BEA Recap Part 1: The Books

Book Expo America is a book lover's dream, and this year I was lucky enough to be able to attend my 5th BEA since 2009. And this year, I was not only there as press, I was also there as an author signing copies of THE MEMORY OF AFTER in the signing area (dream come true, for reals!).

Like most attendees, I had a list of "must get" books, but what I love most about BEA is the serendipity of discovering new titles. There were so many great finds this year that I ended up bringing back 37 titles with me (not including books I bought at the many bookstores I visited in the city) that I'm excited to read and cover on the blog in the months to come.  Today I'm going to spotlight some of my favorites. (NOTE: I was approved for some of the big BEA titles - such as Jandy Nelson's I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN and Scott Westerfeld's AFTERWORLDS - on Netgally and Edelweiss and so I skipped getting physical copies to save space)

Top 10 "must get" books that I snagged:

GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE by AS King (Oct 14, 2014, Little Brown) - Luckily I was invited to Little Brown's Brunch Preview where I unapologetically grabbed a copy of this before BEA even started. It's no secret I'm an AS King fangirl, so I'm super excited about GLORY.

SINNER by Maggie Stiefvater (July 1, 2014, Scholastic) - My very favorite thing about LINGER and FOREVER? Cole St. Clair. I've been saying for years that Cole needs his own novel, so when I heard about SINNER, I was struck with major book lust. I braved the galley drop at the Scholastic booth to get my hands on this pretty. I also got to chat with Maggie briefly at the Scholastic breakfast before BookCon (delicious smoothies!)

ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Stephanie Perkins (August 2014, Penguin) - this wasn't really at BEA, but it was part of a raffle of all three Stephanie Perkins books at the #YAparty. Amazingly, I won the raffle and instantly became the most hated/envied person in the room. Naturally, I couldn't wait long to read this. My teasers for you? a) It's HOT. Isla and Josh's chemistry is through the roof. b) It's my favorite of the trilogy. c) I can't wait to discuss the ending with you -- squee!

STITCHING SNOW by RC Lewis (Oct 14, 2014, Disney-Hyperion) - A sci-fi fairytale retelling? Sign me up! This debut has been on my radar for some time, and when I heard (thanks Debby!) there were stacks of it sitting in a secret room in the bowels of the Javits (in reality, left over from Book Blogger Con), I dashed over to stash this in my tote.

THE BONE CLOCKS by David Mitchell (Sept 2, 2014, Random House) - Okay, so David Mitchell was signing his newest novel at 2 pm Friday after my own 1 pm signing, so I knew I'd never make it to his line and I was pretty devastated about it. But David also had a panel as part of Book Con on Saturday, and so I went about an hour early to line up for it (making me about #50 in line). A RH publicist gave everyone at the front of the line tickets to pick up galleys at the RH booth after the panel and we trembled with excitement. (Seriously, so much trembling in that line).

The panel between David and his editor was glorious. I loved his advice to "shoplift" from the best writers and his anecdotes about his writing process. And then. After the panel, I made my way to the podium to say hi. I told David it was my birthday (it was) and he gave me a birthday handshake. Here's hoping a tiny bit of his genius rubbed off on me.

ROOMS by Lauren Oliver (Sept 23, 2014, Ecco) - I acquired Lauren's adult debut thanks to our shared agent on a visit to the agency the week before BEA and thus was able to avoid one of her monster lines (I did stand in line for PANIC, however, which turned out to be quite a fun line thanks to Marlon).

MY REAL CHILDREN by Jo Walton (available now, Tor) - I stood in a line to get the hardcover of this signed. It's an adult speculative fiction title about (possible) parallel lives, which is one of my favorite topics right now.

SAM AND DAVE DIG A HOLE by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Oct 14, 2014, Candlewick) - I had the pleasure of meeting Mac at the Irma Black ceremony and lunch at Bankstreet College the week before BEA (more about that in a later post), and then I stood in line to meet Jon and get an F&G of their newest collaboration. First of all, Jon is super adorable and took the time to show me a video of his cat lounging while signing my book. (!!!) And the book is adorable too. Both Daniel and I love it and the vaguely sci-fi ending.

I'M MY OWN DOG by David Ezra Stein (August 5, 2014, Candlewick) - David Ezra Stein's INTERRUPTING CHICKEN is one of my top 10 picture book favorites of all time, so I was bummed that his signing was directly after mine and I'd never make his line. But, as luck would have it, we ran into each other in the author green room after my signing, and his lovely editor gave me a front of the line pass for his signing. #authorperks! I'M MY OWN DOG is super cute and funny, too.

THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES by BJ Novak (Sept 30, 2014, Penguin) - Yep, I was more than an hour early and the third person in line for this (behind the YA book twins), the only celebrity signing line that I attempted. Since it was at the Penguin booth, we weren't really allowed to line up early, so we just sort of hovered. I haven't actually read this yet (because only words, no pictures, ha!), but I'll report back when I do.

Top 5 serendipitous finds:

WE ALL LOOKED UP by Tommy Wallach (March 31, 2015, S&S) - Tommy and I share an editor at S&S and that editor gifted me an early copy of Tommy's debut. Then, at the #YAparty, Tommy was playing piano (he's a singer/songwriter too - check out his forthcoming album "I Meant it to be Sweet"), and we got to chat. That weekend, I went up to Bushwick where he took me to a block party. Fun! The novel looks incredibly intriguing, and I can't wait to dig in.

THE ART OF SECRETS by James Klise (available now, Algonquin) - I stopped by the Algonquin booth on Saturday and since it was so quiet, I got to chat with Editor Elise Howard for quite some time. I told her I only had room for one more book, so she pitched me several and I was won over by her pitch for this. Really all she had to say was "twists" and I was sold.

BAILEY BOAT CAT by Louise Kennedy (Sept 2, 2014, Bloomsbury) - This might have been my favorite random find at BEA. There was a small giveaway stack at the Bloomsbury booth and I was instantly smitten by this cat on a boat. Full color photos throughout of Bailey cuteness.

ONE DEATH, NINE STORIES, short story anthology (August 2014, Candlewick) - This was a booth giveaway and I was instantly attracted by the list of contributors, including AS King, Ellen Hopkins and Rita Williams-Garcia. All 9 stories are linked by the death of one 19 year old named Kevin.

EVEN IN PARADISE by Chelsey Philpot (October 14, 2014, HarperTeen) - Chelsey and I share an agent and since he has such great taste, I must read this! I got to meet her in the author green room after our signings (we were signing at the same time -- rivals!!).



If you want to see my entire book haul, check out my instagram.

BEA 2012 Recap

Because I feel like I packed a month's worth of activities into one week, this BEA recap is going to be super long. Just warning you!

Saturday
The week gets off to a great start with an upgrade on my Frankfurt- NYC flight. I love Delta Airlines!

Once I check into my first hotel, Posh and Meghan (of Forever Young Adult) and I head out to Brooklyn to have cocktails at the Clover Club with Leila Sales, Siobhan Vivian and Natalie Standiford. YUM! (photo by Sarah Pitre)

Sunday
Brunch with Posh, Megan, Leila, and Faye (Little, Brown) and Emily (Scholastic) at Penelope.

Cocktail panel with the FYA girls and cool bloggers such as Tara, Jamie, Michelle, Anna, April and Allison.

S&S blogger preview featuring fab authors including ... me!  They had LEVEL 2's cover framed behind the bar!

Here I am being interviewed by Jenny Han. (Photo via Sgundell) Sheila of Book Journey also has a snippet of video up.

I got to hold my ARC of LEVEL 2 for the very first time.  It was Mitali's copy (that she finished reading in the bathroom at the event) and I signed it for her. Exciting! (Photo credit: Sarah Pitre)

Met up with my Agave group: Nicole, Kathy, Candace, Dawn, Lydia, Julie, Jenn, Trish, and Miriam.

Monday

Tour of Simon & Schuster. Got to meet my publicist Anna, chat with the sales team (who is overwhelmingly Team Julian), see alternate cover poses with cover designer Lizzy Bromley, and go out to lunch with my editor.  Editorial assistant Amy also gave me awesome postcards to hand out and a couple of LEVEL 2 ARCs. YAY!

FYA cocktail panel with Bennett Madison, Siobhan Vivian, and Chelsy & Brittany (of Big Honcho) at Sweet & Vicious.

HarperTeen Blogger Preview where cover designers Alison (who I know from HS in Ohio) and Tom gave an amazing presentation on cover design and we got really excited about fall titles such as Emily Hainsworth's THROUGH TO YOU (which we didn't get ... but I did get INSIGNIA by SJ Kincaid). Finally met Adam S.!

