January Book of the Month! (Book mail #3)
It was at the end of the Month of December that I finally decided that I was going to join a book subscription service, just to see what I would get out of it besides a pile of books. This was of course before the Marie Kondo “30 books” controversy, but I don’t think I’ll let this get too out of hand…I hope.
The premise of Book of the Month is, each month they give you a selection of books and each month you get 1 credit towards any of the books you want. You then can add on additional books either from the current month’s selection or from previous months. They then pack those beauties in a box and ship them to you! It’s like my dream service to be honest.
One of the best things though is that they give you a selection of books that are about to be released. It’s like you get dibs on books before everyone else (though I think the difference in receiving them is roughly a couple of days).
I had been going to their website for a while, but never was quite ready to take that next step and sign up for the service. That changed in January when I had to announce my GoodReads reading goal and decided in order to meet and potentially surpass that goal, I needed many books to choose from. (This is a straight up excuse, I have unread books currently on my shelf, just waiting for me).
So I signed up and was happy to find that there was actually a book by an author that I knew in this month’s selection.
Golden State by Ben H. Winters with it’s warm, yet stark cover art promises to be a book that will keep me thinking long after I’ve finished reading, just given the brief synopsis. I had read Winter’s The Last Policeman a couple years ago and remember being so captivated by it that it was pretty much a no-brainer to select Golden State for my January BotM pick. I was happy with my selection and even more excited to be receiving a brand new book by mail.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the added bonus of getting a second credit for being a new subscriber, thus allowing a second book to be added to my January box. I immediately searched their back catalog and squealed for joy when I saw what was offered.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik was a book I had heard about through my favorite book podcast, Overdue. After listening to the Spinning Silver episode I immediately added the book to my “want to read” list on GoodReads. So, when I saw that it was an option to have it added to my January book box I jumped at the chance. From the Overdue episode this sounds like an amazing fairytale re-imagining with engaging characters and a story you can’t help but be entranced by. Truthfully, I have heard nothing but great things about this novel and though it will have to sit on my TBR list for a hot minute, I anticipate getting to this within 2019. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Some additional notes about the Book of the Month Subscription: The two books I received were hardcover. Now I’m not sure if this is the standard, though I would hedge a guess that it is given the books are so new. If you prefer paperback, perhaps this service won’t be the best pick for you. While I regularly select paperback for the convenience and versatility of reading anywhere, I am not opposed to hardback and to be honest, they really pop on a book shelf.
The new month’s books are listed on their site the first of every month and once you make your selection, they usually ship within 1-2 days (Added bonus, shipping is always free). There are different buy-in options that range from monthly, 3-months, 6-months, and 12-months. Obviously if you go for the larger buy-ins you’ll save some money.
I went with the monthly option, mainly to test the waters, setting me back at roughly $15 a month. If all goes well I might upgrade to one of the larger buy-ins, but lets see what February has to offer before I get too excited.
