So I discovered the coolest thing back in March when I saw on Facebook that one of the pages I follow, Book Riot, does a quarterly shipment of books and book-related items. I’ve heard about a variety of companies that have started doing quarterly shipments, you pay a set fee each quarter and in the mail you get a box of fun surprises. The shipment is technically run through Quarterly Co and they have such a great variety of quarterly shipments you can choose from, like one from Pharrell Williams and gaming, fitness, cooking, hair care, and art. I decided to sign up for the Book Riot Quarterly Shipment to try it at least once and see if I liked it. I am trying to expand my horizons with reading and I thought this would be a fun way to find new books I might like. Each shipment is set to a “theme” and most shipments have 2 books and some extra items, plus there are some lottery items that a certain percentage of all the shipments get as well. So last Friday my shipment came and I was absolutely pumped! I had been looking forward to this since I signed up for the shipments in March and I was not disappointed!

Isn’t it beautiful!? So the theme for this shipment was technology, the internet, and the future of reading. The shipment comes with a pamphlet describing each item that is included and how it fits with the theme.

So now I will talk about each item that I got in my shipment. I’ll start with the book-related items and then talk about the books last.

1. A Grid-It Organizer

This is a handy item for storing all your gadgets. Its got like elastic straps that you can use to hold down the gadgets on this board thing. Could come in handy.

2. Pop Chart Lab Literary Genres Map

I’ve seen this online before and it is so awesome. Its a map of all the different genres of fiction. I can’t wait to hang this one up in my library (once my library is done being constructed).

3. The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon

This book sounds super interesting. Its about a time in the future when all print materials are pretty much extinct but one group of people are working to finish the North American Dictionary of the English Language when the editor-in-chief goes missing. I’m excited to give this one a try. This book also came with a bonus item from the author, a special coda that was written exclusively for Book Riot Quarterly subscribers. The events from this occur after the book.

4. Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson

Many people think that technology is making the general population less capable than generations of the past because they end up relying on technology for so many of their tasks through the day. Some have even argues that the over-reliance on technology in the younger generation has made them “dumb.” This book sets out to argue against this idea and prove that technology is improving civilization as a whole. This book also came with a bonus item from the author, an essay for Book Riot Quarterly subscribers about reading War and Peace on his iPhone.

5. Lottery item! Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

The lottery items are for lucky randomly selected subscribers (less than 5% of total subscribers). Woo hoo I was one of the lucky ones! This book isn’t even supposed to be released until September so this was a big score! The book is about Leningrad in September 1941 and the true story of a composer that wrote a symphony that would rally the city together.

So that was my shipment. I have to say I was extremely please and I can’t wait for the next shipment to come in September! For anyone who’d like to sign up the receive their own shipment, you can do so here. Book Riot also just came out with a YA Quarterly subscription if you prefer YA books. Details on that subscription can be found here.