Briefly caught the tail-end of HarperCollins's Blogger Party and got to say hi to a ton of blogger pals.

Dinner with Mike Mullin and his wife.

Tuesday

Breakfast with Apocalypsies Hilary Graham, AC Gaughen, and Sarah Tregay, followed by a quick BEA floor visit with Hilary.  She might have compared me to Bono after I reconnected with many a blogger pal.

The YA Editor's Buzz Panel made me even more excited for WHAT'S LEFT OF ME (which Katiebabs gifted me), SKINNY (which I picked up at Scholastic's booth) and CREWEL (which I didn't get).

Walked the floor with Katiebabs.  We stopped by the Simon & Schuster booth where Justin Chanda was wearing a button that said "Ask me about LEVEL 2". If you asked him about it, you got one of the precious few ARCs. I might have sent an ambush of people towards him ...

Met up with Trish and Lauren Morrill for lunch.

I stood in a couple of signing lines and got FEEDBACK by Robison Wells and THE SPINDLERS by Lauren Oliver.

Apocalypsies Meet & Greet! This was CRAZY AWESOME.  Despite a room switch snafu, we had a huge turnout and people loved the dance cards. (picture taken from Kim Sabatini's BEA recap)

Thank you to all my fellow Apocs, to Michelle & Shanyn of Literary Logistics and to everyone who came for making this a super successful event! KM Walton has a few pics of the event. Gretchen McNeil talks it up.  RT Book Reviews has some photos and links. And we even appeared in the Publishers Weekly BEA roundup!

Gretchen McNeil, Fiona Paul, Sarah Tregay and I then rushed off to Teen Author Carnival, stopping in at Chipotle for a quick dinner. Gretchen shared her make-up secrets!

I was on a panel at TAC called From A Whole Other World.  When asked if I had a hidden talent, I pulled out the USB drive I had stored in my bra after the Apocalypsies event for lack of pockets. The fab Donna of First Novels Club has a TAC recap as does Frankie Diane.  I also tried to steal Victoria Schwab's copy of THE ARCHIVED to no avail ...

Then it was off to Little Brown's party for Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS. Libba sang and it was awesome. April and I drank Amaretto Sours from teacups (prohibition, y'all!).

Finally, Sarah, Jenny and I hailed a cab and headed off to the Foundry party in Brooklyn where I finally met PJ Bracegirdle (author of one of my fave middle grade series JOY OF SPOOKING). By the time we got back to our hotel at far past 1 am, my feet were swollen.  What a day.

Wednesday

Packed up all my stuff so I could change hotels. From here on out I roomed with Michelle. We had an interesting taxi ride to the Javits ...

Met Diana Peterfreund and Mari Mancusi for breakfast.

Met my audio book editor from Listening Library and had overpriced tea.

Went to stand in line for Marie Lu's PRODIGY (which I could not stop calling PATRIOT). This line was super fun! I got to chat with Frankie & Donna, Christina, Grace, Sandy, Melissa, Jenny Z. and others.  A very excited librarian named Hillary was standing in line in front of me and when she saw LEVEL 2, she asked me if she could read it in line. You guys - by the time the signing started, she was half done, and so into it ... I let her keep it. (Now you know a secret way to get LEVEL 2).

Ran into Phoebe North and we walked around together a bit, hitting up Egmont for Ilsa Bick's ASHES for one.

Headed over to the Rachel Cohn BETA signing but met Susan of Wastepaper Prose on the way. She gave me a copy so instead of waiting in a long line, I got to sit down and chat with her and Stacey from Pageturners Blog.

Then I really did go to the Autographing area where I got a picture book for Daniel (BIG MEAN MIKE), PUSHING THE LIMITS by Katie McGarry, TIME BETWEEN US by Tamara Ireland Stone (which I've already read, but want to collect every edition possible, it is THAT awesome) and CROAK by Gina Damico.

At this point, I was ready to go.  Went back to the hotel and got to talk to Daniel on the phone for the first time all week!

Penguin Bird Bash. This was low-key and fun, with tons of opportunities to chat with blogger friends (Swapna aka S.K. Love!, Alix, Allison, etc), publicists/marketing gurus (Anna, Marisa, and Lydia) and authors (Marie Lu!). Trish and I got this fun picture taken:

Author/Blogger rooftop party. This was swanky, you guys.  If I hadn't have been so tired, I would've stayed longer. Amazing views, food, company, raffles (I won a Starbucks giftcard!) and even cupcakes with my book cover on them! Detailed recap by Liza.  Here's me with Stacey and Shannan from Girls in the Stacks:

Thursday

MacMillan breakfast. Lovely to see Ksenia again! And Susan brought me a copy of Alexandra Bracken's THE DARKEST MINDS (<3).

