Book of the Month October 2015 Subscription Box Review + Awesome 3-Month Deal!

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book of the month october 2015 box

Bookspan’s Book of the Month Club is a newer monthly book subscription box. Each month their panel of Judges selects 5 books, which they announce on the first of the month, and members have six days to decide which book (or books) they would like to receive. All books are shipped at the same time, so members can read and participate in their discussion forums as a group. One book per month is included in the membership fee, and members can purchase up to two additional books each month for $12.99 per title. The monthly price is $12.99 per month, $8.99 per month on a year long subscription, but you can get 3 months for $20.97 – $6.99 per month. Use Book Of The Month Invitation Code BOTM15. Sign up by the 6th to get the current month’s box.

Mayim Bialik was the guest judge for October.

The October 2015 Book of the Month selections were:
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

Rising Strong by Brene Brown

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

book of the month october 2015 unboxing

A note to the reader from the Judge who made this selection

Dear Reader, Thank you for making Claire Vaye Watkins’s astounding novel your selection this month. You won’t look at the desert – or the drought in California – the same way again. Happy Reading! Chris

book of the month wrapping

The book was shrink wrapped onto cardboard and well-protected.

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A bookmark with a quote from Henry David Thoreau was included: Read the best books first, or may not have a chance to read them at all.

book of the month october 2015 review

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins ($20.93 on Amazon)

a first novel that harnesses the sweeping vision and deep heart that made her debut so arresting to a love story set in a devastatingly imagined near future:

Unrelenting drought has transfigured Southern California into a surreal, phantasmagoric landscape. With the Central Valley barren, underground aquifer drained, and Sierra snowpack entirely depleted, most “Mojavs,” prevented by both armed vigilantes and an indifferent bureaucracy from freely crossing borders to lusher regions, have allowed themselves to be evacuated to internment camps. In Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon, two young Mojavs—Luz, once a poster child for the Bureau of Conservation and its enemies, and Ray, a veteran of the “forever war” turned surfer—squat in a starlet’s abandoned mansion. Holdouts, they subsist on rationed cola and whatever they can loot, scavenge, and improvise.

The couple’s fragile love somehow blooms in this arid place, and for the moment, it seems enough. But when they cross paths with a mysterious child, the thirst for a better future begins. They head east, a route strewn with danger: sinkholes and patrolling authorities, bandits and the brutal, omnipresent sun. Ghosting after them are rumors of a visionary dowser—a diviner for water—and his followers, who whispers say have formed a colony at the edge of a mysterious sea of dunes.

Immensely moving, profoundly disquieting, and mind-blowingly original, Watkins’s novel explores the myths we believe about others and tell about ourselves, the double-edged power of our most cherished relationships, and the shape of hope in a precarious future that may be our own.

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This book has mixed reviews on Amazon, but looked interesting. I think it will be a nice airplane read next week.

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The author seems extremely fond of adjectives.

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After you read your book, you can rate it!

There is also a discussion feature on the site. This subscription has been going since May, although not really big time until this month. I expect it to look a lot more active once the boards for the October books are available!

I think the premise of this subscription is cool, and it’s a great way to discover some new books inexpensively. The community features look intriguing and I am definitely curious to see how they will develop – it’s like a modern book club. The monthly price is $12.99 per month, $8.99 per month on a year long subscription, but you can get 3 months for $20.97 – $6.99 per month. Use Book Of The Month Invitation Code BOTM15. Sign up by the 6th to pick a book for November. And FYI – yes this is the reincarnation of the old school Book of the Month!

Visit Bookspan Book of the Month Club to subscribe or find out more!

The Subscription: Bookspan Book of the Month Club
The Description: The Judges select 5 new books each month, one of which is included in your membership. Visit the site to select your Book of the Month, or leave it up to us and we will choose one for you. Receive, read, and discuss with other members!
The Price: $12.90 per month, down to $8.99 per month on an annual plan
The Coupon: Use invitation code BOTM15 to get a 3 month subscription for only $20.97

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  • Sarah
    10.13.15

    A lot of the reviews of _Gold Fame Citrus_ that I’ve seen have compared it to _The Water Knife_ (which I have not read), but the jacket description made me think ‘didn’t Octavia Butler pretty much already write this book?’ I went with _Fates and Furies,_ which is also getting very mixed reviews, but I randomly picked up one of Groff’s earlier works on a $1 closeout table several years ago and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, so I was going to buy this one anyway. I’m looking forward to the discussion boards opening. I’ve really missed being able to talk books.