Powell’s Books Indiespensable is a book subscription box that ships every 6 weeks. So many readers recommended this box that I had to sign up!
FYI – this subscription is currently sold out, but they open it up every month or so. (If you want an email alert when the waitlist opens, you can sign up for the MSA Powell’s Indiespensable waitlist email).
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Powell’s Books Indiespensable
The Cost: $39.95 a shipment (every 6 weeks)
The Products: Exclusive books and extras
Ships to: Worldwide
Check out all of my Powell’s Indiespensable reviews!
The box comes with a little booklet that details the items in the box, why they were chosen, and includes additional exclusives, like an interview with author:
Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb - Hardcover Only Retail Value $24.95 (On Amazon for $13.32)
Book Summary from Amazon:
For fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time comes this landmark novel about autism, memory, and, ultimately, redemption.
Sent to a “therapeutic community” for autism at the age of eleven, Todd Aaron, now in his fifties, is the “Old Fox” of Payton LivingCenter. A joyous man who rereads the encyclopedia compulsively, he is unnerved by the sudden arrivals of a menacing new staffer and a disruptive, brain-injured roommate. His equilibrium is further worsened by Martine, a one-eyed new resident who has romantic intentions and convinces him to go off his meds to feel “normal” again. Undone by these pressures, Todd attempts an escape to return “home” to his younger brother and to a childhood that now inhabits only his dreams. Written astonishingly in the first-person voice of an autistic, adult man, Best Boy―with its unforgettable portraits of Todd’s beloved mother, whose sweet voice still sings from the grave, and a staffer named Raykene, who says that Todd “reflects the beauty of His creation”―is a piercing, achingly funny, finally shattering novel no reader can ever forget.
The value for the hardcover I listed is based on the hardcover copy alone, not including the exclusive slipcase. It also doesn't factor in that this is a signed first edition:
The Boy Who Went Away by Eli Gottlieb - Value $14.95 (Paperback released on September 7th)
Book Summary from Amazon:
Winner of the American Academy’s Rome Prize for fiction, Eli Gottlieb’s tender, harrowing coming-of-age novel finally returns to print.
Denny Graubart, child-narrator and “domestic surveillance expert,” is having some terrible suspicions about his mother and autistic brother. It’s the 1960s, aka the Diagnostic Dark Ages of Autism, and while his mother struggles to keep his brother out of an institution, signs of something more disturbing are beginning to emerge before young Denny’s eyes. Battered by his own tragicomic sexual awakening during a long, hot summer, Denny will eventually find his most horrified suspicions about his family confirmed. A powerfully drawn portrait of two brothers locked into an asymmetrical childhood and a family struggling against a weight of medical ignorance, The Boy Who Went Away is “shockingly, electrically alive” (Phillip Lopate). It is also an indispensable bookend to Gottlieb’s Best Boy, which recounts the impact of autism on the same family from the other side, many years later, in the voice of a middle-aged autistic man.
Powell's Books Magnet - Value $4
I love the artwork of this magnet - it's a fun addition to the box!
Verdict: I'm alway happy with the value of this subscription - I love getting exclusive in book subscriptions! This is the second box in a row where the signed first edition is the regular hardcover instead of an exclusive design - I hope this doesn't become the new standard. I love my exclusive design hardcover books from this subscription!
What do you think of Volume 54?
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