Jenny (FYA) and I headed uptown to get Magnolia cupcakes and to Sephora to make me over before my author video filming at S&S.

Scheduled nap time.

Cocktails at the Algonquin with Candace, Kathy, Dawn, Jenn, Trish and Michelle followed by dinner with Chelsy, Brittany, Ana, Thea, Trish and Jenn at the super trendy Empellon where they make everything (even the cocktails) with Jalepenos. Chelsy then took us to a dive bar where she and Thea defeated me and Ana by one measly point in Scrabble. Though, really, is OM a word?

Friday

Met my foreign rights agent for a chat.

Took a taxi with Michelle and Anna over to the Paper Lantern Lit party in Brooklyn. Met Angie M. and had a ton of fun conversations with friends. Also - Charlie the cat was soooo sweet!

Saturday

My first bookstore panel - Lauren Oliver and Friends - at Books of Wonder. A couple of copies of LEVEL 2 were raffled off and a few people who'd won copies at TAC came to have them signed. Also - Hillary the Librarian from the Marie Lu signing line came and gushed about LEVEL 2, so I was glad that I gave her my copy. Also fun to see Adam S. again!

Mitali might have made me pose like the girl on the cover.

Lunch with Mitali, Britta and Lauren Morrill before heading off to the airport to fly back to Germany.  Upgraded again as the perfect end to a wonderful week in NYC!

Stats:
Kilometers walked (according to my step counter, which I didn't wear all the time): 60
Books brought back with me: 19
Bottles of BURN FOR BURN sunscreen I ended up with: 3
Text messages sent (at 50 euro cents a piece): 37
BEA recaps read: Approximately 30? Including BEA Superlatives, Word for Teens at BEA 2012, Nerd Out with your Book Out, Galleysmith at BEA 2012, Bites at BEA 2012 and many more. (If you have one I should read, please link me up!)

Whew! Sorry if I missed anyone in this recap. I have trouble remembering 5 minutes ago, let alone last week.

Where to find me at BEA

Book Expo America 2012 is upon us! I'll be on the show floor, at parties, meeting a bunch of people and at the following official author events:

Simon & Schuster Blogger Preview (Invite Only), NYC
Sunday June 3, 6:00-9:00pm

Book Expo America, Javits Center, NYC
Tuesday June 5, 3:00-5:00pm
Meet the Apocalypsies! 24 debut YA + MG authors!

Jefferson Market Library, NYC
Tuesday June 5, 6:30-9:30pm
Teen Author Carnival!

NOTE: Copies of LEVEL 2 will be given away at this event.

Books of Wonder, NYC

Saturday June 9, 12-2 pm

Lauren Oliver & Friends

NOTE: Copies of LEVEL 2 will be raffled at this event.

Come say hi!

Frankfurt Book Fair 2011 Recap

The five days of the Frankfurt Book Fair are always a busy time for us, but this year seemed especially full to me.  Not only did we have our good friend Wes staying with us Wed-Sat, but we also met up with Lauren Oliver, Ka-Yam and Kathrin, scoped out the fair for Apocalypsies books, showered our foreign agent Hannah with German chocolate,  and even had a few business appointments.

This is the year I finally learned what international sales reps do when I met up with Kim from Usborne. She explained to me that her job is to sell copies of books in English - including my book LEVEL TWO - into foreign markets. She told me many territories prefer to buy books that are also being published in the local language, so it helps international sales of your book into a territory if translation rights have been sold into that territory.  Also at Usborne, I saw copies of Susanne Winnacker's THE OTHER LIFE (which I am currently reading) and a nice poster of it.

I also got to chat with a sub-rights agent at Penguin as part of an interview I'm doing for the SCBWI bulletin. Sub-rights agents present a publisher's list to foreign publishers hoping to sell rights in other territories.  If a US publisher holds World rights to a title, their sub-rights agents handle the foreign rights.  However, many times an author will only sell North American or US rights and his/her agency will handle foreign rights.  These books usually won't be at a publisher's stand in Frankfurt, even if they are lead titles in the US, and interested foreign publishers will be directed to contact the agency in question about acquiring rights.

