Opening A Mystery Gift (and why I love another kind of physical media)

[@ElliotCoen]

Merry Christmas and thank you for watching my video!

[@TheJamieCeeTube]

Merry Christmas Elliot. I had a huge dvd collection decades ago which fell out of favour and ended up in the garage gathering dust. But thanks to you channel, I’ve started a small Blu Ray / 4k collection for life. The first of which was one of my favourite films of all time, E.T. Nice tie in your name there :) Festivities and happy stuff aside, I love folio society and so far I have two books from them. The Road and my favourite book, Blood Meridian. Have you read either?

[@ashleyhamlin3199]

Merry Christmas Elliot thank you for your vids!

[@slc2466]

Merry Christmas to all! Great looking books. As a side note, Jack Finney wrote "The Body Snatchers" that served as the basis for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The 1945 Boris Karloff movie "The Body Snatcher" is based on the Robert Louis Stevenson story.

[@aljen181]

I was coming to say the same thing.

[@Terry.W]

Yes I am a member of the Folio society ..great presentation ..and they look so cool on my bookshelf..

[@Gothic55]

Really good episode. Books are remarkable pieces of physical media - the look of books is unique - I really like the smell of new books too. I have ongoing retina issues so cannot read as much as I would like I often though listen to audible books which can be extremely engrossing I love visiting old book shops such as Bilbo’s books in Rochester. I have spent quite a lot of my life overseas in Asia and loved local Edison’s of classics - India has over the years produced wonderful editions of books similar to Folio editions. I am very glad to say that both of my children are avid readers and my son particularly loves old Russian and Victorian classics. Have a great Christmas. Folio produce great editions

[@4bobbyt]

Merry Christmas from Venice, California. Enjoy your enthusiastic, knowledgeable videos. Have another wonderful year!

[@nicholaskinney5112]

Merry Christmas Elliot!! Thanks for another year of great videos!

[@ashleywilletts8876]

I would love to see a full book collection video from you Elliot, great to see you so enthusiastic about these books and would love to see more of your collection. Hoping you had a great Christmas

[@Tomhyde098]

I also collect books but I learned that movie collecting and book collecting are two totally different things. With movies I want the cases and discs to be pristine. With books you can’t do that, they’re meant to be read and scuffed and bent. Otherwise they sit on a shelf without being read. It took me too long to realize that!

[@chrismohan]

Merry Christmas to you and family Elliot. Love the Colin Society and have been eyeing the Cormac McCarthy books for years may pull the trigger in January. Thanks for another year of inspiration and love of physical media.

[@TheJamieCeeTube]

I have the road and blood Meridian. Wonderful books! You won’t regret it :)

[@robsavage3217]

Happy holidays! You're absolutely right about the deals that can be found in used book stores. I found a Folio edition of the Anthony Trollope novel, The Warden, in perfect condition for about $10 (Cdn). I also found an excellent copy of the Henry Green novel, Loving, for about $30. I own a significant number of Folio books, including many new copies that I bought directly from the Folio Society. That includes that amazing edition of Crime and Punishment. I hope they republish The Brothers Karamazov at some point, as I missed that one.

[@clembenson3651]

Merry Christmas Elliot. Thank you for all the work you do on this channel

[@andyfournier5343]

I, too, am a huge Folio Society fan. Their prices have gone through the roof in recent years, though I'm still hoping for a bargain or two in their January Sale, as I'm sure you are.

[@mmayer1558]

Have you looked into their entire catalog, not just what's newer and available on their site? I've gotten a number of older titles for decent prices (apparently their value depreciates).

[@andyfournier5343]

Thanks ,@@mmayer1558 but I've been collecting since the '90s and have already got all of their older editions that I'm interested in 🙂

[@filmnarr163]

Merry Christmas from Vienna, dear Elliot! Keep Your enthusiasm - I love that!

[@twcc406]

Excellent episode and I also collect home media discs and books. I love the Folio editions and have several across a variety of subjects. The Kubrick shelves at my place include the Folio editions of 'A Space Odyssey', 'A Clockwork Orange' and 'The Shining'. I also have a few Taschen books as they also produce movie tie-in books ... some are very expensive, some are now available as more reasonably priced trade editions. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ... keep up the good work.

[@SAMTYLER1974]

An ex of mine treated me to the Folio edition of The Hitchhikers Guide for (fittingly) my 42nd birthday which was a delight. Things went sour soon after due to all that complicated love and relationship nonsense but the book still sits proud amongst my collection. But as a lifelong lover of language (and not a long haired lover from Liverpool) I, too, appreciate that feel only a real boom can give you and it was, therefore, with a heavy heart that I had to part with a lot of my collection when I moved into a flat this Summer. I did, however, hold onto as many as I could but with limited space fighting with my movie, music and book collection alone I simply couldn’t keep them all. Pride of place, though, are my Pratchett Discworld collection which I have every title in first edition hardback and one (Reaper Man) signed by the man himself. It was him and Douglas Adams, primarily, who helped fuel my love for language at an early age as well as my sense of humour and I feel blessed to have met Pratchett not least because he was every bit the charming witty gentleman I’d hoped. Can still vividly remember how he took time to ask my name, where I’d come from and various other questions whilst signing my book and never made me feel rushed for one second. A true gentleman and genius …

[@KyleSturgeon]

Merry Christmas! You definitely need to do a video on your book collection.

[@PupshawPupshaw]

I also adore lavishly produced (& sometimes lavishly priced) books. Genesis Publications for music, Stanley/Barker for photography, Beehive Books for jaw-droppingly beautiful (& expensive) classic literature, & Strange Attractor for all my outsider music/film/art needs. Merry Christmas & keep up the good work.

