Your favourite Folios of 2023 & Merry Christmas!

Of all the Folios you've acquired this year - bought either direct from FS or from the secondary market - which have been your favourites?

2023 has seen me smitten with:

'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' - beautiful illustrations fitting for such a wonderful book. A vast improvement on the old FS edition.

'Their Eyes Were Watching God' - all-round great presentation for an inspiring reading experience. Vibrant illustrations and possibly Folio's prettiest ever slipcase.

'Roadside Picnic' (SE) - superb design with much attention to detail. I think this edition is actually good value considering the price of other Folios that are more expensive yet have fewer illustrations and lesser design features (looking at the Arthur C Clarke series, Invisible Cities and Trainspotting for example). I confess I knew nothing of this work prior to its Folio release and initially ignored it, so I'm yet again grateful to Mole & Co. for unearthing something completely new to me. Conversely, I could never be persuaded to cough up six times as much for the LE version which looks somewhat over-gimmicky to me in comparison. Less is more.

'The Bell Jar' - exquisite, stunning illustrations. Really Folio, take a bow!

'Philip Larkin Collected Poems' - as a Larkin fan I'm thrilled to finally have a 'fine' edition of his work that includes his four main collections plus 30 or so additional verses. A smart binding and Larkin's own photos make this edition feel quite special. Ms. Mole, can we have similar editions for Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath please?

'Parallel Worlds' - not bad value compared to most other Folios considering the size and number of illustrations. I love the binding design and the work itself is fascinating, recommended!

Wishing all Devotees of the Folio Society, wherever latitude and longitude meet, whatever your creed and reading need, a Jolly Christmas / Cool Yule / Super Solstice, and continued happy reading in 2024!

(edited to include Folios purchased second hand from earlier Folio catalogues as suggested by PartTimeBookAddict below)

Roadside Picnic SE was the only one I ordered from the 2023 slate. I agree with the above comment - a good value, plus it didn't feel like a retread of something they are already offering.

My perspective will be different from FS veterans. I had never purchased or read a FS book until this year (yes, I missed out on all those great earlier editions at lower prices). I bought a bunch this year and haven't been disappointed in any I have read yet.

My favourite is The Shadow of the Wind. I loved the story and the reading experience. That is run a very close second by The Road, an amazing novel. Some people find it depressing. I found it very emotional. Faceless Killers also really hit the spot for me. I liked the illustrations in all three.

I bought two books direct from FS this year. A History of Christianity as back order with a 10% off code last Summer. It has now joined The Reformation as another daunting book set I can’t wait to read! The second book I bought on publication was Dune Messiah. Beautiful and really done in style with the first book. That’s it. I’ve been priced out now for a while, but some books still have to come home. I also wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year!

I was just thinking of starting a thread of this, except open to all FS purchases of 2023. I haven't bought any from their current catalogue.

My favourite of my relatively restrained buying year is "South Polar Times" LE. The case is unique and the way the journals are broken up is really delightful. Not for everyone, but I love the contents and ephemera of exploration. Not a LE any other publisher would produce.

Runners-up:

"Wind in the Willows" SE. Just picked up a copy and was overwhelmed by the layout and amount of illustrations. The binding is wonderful. I'm glad to have this copy of a book I re-read fairly regularly.

"The Bloody Chamber" Fairly standard presentation, but I really like the gothic binding design and the illustrations are top notch.

>5 PartTimeBookAddict: thanks for the suggestion - I've amended the scope of the thread to include second hand Folios from earlier FS catalogues that Devotees have bought this year. The more the merrier!

P.S. Indeed the latest Wind in the Willows SE is a Folio gem.

I've been unloading quite a a few this year as I orient my collecting elsewhere. Retaining mostly smaller/cheaper folios that I don't mind dinging while reading. That said, of my acquisitions this year, I was pretty excited to get Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy and Mario Vargas Llosa's The War of the End of the World. I reacquired Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea this year after letting go of my original copy - I found with reflection that it was one I wanted on my shelves for a future re-read.

Merry Christmas / happy holiday season from the Australian bush!

Like some others, I’ve slowed down my Folio collecting recently due to other financial priorities etc., but still love what they’re doing. There’s certainly a few editions on their list I’d love to have: notably Fear and Loathing, Bell Jar and the rest of the Earthsea series.

So, there have been no new purchases for me this year. Although in the second hand market, I’ve picked up a few goodies: particularly The Good Soldier, the original Cider with Rosie (I hadn’t read it before, but adored the follow up As I walked out), Unreliable Memoirs and The Fatal Shore.

I also offloaded a few: the Raj Quartet and the Ripley trilogy - to very happy recipients!

Thanks everyone for another year of bookish insight, edification and humour.

Jeremy.

I'm in full agreement about roadside picnic: it's a very nicely designed book and the SE represents good value. Another book that I bought from the catalogue this year that I really liked was Shackleton's Boat Journey.

