it makes me feel sad....I would have really liked to have either "The Book of Memory Gaps" by Cecila Ruiz or "The Devil Takes a Bride" by Julia London.  For the lucky 5% who received the lottery items - I am VERY jealous.

The book lamp I am guessing the lucky readers will receive is the BOOK REST LAMP from SUCK UK.  Super cute!

Now on the the items in the box.

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older and a Half-Ressurection Blues bookmark drawn by DJ Older.  The bookmark is on regular stock shiny paper.  Something that will be hard to keep in good condition upon first use, but it does go nicely with the book.  Value $7.99

Being Mortal: Medicine and What matters in the End by Atul Gawande.  Value $26, but currently on amazon.com for $15.60.  This should be an interesting read as it takes a look at how medicine can also be "the process of life's ending"

Library Card Notebook. Value $6.

Book Riot's #booksandbooze liquid courage flask.  This item is made specifically for Book Riot with their logo on the back of the flask.  It is cute - and who can't use a little booze?  I can't find this on the Book Riot store, and guessed that flasks of this nature should cost around $10.

The value of this box is around $50 (using the full retail value of the books, but without the value of the bookmark).  I am not sure how much the bookmark would cost - but in my case it would need to be $10 for me to "break-even" (after shipping & tax).

While I really enjoyed this curation, and I am looking forward to reading both books, again, I am not too sold on the value, and the fact that Quarterly will start charging for shipping really compound this issue.  Personally, I think I will cancel my subscription after this month...unless...by miracle - a book lamp shows up in my house... then I may just feel too lucky to cancel.