Look what books I saw on Penguin's shelf! BORN WICKED by Jessica Spotswood and finished copies of LEGEND by Marie Lu.

Publishers will often put together rights guides or international highlights brochures in order to give an overview of what titles have sold in which territories already.  Here's the selection at Random House, including the Children's titles brochure with Lissa Price's STARTERS on the cover.

HarperCollins doesn't bring galleys of teen titles with them to the fair, but this year they had several electronic boards that displayed a revolving set of covers including upcoming titles like Elizabeth Norris' UNRAVELING.

Bloomsbury did have galleys and I was pleased to see three Apocalypsies (debut authors in 2012) represented: SCARLET by AC Gaughen, THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST by Sarvenaz Tash and BREAKING BEAUTIFUL by Jennifer Shaw Wolf.

SourceBooks had DARKER STILL Leanna Renee Hieber and CATCHING JORDAN by Miranda Kenneally front and center.

Kensington Teen featured a poster of A BREATH OF EYRE by Eve Marie Mont and LIVING VIOLET by Jamie Reed among others.

ABOVE by Leah Bobet was the big title at Scholastic, with a light box and galleys.

For the first time, Macmillan was giving away a stacks of galleys of four YA titles: SWITCHED by Amanda Hocking, TEMPEST by Julie Cross, AFTER THE SNOW by S.D. Crockett, and ALL THESE THINGS I'VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin.

At Simon & Schuster, I happened to run into Ellen Hopkins who was in town to attend an awards ceremony. That was a lovely surprise!

I also walked around the German and foreign publisher halls, delighting each time I saw a foreign translation of a YA book. And guys - they were everywhere!

My BEA books

I'm finally back in Frankfurt after three weeks in NYC and Argentina, so you're finally going to get some posts and reviews from me!

First up, my BEA books!  Before I left, I said I was going to try to carry home less than 20 books.  You can see for yourself whether that happened or not.

This first photo shows books that I got at BEA.

MODELLAND by Tyra Banks (Chapter excerpt) - signing in booth
THE FOX INHERITANCE by Mary E. Pearson - signing in booth
IF I DIE by Rachel Vincent - signing in booth
ASHES by Ilsa Bick - signing area
FURY OF THE PHOENIX by Cindy Pon - signing area
CROSSED by Ally Condie - signing in booth
DARKER STILL by Leanna Renee Hieber - at booth

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor - at YA buzz panel
GLOW by Amy Kathleen Ryan - given to me by a friend
WONDERSTRUCK by Brian Selznick - Children's breakfast

not pictured:
NAUGHTY TOES by Ann Bonwill - signing area
FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY - signing area

The following photo shows books I got at BEA week related events.

FURY by Elizabeth Miles - S&S blogger preview
EVE by Anna Carey - HarperCollins blogger preview
LIESL & PO by Lauren Oliver - HarperCollins blogger preview
STRINGS ATTACHED by Judy Blundell - Scholastic This is Teen Event
VIOLA IN THE SPOTLIGHT by Adriana Trigiani - Lunch with Adriana
THE PLEDGE by Kimberly Derting - Meeting with my editor at S&S
SMALL TOWN SINNERS by Melissa Walker - Teen Author Carnival
EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by AS King - Drinks with Amy

FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater - Scholastic This is Teen Event
SINISTER SCENES by PJ Bracegirdle - Meeting with my agent
WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman - Picked up for me by Mitali
FRENCH LESSONS by Ellen Sussman - Random House Bloggers Night Out
THE PARIS WIFE by Paula McClain - Random House Bloggers Night Out
DON'T SING AT THE TABLE by Adriana Trigiani - Lunch with Adriana
BUMPED by Megan McCafferty - Books of Wonder signing

Not pictured:
THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin - Teen Author Carnival
SHATTER ME by Tahareh Mafi - HarperCollins Blogger Preview

I also bought a few books for my NOOK:

LIKE MANDARIN by Kirsten Hubbard
ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins
SCARLET by Jordan Summers
THE POWER OF ONE by Bryce Courtenay

I brought 27 physical books back with me to Germany (I bought a South American Spanish version of THE HUNGER GAMES in Argentina) - so only 7 more than my limit.  I'm doing good!

Frankfurt Book Fair + Tori Amos with Orchestra!

The Frankfurt Book Fair took place this year from October 6-10.  This is my highlights post.