Both books are reviewed on my YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/jm5ppy3nwoo
https://youtu.be/VLXg4KYAbOw

A heavy purchaser of LEs in the past, I hadn’t bought any for a couple of years when I bought the Thucydides at the start of the year, and then closed my Folio year with The moonstone at the backend - a great read.

The sales were good for me this year, including The ring of the Nibelung, even at sale price the most expensive opera programme in the world, but I used it alongside a listen to my Decca/Solti recording of Das Rheingold, and concluded it was worth it. In the summer sale I finally succumbed to the lovely three-volume edition of Cook’s voyages - I’d been reluctant because I have the complete Victorian Explorers, including the early edition of the Voyages. The difference in quality convinced me that not only the early edition could depart, but so could four or five others of the series which are not very good or interesting, freeing valuable space.

Just one secondhand title this year, but a bargain - a pristine three volume set of The wealth of nations for £35 from a local bookshop. Wonderful writing.

The FS edition of Kafka on the shore finally got me into Murakami a year or two back, a great, great read. With Norwegian wood last year, and The wind-up bird chronicle this year also beautiful books, this group is one of the FS’s best publishing projects of recent years.

The Hilary Mantel set promises to be nearly in the same class, Bring up the bodies this year.

Invisible cities is a nice little book that I’m glad to have, but the lovely design of The order of time has not really helped my understanding of the physics, and as I get older I begin to fear that nothing will.

I bought half a dozen standard editions beyond these, and, unlike others, was only disappointed by Roadside picnic, which is not quite my reading thing, and I disliked the design.

If we're including the secondary market, I'm very pleased with the copy of Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman that I picked up. I hadn't looked at the description closely enough to realize it contained both photographs and illustrations.

The only new one I picked up was Howl's Moving Castle. The design is lovely, though I breathe a small sigh of regret that they chose to cut costs by using a paper binding, even if it is a nice-feeling sort of paper.

I bought a number of new releases but the one that gave the most pleasure was an older one I picked up from the secondary market, the LE Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Looks like I picked up 10 new releases this year. Favorite was probably Dune Messiah simply because it's been almost a decade since the first one (and Folio did their best to match the spine!). In terms of reading, probably Consider Phlebas, with Roadside Picnic not far behind.

Merry Christmas!

I'll add my vote for Roadside Picnic. And Dune Messiah will most likely be included in my next order - glad to see that folks like it.

Roadside picnic and wind up bird chronicle were my favourites followed up by Earthsea new titles.

None direct from FS
Mostly e-bay or locally.

Twenty Years After
The Magic Mountain
The History of Rasselas
My Brilliant Career
Sagittarius Rising
The Good Soldier
Medieval Comic Tales

Favourite was probably The Good Soldier

Another vote for Roadside Picnic and Dune Messiah, and one for No Country For Old Men from the new releases.

On the secondary market I managed to get Myths & Legends of Russia for a song, and it's amazing from the production in qb leather to the silhouette illustrations. Unfortunately that now means I have to hunt down the rest of this series.

Happy holidays to all who celebrate!

I just counted and apparently I've bought 33 FS editions this year!


I love all of my LEs but my five favorites which I acquired this year are (in no particular order):

- Roadside Picnic
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Aurora Australis
- The Waste Land
- The Shadow of the Wind


My five favorite non-LEs which I acquired this year are (in no particular order):

- Faceless Killers (I really hope we get book two early in 2024! I love the art and the rectangle-ness of the book)
- DC Comics: The Golden Age (the gold cloth + smooth paper on the cover with slightly blurred art looks ridiculously beautiful IRL; I'm looking forward to reading it)
- For Your Eyes Only (the art!!)
- Monkey (the stunning proportions, cover, and art!)
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII (the gorgeous binding design by Jessica Hische, who also did the Georgette Heyer covers!)
- HONORARY MENTION #1: Jurassic Park and The Lost World
- HONORARY MENTION #2: Anansi Boys (brilliant color art but also amazing b&w illustrations integrated ingeniously with the text)

>9 Jeremy53: You sound well situated to read The Fatal Shore, I book I quickly re-read a few months after first reading it, I enjoyed it so much. Hope your Christmas isn't too hot!

>11 affle: Congratulations at finding the Folio Adam Smith for a song, he does indeed write well. How could I forget Murakami? I bought Norwegian Wood from Folio this year, and while I was disappointed that there's no introduction, I love the overall design and illustrations.

>17 N11284: Ford Maddox Ford writes beautifully but he seems very out of vogue these days. Do you have Parade's End? The Folio edition is magnificent, gorgeous illustrations.

>19 BooksFriendsNotFood: The cover and illustrations for Faceless Killers look good. I know nothing about the author or the work, though that's not stopped me buying Folios before.

Roadside Picnic seems to be the general favourite at present. Dune Messiah also has quite a few mentions.

