The Best Book Box Ever?! Books That Matter (June 2020)

Hello friends! I hope you’re all doing amazing. This month I renewed my Books That Matter box subscription after over a year of absence. It was amazing to see how the company has improved over the year, making this quite literally the coolest book box ever.

This month’s box was a collaboration with the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the book? The prize winner of last year.

The Book

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

‘Newlyweds, Celestial and Roy, are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is artist on the brink of an exciting career. They are settling into the routine of their life together, when they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit.

Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a deeply insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward- with hope and pain- into the future.’ – Goodreads

The Gifts

Alongside an interview with Tayari Jones (Author of An American Marriage) and Kate Mosse (founder director of the Women’s Prize), this month’s Books that Matter box contained three limited edition gifts and a bookmark to keep track of your progress!

• The first of which is a tote bag by Emma at Typegal Studio. On the bag is a silhouette with the names of all 24 winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. I have a bit of an obsession with collecting tote bags, so this will fit nicely into my collection!

• There is also a keyring by Flamingo Candles engraved with an inspirational quote from Ali Smith:

Books mean all possibilities. They mean everything.

• Finally, my favourite gift: a Reading Journal equipped with a star rating (I can review half stars!! Looking at you Goodreads) and adorned with the quote:

She would read books as one would breathe air to fill up & live.

I’m so glad that Books that Matter has continued to improve and be an amazing book box over the past year – and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading important and diverse novels. You can find this book box here.

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