Wednesday October 6th
While Daniel picked up our friend Wes from the airport, I headed to the fair to check out the set-up this year and see which hot books were on display. I walked around hall 8 for about two hours and then went home.  Reps tend to be busiest on this first day, so I only try to talk to them if they look alone and bored. Unfortunately, the ones I did try to strike up a conversation with were seriously rude to me. Only saw three galleys up for grabs in all of hall 8 - a new low.  At least I grabbed a couple of catalogs to bring home.

Thursday October 7th
Got to talk to the lovely reps at Penguin for about 10 minutes and they told me which Fall 2011 books they are most looking forward to, including the start of a new dystopian trilogy called LEGEND by Marie Lu which is based loosely on Les Miserables and set in a flood submerged Los Angeles in 2130.  They also gave me a copy of XVI by Julia Karr - yay!

Friday October 8th
I skipped the fair to go to Amsterdam to see Tori Amos' first ever show live with full orchestra!  It was amazing! I had a 3rd row center seat and loved every minute.  First time songs for me (at my 20th show) were Yes, Anastasia (not full version, but close) and Programmable Soda as well as four songs from her new seasonal album Midwinter Graces: Snow Angel, Our New Year, Holly Ivy and Rose, and Star of Wonder.  I also loved to hear Precious Things reworked for orchestra as well as favorites Winter, Baker Baker (which I will now always associate with Peeta from Hunger Games), and Flying Dutchman.  I was hoping for Winter's Carol and Strange, but you can't have it all!

Saturday October 9th
I went straight to the fair after getting off my train from Amsterdam.  There I met Ka-Yam who gave me the most amazing present: an Emmy keychain!

I picked up a few picture books and arcs as well.  Here's Ka-Yam and me in front of Bloomsbury (where I got MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER by Janette Rallison and THE LEGACY by Gemma Mailey).

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the afternoon because of a preplanned event at my mother-in-law's.

Sunday October 10th
I met my friend Tracy very early, and we were shocked to find a lot of the stands already packed up and picked clean. I guess Saturday afternoon is the new Sunday morning as far as giving away books goes.

After going home to take a nap, I meet Ka-Yam at Maggie Steifvater's reading event where she saved me a front row seat.  The actress who reads SHIVER (German title: NACH DEM SOMMER) for the audio book read a passage from the book while Maggie drank water. (Fun Fact: She's the same actress who does the German voice for Bella in the Twilight movies)

I took 40 seconds of video:



And then, I got to say hi to Maggie.  She was surprised to see my ARC of LINGER and commented, "Wow- you must be someone important." And I said, "Well, I'm Lenore." She got up and hugged me saying, "Yes, you ARE very important."  Then Ka-Yam took this picture of us.

All in all, not the best Frankfurt Book Fair ever (and I am definitely spoiled by BEA), but it was still fun.  Here's my fiction book pile:

BEA 2010 Recap 3: Thursday and the Book Blogger Convention

Read my BEA Recap 1: Pre-BEA Activities
Read my BEA Recap 2: Tuesday and Wednesday

My plan for Thursday was to get to the Javits by 6:45 am so I could get a ticket for Mary Higgins Clark’s signing. I woke up late though, so I didn’t arrive until a little over 7 am – but fortunately, they still had 1 ticket left for MHC. I also picked up a ticket for Tim Gunn and R.L. Stine. Then I went and got in line for the Adult Author Breakfast with Candace, Dawn, and Swapna (S. Krishna Books). While in line, Donna came by, and I was able to give her my ticket for R.L. Stine, which she put to good use (she's a HUGE fan). Once we were allowed in, we hustled over to a good table (facing forward) and dug into our bagels.

I was very excited about the line-up. I don’t get to watch The Daily Show often, but Jon Stewart always cracks me up, and the breakfast was no exception. I was very touched by Condoleezza Rice’s speech about her parents raising her to be extraordinary. I’ve only ever read THE FIRM by John Grisham, but he’s a legend, so it was cool. And Mary Roach was probably funnier than Jon in her speech, which really got me looking forward to PACKING FOR MARS (the only actual book we got, since the rest all still need to be finished apparently).

Once they opened it up to audience questions though, the program went rapidly downhill. Why is it that no one in the room could ask a non-embarrassing, non-self serving question? There were a bunch of self-pubbed authors promoting themselves and aspiring authors asking the wrong questions (i.e. asking John frakking Grisham how he deals with conflicting feedback from agents). I couldn’t bear it any longer and had to leave early.