>20 cronshaw: The below blog post was one of the things that convinced me to try Faceless Killers even though I knew nothing about Scandinavian crime fiction!

https://crimefictionlover.com/2023/05/faceless-killers-the-illustrated-edition/

I enjoyed the book a lot even though at times it really instilled the fact that detective work is not as high-action / exciting as it looks on television lol. I did read reviews which mentioned that later books in the series feel very different and are even more interesting, so I'm very excited to continue! I'm only holding myself back in the hopes that FS will continue publishing these and then I can follow along that way haha.

>20 cronshaw: Roadside Picnic does seem to get a generally positive reviews here. I will have to bump it up my wish list for next year. The Murakamis also as I keep meaning to pick up one but have not got around to it.

Has anyone any comments on The Divine Comedy SE? I am tempted but the paper binding is still giving me pause.

>20 cronshaw:
Do you have Parade's End? The Folio edition is magnificent, gorgeous illustrations.

I do indeed and agree with you.

>23 N11284: Curious what you thought about having all endnotes at the back of Volume 2? Drove me crazy to carry both books while I was reading first volume.

>21 BooksFriendsNotFood: Thanks for the link: the illustrations look brilliant. I'm struck though by the fact Faceless Killers offers a frontispiece and only four further illustrations, significantly less than the art in Roadside Picnic which has seven two-page colour illustrations including one fold-out, several pages of integrated illustrations, and boasts digitally printed text block edges - yet both titles are the same price. I could well be tempted by FK if it appears in a sale.

>25 cronshaw: Fair enough! I'm looking forward to reading the FS edition of Childhood's End, but while flipping through it, I absolutely wished that there were more illustrations (as you noted earlier).

>24 LBShoreBook: A right pain in the butt.

I should have mentioned Norwegian Wood in >10 ubiquitousuk:. These Murakami editions have been real highlights for me and I am hoping Santa might misplace his copy of Wind Up Bird Chronicle under our Christmas tree.

The first two books were reviewed here:
https://youtu.be/MzfthUBSeeg
https://youtu.be/6ej4jIYkZ0s

Happy Holidays, everyone!

This year my favorite direct purchase from FS would be The Anglo-Saxons, and from the secondary market the quarter-bound in brown leather edition of The Canterbury Tales.

Happy Holidays to all!

My favourite FS purchases this year were the two Earthsea releases and Bring Up the Bodies. Two series I love. Also really enjoyed Frederica, not deep literature but a story I loved reading.

All the mentions of Roadside Picnic made me take a second look at the book. I was surprised that it was bound in paper, which generally is not well liked in this forum. And, yet, a lot of people seem to love the book. Is this because the story is a nice departure from Folio printing more main stream sci-fi?

I am lucky/stupid enough to have bought more Folio volumes this year than I have for ages. I think they have done some really beautiful stuff this year. The ones that stick out for me:

Beowulf LE.

I love the sparkly mustardy beauty of the binding and the story is one to span the ages: A mother's love for her child and men's need to be heroes.

Dune: Messiah

Unexpected but I'm glad they have continued the series, and I hope they go beyond this.

Invisible Cities.

I know, it's small, it's paper sides, it's not lavish. I love it, it's a perfect little thing. It's where the artist and the work are hitting the sweet spot. For me.

>31 billburden: my blog review has a discussion of my thoughts on the paper binding:

https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2023/07/08/roadside-picnic/

Happy Christmas! (to all who celebrate it).

It's been an above-average year for Folios for me. 29 bought and the stand-outs are probably Bring Up the Bodies, Trainspotting and The Moonstone. Look forward to renewing my acquaintance in 2024.

>31 billburden: For me it is partly that Roadside Picnic is atypical as sci-fi, being more like modern lit mixed with weird lit, sort of like Vonnegut.

As for the paper, the textured quality makes it feel more substantial and I don't mind it as much for a book towards the low end of Folio's pricing, especially when there are so many other design elements present. It becomes more of a "no" for me when they start pricing them higher, as with Invisible Cities which I would have gladly purchased if it were either priced the same as Roadside Picnic or were covered with cloth at the current price.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hic! Just one more little mince pie.

My favorites were:

Monkey - I haven't read it, but it's a beautiful production. All FS books are very nice, but this one is extra well done.

Frederica - I love the cover art, illustrations, and I enjoyed the story.

An interesting tidbit from the Folio Society end-of-year recap email is that the "favorite Folio of 2023" or at least their best-seller for the year was a book that is barely mentioned in this forum - The Night Before Christmas.

>40 A.Nobody: This could mean we will see ever more gimmicks like glow-in-the-dark, unusual die cut or lenticular slip windows, digital page side print designs and the like.

>40 A.Nobody:

I didn't get that - as so often. Could you say what else it said with regard to information?

>42 SF-72: It talked about various awards & prizes that Folio books had won - hopefully this link shows the full email: http://25765351.hs-sites-eu1.com/its-a-wrap

>43 IainFyfe:

Thank you!