Indiespensable #53 from Powell's Books

I am so excited to finally get my second shipment from the Indiespensable book club!  Indiespensable used to ship about every six weeks but this box arrived 3 months after the last shipment back in April.  I'm not sure if this means they are going to switch to quarterly shipment or not.  I never received an email or other notification explaining why they delayed shipping this installment but I'm happy it's here.  Here is a look at what was included in this installment:

Featured Book:  A Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Synopsis from Amazon: 

From the acclaimed author of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Lovers comes a taut, spellbinding literary thriller that probes the essence and malleability of identity.

In Vendela Vida’s taut and mesmerizing novel of ideas, a woman travels to Casablanca, Morocco, on mysterious business. While checking into her hotel, the woman is robbed of her wallet and passport—all of her money and identification. Though the police investigate, the woman senses an undercurrent of complicity between the hotel staff and the authorities—she knows she’ll never recover her possessions. Stripped of her identity, she feels burdened by the crime yet strangely liberated by her sudden freedom to be anyone she chooses.

A chance encounter with a movie producer leads to a job posing as a stand-in for a well-known film star. The star reels her in deeper, though, and soon she’s inhabiting the actress’s skin off set, too—going deeper into the Casablancan night and further from herself. And so continues a strange and breathtaking journey full of unexpected turns, an adventure in which the woman finds herself moving further and further away from the person she once was.

Told with vibrant, lush detail and a wicked sense of humor, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty is part literary mystery, part psychological thriller—an unforgettable novel that explores free will, power, and a woman’s right to choose not her past, perhaps not her present, but certainly her future. This is Vendela Vida’s most assured and ambitious novel yet.

Advance Reader Copy:  Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

Synopsis from Amazon:

In this poetic and haunting tale set in contemporary Appalachia, New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash illuminates lives shaped by violence and a powerful connection to the land

Les, a long-time sheriff just three-weeks from retirement, contends with the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small Appalachian town.  Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina.

Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them, they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les and Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to question themselves and test their tentative bond—and threaten to carry them over the edge.

Extras:  Fuller Serious Cheesy Puffs in Siracha and Cheddar

Each box also includes a booklet with information about the book selections and a special interview with the featured author.

Cost of Box:  $39.95 (shipping included)
Impressions:   I have not read anything from either of the authors included in this box but I am looking forward to reading both books.  The plots of both books sound interesting and The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty has good ratings on Amazon.  I really like that Indiespensable brought back the special slipcase covers for the featured book too!  I have several bookshelves to display my books and I really like the look of old looking matte fabric covers more than shiny dust-jackets.   It's nice that the featured book is signed by the author as well.  And I think it's great that Indiespensable offers advance reader copies like Above the Waterfall which will be released on September 8, 2015.   The siracha and cheedar cheesepuffs are very good.  They are a little spicy but I like spicy snacks.  I had to restrain myself from eating them all in one sitting!  I like that they are baked (not fried) and include simple, natural ingredients so I don't feel so guilty about inhaling them!  :)

It's hard to place a value on a box like Indiespensable because it includes exclusively designed and printed or advanced reader copy books.  But here is some information to give you an idea of pricing to get similar versions of the box items:

• A Diver's Clothes Lie Empty, $17.76 (Amazon.com, hardcover)
• Above the Waterfall, $14.13 (Amazon.com pre-order, hardcover)
• Fuller Serious Cheese Puffs - Siracha and Cheddar flavor, 3 oz, $5

As a book lover, the appeal and "value" of Indiespensable is in the autographed book, the exclusively designed book covers, the interview with the featured author, advance reader copies and the special box curation by fellow book lovers.  And you have to take in to consideration that the subscription price includes the cost of shipping the weight of these books to you.  I'm very happy with this installment because I plan to read both books and I liked the tasty snack they included.  I'm looking forward to the next installment!

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.

Indiespensable #52 from Powell's Books

I am so excited I finally got a subscription to the Indiespensable book club!  Indiespensable ships every six weeks and is run by Powell's Books bookstore in Portland, Oregon.  Each installment includes a signed featured book, sometimes an unsigned secondary book, and extra gifts and treats.

Featured Book:  Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

Synopsis from Amazon: 

Peggy Hillcoat is eight years old when her survivalist father, James, takes her from their home in London to a remote hut in the woods and tells her that the rest of the world has been destroyed. Deep in the wilderness, Peggy and James make a life for themselves. They repair the hut, bathe in water from the river, hunt and gather food in the summers and almost starve in the harsh winters. They mark their days only by the sun and the seasons.

When Peggy finds a pair of boots in the forest and begins a search for their owner, she unwittingly unravels the series of events that brought her to the woods and, in doing so, discovers the strength she needs to go back to the home and mother she thought she’d lost.

