I like the Thrifty Books box because it’s pretty darn affordable and it’s introduced me to some great books. I pre-paid for a year and it came out to just over $17 per box including shipping, which is on the lower end compared to other book boxes. You can read reviews of past Thrifty Books boxes here.

The box consists of a literary fiction book, a bag of coffee (or I believe you can choose tea as well), and a newsletter. There’s also access to an online book club for subscriber’s eyes only. Exciting stuff.

You may be wondering how I could be reviewing April’s box when we’re only a few days into April. Well, this month the book was Olive Kitteridge, which is a great book but I’ve read it a few times. In fact, in my review of the March Thrifty Books box, I referenced this book! I’m psychic!

The book is great but it’s been years and years since I’ve read it so I don’t have it in me to give you a deep review. I will say that A) it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction B) HBO made an incredible mini-series of it and C) I bought a copy of it for my brother for Christmas a few years ago because he doesn’t read enough women authors and I thought this would get him out of his comfort zone in a way that didn’t make him *too* uncomfortable.

The coffee included was from Rev, which was included in a previous box. Fine with me though – this stuff is good! There was also the postcard / newsletter that’s always included. I agree with all the curator’s reasons for including this book – it’s a good book! I don’t hold it against this box that I’d already read (and purchased) this book. I read about 130 books a year – it’s pretty difficult to surprise me with a backlist book!

Rating: 10/10 

Recommended for: People who like short stories; people who think they don’t like short stories; people who don’t read a lot of women authors.

Does it pass the Bechdel–Wallace test? Yes

Author of color / main character of color / female author / female main character: N / N / Y / Y