LEGO Ideas 40698 Gift with Purchase Books Are My Passion: Curl up with a good brick! [Review]
The latest gift with purchase, based on a fan design that won a LEGO Ideas fan contest, is here: LEGO 40698 Books Are My Passion contains 285 pieces and 1 minifigure and will be available from LEGO.com and LEGO retail stores starting October 28th and until November 11th as long as supplies last, with a purchase of US $130 | CAN $TBD | UK £130. This was the winning entry to the “My, Myself, and I” contest, submitted by fan designer Anna (Fr-An). Is it worth inking the LEGO purchases to qualify for it, or should you turn the page? Let’s take a look!
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheet
The “Me, myself, and I” contest challenged builders to represent what they might do to treat themselves for World Singles Day. The entry from fan designer Anna portrayed a very well-stocked, cozy reading nook, complete with enough books to require a ladder for the higher shelves, and Earl Gray tea (substitute a steaming beverage of your choice). The box uses the standard Ideas and 18+ branding, which shows off the book nook nicely against the dark background. The “Books Are My Passion” name choice is a little bit confusing since “__ is my passion” is mostly used sarcastically, but maybe “Reading Reading Reading” wasn’t viable for some reason. There are no play features or interior to show, so the back of the box just has a slightly different angle, the height and width dimensions, and some LEGO Ideas text.
Inside are 4 numbered plastic bags, three loose black 4×12 plates, and the instructions. The parts mix shows the majority reddish brown pieces for the bookcase, along with colorful pieces that will either be hidden within or used for the books.
The cover for the small instruction manual is identical to the front of the box. The only extra features inside are the brief introduction to the fan designer and a picture of her holding her original submission. The included minifigure is clearly meant to represent her, which must feel really cool!
The build
Lots of LEGO builds start with a small build or accessory, to give the builder something tangible to interact with right away, and this set’s first chapter gets us right in the mood to read with a comfy-looking armchair with an accent cushion. The chair uses lots of half-dome 1×1 bricks (mini-loafs? bread buns? dinner rolls?) for the upholstered arms and back, with a little sideways building for the cushion. Our reader looks right at home in it with a good book!
Next we’re right into the main build with the tiled-over base. Studs are provided for the armchair, the ladder, the plant, and the side table, and a chunk of studs for the main bookcase build. An area rug is marked out in dark red.
The base of the bookcase has a row of simple drawers at the bottom with a variant on the technique of putting jumper plates on headlight bricks: inverted brackets are attached facing upwards to sideways studs, and the jumper plates are stacked on the front-facing 1×2 plate part of the bracket. This leaves a nice lip, as though the drawers are inset a little bit.
After a bottom layer of some tiles and plates, including jumpers that’ll be used to place letters and other accessories, we start building the first shelf of books. The shelves are 6 studs wide, so the books are built in sections of 2 or 4 studs. Each one is a little bit different, but the techniques are similar – stacks of plates and tiles, with door rails mixed into represent a book that’s pulled out or a bit deeper, sometime stacks of plates or jumpers to give a bit of extra groove visible between the layers, and sections built sideways on 2×2 plates with studs on the side. These have varied ingot tiles and half-dome bricks, to represent more rounded spines. The shelf is finished off with a 2×6 tile.
As we add the second shelf, here’s another angle on how the 2-wide section in the middle is built with one of the newer brackets with the vertical bracket piece in the center.
The variety of colors and textures continues on the third shelf. The sides are built up and tiled as well as we go up.
As the final shelf takes shape, here’s what the back looks like where the book sections attach. Note how some of the studs are from brackets, which gives a half-plate offset to bump that section out a little, compared to the others which are on bricks with studs on the side. The variations contribute to the whole thing looking varied and realistic.
The finished bookcase is topped off with some carved finials, studs to place objects on the top, and a medium nougat lintel. Of all the color changes, this one seems oddest; it feels a little off to have an accent color at the top – as though the framing rectangle of the furniture piece is broken, unfinished. The overall look of the shelved books is still great though.
The scene is finished with some final details – the wand boxes for storing keepsakes on top of the shelves, the globe, a nice leafy plant made with the newish fern pieces, some letters and writing supplies, the ladder, and a side table with a cup of tea.
The finished model
Anna wrote in her submission, “I have the feeling that there is always not enough time for reading”, and I’m sure many of us can relate. Whatever you long to do and that you want more time for, creating a comfortable, dedicated space for it is appealing, whether that’s a reading nook, a LEGO build room, or any other cozy space. This is a satisfying build, with the bookcase feeling very well-stocked, and organized-but-cluttered in the cozy way that a good stack of assorted books can feel. The varied depths, colors, textures, and sizes of the books works well, and the accessories and other small accents – the table, small stack of letters, the plant, the wand boxes and globe – all contribute to the overall cozy feel.
It’s a minor complaint, but the back of the model is a little bit messy with interior parts that show through. The use of the bricks with studs on 3 sides for the sides of the bookcase means that the back is going to either have some part that extends past the end of the base – either exposed studs, or the covering tiles that were chosen. It would have been hard to justify the parts usage to cover the whole back, but if it really bugs you, it’s easy enough to do.
Looking at the original fan model, the changes are pretty minor. The ladder has been shortened by one fence segment; the two-part globe has been replaced by the minifigure head print (this is going to get complaints, but the larger globe hasn’t appeared since 2020 – 2018 if you don’t count the re-issue of Ship in a Bottle); the lamp has been removed; the bookcase structure is slightly different. The change to the top of the bookcase is a little odd; why doesn’t the top extend as far out as the shelves do? As for the recolors, some seem like practical decisions for better contrast – the chair is dark blue instead of matching the bookcase, some medium nougat has been introduced into the bookcase, the book being held is lime instead of black – and the rest are mostly brightening up the books a little. The palette used for the volumes in the original is probably a bit more realistic, while the choices made by LEGO make it match up more with books in recent Harry Potter sets or 10339 Santa’s Post Office.
The minifigure
As mentioned when talking about the instruction manual, the included figure is likely meant to represent the fan designer Anna. None of the prints are new, but the argyle sweater is a very nice torso; it’s been in 6 sets all within the past few years. There’s no alternate expression on the head, and no printing on the legs, but the minifig isn’t the focus anyway. The use of the “Once upon a time” 1×2 book tile fits the feel of the set just perfectly though!
Conclusions and recommendations
This is a delightful little build and it’s really easy to imagine curling up with a hot cup of coff… ok, tea, we’ve been told that we really need to keep the Lemur from getting more coffee – and a pile of reading on a chilly fall or winter’s day. The ladder is a great touch; how many of us wanted shelves high enough to need a ladder growing up (or still do!), or a place in our rooms to climb up to away from everything. It would have been really nice to maintain the old larger round globe, but as mentioned that piece seems to be out of production for now. When we received this set, we didn’t know the purchase threshold for it, and we guessed it would be around $200. The actual threshold of $130 feels like a great value, so if there is anything that you’ve been waiting to buy or just catches your eye to get to that threshold, this is an easy endorsement. If you don’t want to meet that threshold, similar recent gift with purchase sets are available on the secondary market for $20-$30, a reasonable range for a nearly 300 piece set.
LEGO 40698 Books Are My Passion contains 285 pieces and 1 minifigure, and will be available starting October 28th until November 11th or supplies run out, with a purchase of US $130 | CAN $TBD | UK £130. You’ll also be able to get it from 3rd party sellers like Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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