[@Peter-uu2tn]

Merry Christmas to you too!! I really enjoy listening to your channel, it's like having a friend in the house, that has similar interests to me. Happy and prosperous New Year to you!!

[@richardking3206]

I join with others here thanking you for your efforts on your channel, Elliot! Sadly, my concentration is shot these days, so Audible is my only recourse to the written word. I have many, many books from when I could read happily. I read Roadside Picnic many years ago, long before I knew about Stalker. I’ve loved the film from the moment I saw it on the BBC, not knowing it was from Roadside Picnic at the time. In my head they were clearly similar, so was pleased to see the connection when I did. I’ve never read/listened to any of their other novels, but I’ve decided the time is right to do so. I have Hard to be a God (the more recent, lengthy adaptation), which was a testing watch, I confess. Have a great festive season, Elliot!

[@MarkSleper]

Their Dune books (Dune, Dune Messiah & Children of Dune) are exquisite! Love the connection you make between films and books in your collection including the tactile nature. Thank you for this video.

[@AndyKing1963]

I’ve been down the Folio Society rabbit hole ;) great company

[@MountainRhode]

Merry Christmas sir, from Leeds...I just opened the Curzon Paris Texas 4K and the Godfather 4k set, so all happy here!

[@damianmagee1581]

Merry Christmas your Channel is great.

[@darrenblizzard3851]

Merry Xmas from Australia Elliott. I am also fortunate enough to have a number of Folio Society editions in my overly large book collection as well as some other premium editions of books I really love (like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings for example). Just like with films of course space is always a challenge and although I find my Kobo (which I prefer to Kindle) very convenient there is still nothing which compares to a physical book, especially one that you really love and want to keep in the collection for posterity. I agree with all the reasoning you gave. It just makes the whole literary experience so much more enjoyable and exciting. Though I must confess with work and life busyness I also don't read anywhere near as much as I once did, I used be reading constantly but a combination of tiredness, time and ever poorer eyesight has made reading much more challenging and I tend to focus my limited spare time now more on moving watching.

[@hildamontes6146]

Nice Christmas day present Elliot thank you.😅

[@Celestialrob]

First of, happy Christmas Elliot and thanks for all you’ve done for us in 2024. I obviously collect movies and am also an avid reader. I’d never heard of Folio and Stalker is one of my favorite movies- yikes. I’m in a book club and we read one per month. Don’t get me going on people who say they don’t have time. All the best for 2025.

[@SolitaryWolf]

I just received my copy of 1984 (my favorite for 45 years) from the Folio Society yesterday. I started buying from them with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which lead to me getting all the Ian Fleming novels. Then I got the Neverending Story, which is an amazing edition. Thank you for your this book review. Their books are super amazing.

[@SamDavies94]

Wow, that edition looks incredible. I've just had a look at their site and am now very tempted... Great vid!

[@KirkRedgate]

I've got a few Folio editions. Dracula, The Exorcist, I Am Legend, And Then There Were None. Quality books.

[@Garemandude]

Hello Elliot and Merry Christmas! You are probably already aware of this KZbinr, but if not, you might be interested in the “Why the Book Wins” channel. Laura does an excellent job introducing and analyzing so many great books and films.

[@addamski]

I would be interested in knowing if you have any books from Insight Editions? I have both ‘The Art of Dune’ editions from them, they are fantastic!

[@tommygreen2573]

My girlfriend actually got me a Folio Society edition of Blood Meridian for Christmas, great (not for the faint of heart but great) book and beautiful edition

[@artyfhartie2269]

Merry Christmas I see you love books. I do too. One suggestion is to acquire old editions of the books of James Hadley Chase. Very well written. Try hunting for some of the movies based on the books too. Like Eve and One bright summer morning and Night of the Generals.

[@MountainRhode]

Oh wow this is eerie. I just commented on your video, and am now doing again as I'm halfway through that short novel on my kindle. Certainly not as lovely as that special edition though!

[@Kev_Cos]

I just read Roadside Picnic this year, fantastic novel and wil definitely be steeping into more of the Strugatsky Brothers novels. Folio Society have stunning editions though the price really puts me off, however as a Tolkien nerd the new Tolkien editions are really tempting me to buy one of them.

[@Mr_Quimper]

For books on actual films. You should check out Taschen. They recently published a book on The Shining.

[@damianmagee1581]

I have the Foilo books of Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes and Jungle Book.

[@OG10]

Great to see folio books on your channel, hope they send you more stuff to review ahead of big launches. Some releases are absolute trash.. the Neuromancer launch was an absolute rip-off, considering what you get.. then there are good releases like the foundation trilogy etc..

[@zakt5590]

I’ve always loved Folio Society and have built a collection myself, but I have to admit the prices have become quite steep. For those of us in Australia using the Rest of the World (ROW) store adds even more to the cost and that’s before factoring in the high shipping fees. Still their editions remain stunningly beautiful.

[@iCocaColaZombieGod]

I love folio society aswell, I have there game of thrones set. All 5 books! And also have the lord of the rings from them. My other favorite to collect here in America is called Subterranean Press and they produced beautiful versions of my favorite fantasy series of all time “Malazan Boon of the Fallen”

[@iCocaColaZombieGod]

Malazan book* of the fallen

[@SpaceCattttt]

It's a sad day when the benefits of reading a physical book rather than an ebook on Kindle has to be explained. But that's the world we live in now. A few aging generations who remember the good life, and a few young generations who know nothing except how to unwittingly destroy the world. I'd say what everyone else says on this day of holiday cheer, but I'm an Atheist so I won't. I wouldn't say no to a mystery gift, but nobody's ever given me one of those. Yup, that's it. See you next year, I guess.