After Peggy's return to civilization, her mother begins to learn the truth of her escape, of what happened to James on the last night out in the woods, and of the secret that Peggy has carried with her ever since.

Advance Reader Copy:  The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott

Synopsis from Amazon:

Down on his luck and still pining for his ex-wife, South Carolina taxidermist Romie Futch spends his evenings drunkenly surfing the Internet before passing out on his couch. In a last-ditch attempt to pay his mortgage, he replies to an ad and becomes a research subject in an experiment conducted by the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia. After “scientists” download hifalutin humanities disciplines into their brains, Romie and his fellow guinea pigs start debating the works of Foucault and hashing out the intricacies of postmodern subjectivity. The enhanced taxidermist, who once aspired to be an artist, returns to his hometown ready to revolutionize his work and revive his failed marriage. As Romie tracks down specimens for his elaborate animatronic taxidermy dioramas, he develops an Ahab-caliber obsession with bagging “Hogzilla,” a thousand-pound feral hog that has been terrorizing Hampton County. Cruising hog-hunting websites, he learns that this lab-spawned monster possesses peculiar traits. Pulled into an absurd and murky underworld of biotech operatives, FDA agents, and environmental activists, Romie becomes entangled in the enigma of Hogzilla’s origins.

Exploring the interplay between nature and culture, biology and technology, reality and art, The New and Improved Romie Futch probes the mysteries of memory and consciousness, offering a darkly comic yet heartfelt take on the contemporary human predicament.

Extras:  Ceramic Powell's Bookstore Coaster

Each box also includes a booklet with information about the book selections and a special interview with the featured author.

Cost of Box:  $39.95 (shipping included, ships every 6 weeks)
Impressions:   I'm really looking forward to reading Our Numbered Endless Days.  I love the pretty cover design and the autographed signature page that are special and only in this Indiespensable copy of the book.  The New and Improved Romie Futch doesn't really appeal to me.  I rarely read books of this type of genre but I get that the purpose of this book club subscription is to occasionally get you out of your reading comfort zone and expose you to new genres and authors.  I do like that this book is an advance reader copy so it's pretty cool that I get to read it before most people will get to buy it in October 2015.  Although the Hogzilla storyline isn't something that particularly interests me, I will try to keep an open mind and read it someday but it will not be at the top of my reading list.  There was a card included with the book that you can mail in and submit feedback as one of the advance readers.  I normally like the extras that Indiespensable includes in their box but the coaster didn't really excite me.  I will use it for holding my hot cups of coffee and tea but I think I would like it a lot more if were a prettier image than the Powell's sign. 

What I find really cool about Indiespensable is that the featured book of each installment is signed by the author and has a cover custom designed especially for Indiespensable!  So if you shop around for the featured book online or at your local bookstore, you will not be able to find a copy with this cover.  It is hard to place a value on this box because it includes exclusively designed and printed or advanced reader copy books.  Here is some information to give you an idea of pricing to get similar versions of the box items:

• Our Endless Numbered Days, $13.50 (Amazon.com, paperback)
• A New and Improved Romie Futch, $15.95 (Amazon.com pre-order, paperback)
• Powell's Coaster, $5 (Powells.com, price of similar coasters)

As a book lover, the appeal and extra "value" of Indiespensable is in the autographed book, the exclusively designed book covers, the interview with the featured author, advance reader copies and the special box curation by fellow book lovers who introduce you to new authors and books you may not normally reach for.  Plus, you have to take in to consideration that the price includes the cost of shipping the weight of these books to you.  I like that the installments are shipped every 6 weeks rather than monthly, because it allows you to feel less rushed to finish one book before the next one arrives.  And the regular shipment means I will always have something to read!  I'm definitely looking forward to future installments!

A note on getting an Indiespensable subscription:  I want to note that it took about two months for me to grab one of the few coveted new subscriber slots that open for each installment.  But I will not complain because I would much rather wait to join a quality club than quickly be put on the mailing roster of a box service that starts to fail to meet the standard of their previous boxes.  I've seen it before where small subscription box services start to take on more members than they can adequately meet the demands of and the quality of their boxes starts to suffer for it, sometimes even causing them to go out of business.  So if you are interested in subscribing to Indiespensable, you may have to be patient in acquiring a slot but it looks to be worth the wait if you're a book lover!  Unfortunately, there currently is not a waitlist to sign up for notification of new slots opening so you just have to be diligent about checking the Indiespensable page.  I think about two weeks after the last installment shipped (or one month before the next installment ships) is the best time to start checking.  This installment shipped April 8th (which means the next installment will probably ship around May 20th) so new slots may open up around April 22nd.  When new member slots open they sell out very quickly!

A note on shipping:  This box ships Economy Mail via UPS Mail Innovations and is transferred to USPS for final delivery.  It took 7 days to ship from Washington to me in South Carolina.