Book Riot Quarterly Subscription Box Review #BKR08
Book Riot by Quarterly is a seasonal subscription box made for book lovers. In each box they include a mix of bookish things, plus at least one or two books. (Sometimes three).
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Book Riot by Quarterly
The Cost: $50 a box (ships every quarter) plus $8 shipping to the U.S.
The Products: Books and book-related items selected by Book Riot
Ships to: US and Worldwide (Additional shipping costs for International shipping)
Check out all of my Book Riot Quarterly Box reviews!
Each Quarterly Box comes with a letter from the curator detailing the items included and why each was selected. A quote from Book Riot on this theme:
It’s time to root-root-root for the home team. And by home team, of course we mean books.
Zadie Smith on Beauty – Retail Value $17 (On Amazon for $13.01)
Book summary from Amazon:
Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction and from the celebrated author of White Teeth comes another bestselling masterwork
Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, Massachusetts, whose misadventures in the culture wars-on both sides of the Atlantic-serve to skewer everything from family life to political correctness to the combustive collision between the personal and the political. Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny, this tour de force confirms Zadie Smith’s reputation as a major literary talent.
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray – Retail Value $16 (On Amazon for $14.40)
Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin’s venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippy’s rival in love?
Or could “the Automator”–the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the school–have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin “MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to basketball playing midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.
Read Harder Koozie – Value $6?
Field Notes 3-Pack – Value $10
This koozie is custom made for Book Riot subscribers. And these Field Notes are a good fit for a college inspired box (though I have way too many of these thanks to subscription boxes!)
Books! Pennant – Value $12
I love this pennant! I’m hanging it up next to my bookshelf! (This is another custom item for Book Riot subscribers too).
Verdict: This box has a value of about $56 if you count the discounted Amazon prices for the books. I think that’s a pretty good value for this subscription, and even more importantly for me, Book Riot does a good job of curation and pushing me out of my book comfort zone!
What do you think of #BKR08?
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Written by Liz Cadman
Liz, did you get the art print in yours? It was a bonus from Skippy Dies and was under all the cardboard confetti at the bottom. I just thought I’d mention it, incase you missed it. 🙂
I must have totally missed it. Time to go check the recycling bin! Thanks for the head’s up! 🙂
I was really surprised to get On Beauty, which I read and loved a long time ago, in a 2015 book box. The extras were fun and I won a signed copy of Murray’s new book so that saved the box for me 😉
This was my first Book Riot box, although I also receive the Book Riot YA Quarterly box.
I have not read On Beauty and Skippy Dies has been on my to-read list since it came out. Loved the Books pennant! I am swapping the koozie only because I do not use koozies.
With that said, newer releases would probably be a better option for this box. I think I enjoyed the Book Riot YA box a wee bit more than this box.
I think including newer releases could really improve this box
I was just thinking the same thing. I would think that many book lovers would have already read a bestseller that came out ten years ago!
I’m becoming increasingly concerned about Quarterly. Their curator list seems to be shrinking and some aren’t shipping quarterly any more (Arianna’s box is still listing as shipping in October but there hasn’t been a hint of a spoiler that I’ve seen).