Trust Fall #3 from Book People

I like to read so I'm excited to discover another book club subscription box.  Trust Fall is a quarterly book club from Book People bookstore based in Austin, Texas.  Each quarter they send a signed first edition book along with extra gifts and maybe a second book.   One feature I found really cool about Trust Fall is that if you're not satisfied with your subscription box, you can return it for a full refund and actually keep the extra gifts as a thank you for trying them out!  Here is what was included in this quarter's box (Trust Fall #3, released March 2015):

Letters from Book People and Scribner Publishing about the box and featured books:

 

Interview with featured author Antonio Ruiz-Camacho

 

Featured Book:  Barefoot Dogs: Stories by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho (signed by the author)

 

Synopsis from Amazon:

On an unremarkable night, José Victoriano Arteaga—the head of a thriving Mexico City family—vanishes on his way home from work. The Arteagas find few answers; the full truth of what happened to Arteaga is lost to the shadows of Mexico’s vast and desperate underworld, a place of rampant violence and kidnappings, and government corruption. But soon packages arrive to the family house, offering horrifying clues.

Fear, guilt, and the prospect of financial ruination fracture the once-proud family and scatter them across the globe, yet delicate threads still hold them together: in a swimming pool in Palo Alto, Arteaga’s young grandson struggles to make sense of the grief that has hobbled his family; in Mexico City, Arteaga’s mistress alternates between rage and heartbreak as she waits, in growing panic, for her lover’s return; in Austin, the Arteagas’ housekeeper tries to piece together a second life in an alienating and demeaning new land; in Madrid, Arteaga’s son takes his ailing dog through the hot and unforgiving streets, in search of his father’s ghost.

Advance Reader Copy:  War of the Encyclopaedists by Christopher Robinson & Gavin Kovite

Synopsis from Amazon:

On a summer night, in the arty enclave of Capitol Hill, Seattle, best friends Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy throw one last blowout party before their lives part ways. At twenty-three, they had planned to move together to Boston for graduate school, but global events have intervened: Montauk has just learned that his National Guard unit will deploy to Baghdad at the end of the summer. In the confusion of this altered future, Corderoy is faced with a moral dilemma: his girlfriend Mani has just been evicted and he must decide whether or not to abandon her when she needs him most. He turns to Montauk for help. His decision that night, and its harrowing outcome, sets in motion a year that will transform all three of them.

Months later, Corderoy and Montauk grapple with their new identities as each deals with his own muted disappointment. In Boston, Corderoy finds himself unable to play the game of intellectual one-upmanship with the ease and grace of his new roommate Tricia, a Harvard graduate student and budding human rights activist. Half a world away, in Baghdad, Montauk struggles to lead his platoon safely through an increasingly violent and irrational war. As their lives move further away from their shared dream, Corderoy and Montauk keep in touch with one another by editing a Wikipedia article about themselves: smart and funny updates that morph and deepen throughout the year, culminating in a document that is both devastatingly tragic and profoundly poetic.

Extras:  Texas County Fair Field Notes notebooks and Book People coozie

 

Cost of Box:  $39.95 (plus $1 shipping)
Impressions:  This box was released at the end of March but I did not subscribe until mid-April.  I'm looking forward to reading both of the book selections included in this box.  At only 138 pages, Barefoot Dogs should be a quick read.  The advance reader copy of War of the Encyclopaedists makes this box special.  This book will be released for sale on May 19, 2015.  I am a notebook junkie so I'm always happy to get more!  The bright colors of these Field notebooks should make them easy to keep track of.  I don't care for the Book People coozie and feel like it was an odd choice for a box filler.  Because of the signed book and advance reader copy, it is a little difficult to put an exact value on this box but here is some information to give you an idea of pricing through other sources:

• Barefoot Dogs: Stories by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho $17.37 (Amazon.com, hardcover)
• War of the Encyclopaedists by Christopher Robinson & Gavin Kovite  $19.26 (Amazon.com pre-order, hardcover)
• Texas County Fair Field Notes notebook set ($9.95)
• Book People coozie (?, not found in Book People online shop)

I am pleased with the book selections and feel the box was worth the cost.  And I like that this box ships quarterly (approximately ever 3 months) which means I have plenty of time to read both books before the next shipment arrives.  I'm considering purchasing an annual subscription ($140 for 4 boxes total).  The ability to cancel and get a refund if I'm not satisfied with the subscription, in addition to saving $20 a year, is a nice incentive to getting a pre-paid annual subscription.  Trust Fall has a similar box format and price point to Indiespensable but ships less often.  I like both book club boxes so far and plan to keep both, especially since Trust Fall is only a quarterly box.

A note on shipping:  I was not provided with a tracking number for this order but I was sent an email on the date it was packed and shipped to notify me my order was on it's way.  It was delivered by my USPS mail carrier about a week and a half after I ordered.

*As of the published date of this blog post, Trust Fall #2 and #3 boxes were still available for purchase.