My first stop was Simon & Schuster to see if they had any copies of Cassandra Clare’s CLOCKWORK ANGEL left (it was 9:10 am already, and only 300 copies were being put out at 9 am, so I had my doubts) and they had a couple, so score!

I wandered around the booths again, eventually ending up at Sourcebooks for Cameron Stracher’s signing of WATER WARS. I then joined the LONG line for Mary Higgins Clark, and ended up waiting with Kathrin (Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic) who also came over all the way from Germany. Since the next line over was so short, and Author Staci Boyer looked so motivating in person, we scooted over there to get a copy of MOTIV8'N U.

Next I went to Chelsea Campbell’s RISE OF RENEGADE X signing. She had these cool embossers where you could choose to be a villain or hero. I asked her which she thought I was, and she pulled out a third, which was just an X, to emboss my book. I’m a mystery, I guess. While in line, I met Rebecca (Rebecca’s Book Blog) and we decided to go over to Laure Halse Anderson’s FORGE signing. We were more than a half an hour early and the rep insisted the line hadn’t formed yet, so Rebecca agreed to hold my place while I went to say hi to PJ Hoover at her EMERALD TABLET signing. When I got back, I noticed the line was SUPER long…as in no end in sight. Fortunately, Rebecca had staked us out a pretty good spot (next to Natasha, in fact).

After that, I thought it was time for the Tim Gunn signing, so I went over and stood in line for that. Turns out I was an hour too early…which ended up being a good thing, because that was the slowest, longest line there was. Tim spent quality time with each and every person in line, posing for pictures and sharing stories. I was maybe 30 people back in line, and I had to wait 45 minutes (on top of the hour) to get to the front. This was partly because at least 25 people also used their front of the line passes for this (a perk you pay for). Anyway, here’s my picture with the star of BEA:
When I made my way over to Beth Kephart’s DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS signing, I found out the time had been postponed, so that was a real disappointment. Instead I decided to go to the YA Authors of the Editor’s Buzz panel where I again ran into Michelle, Angie and Jenn. Authors on the panel were Erin Bow (PLAIN KATE), Rebecca Maizel (INFINITE DAYS), Ally Condie (MATCHED), Sophie Jordan (FIRELIGHT ) and Kody Keplinger (THE DUFF). (BTW - Look for my mini-review of MATCHED tomorrow.) All read a short excerpt and all sounded like winners, so we’ll see!

I walked with Angie over to Jeri-Smith Ready’s SHADE signing where I met Diana Peterfreund. Afterwards, Diana and I met Daniel at a diner close to the Javits and he gave her a special illustration of his Buffalo slaying a unicorn (a nod to her killer unicorn novel RAMPANT). We had a great time chatting, though I wasn’t aware I could have pressed her for details on her upcoming dystopian retelling of Jane Austen’s PERSUASION. Why didn’t you tell me Angie?!

Now since it was our 4th wedding anniversary, I decided to skip the Book Blogger Con Author Reception and hang out with Daniel instead. Since it started POURING rain, we ended up in the hotel diner again. Unfortunately, this meant we had to miss The Book Smugglers party too, which is a total shame. But hey, you can’t do it all!

Since Daniel was leaving on Friday to go back to Germany, I skipped the BBC breakfast to dine with him one last time. He escorted me to the Javits and we hung out with Michelle at the registration desk for awhile (meaning I missed most of Maureen Johnson too) before he left.

If you want to know more about the panels, allow me to direct to you to Kim’s (Sophisticated Dorkiness) recap. I thought they were…fine. Panelists were well chosen for the topics and the topics were interesting in theory, it was just that they did not always lead to the most exciting of discussions. It seemed there was too much like-mindedness and not enough dissenting opinion.

For example, during the social responsibility panel, someone suggested e-mailing others and asking them to promote your causes. This is something that bothers me, because I’ve seen it so often happen that certain people while promoting certain causes get belligerent if you don’t immediately jump on their bandwagon with them. Of course it’s fine to ask friends to help you spread the word, but you also need to be able to take no for an answer. Not everyone has time or space or inclination to promote every cause that comes their way. It would have been nice to hear someone say this (I had my hand up, but wasn’t called on.)

In any case, my favorite part of the BBC was the social aspect, especially getting the chance to hang out with Sarah (Forever Young Adult, one of my new favorite blogs) and Angie (I forced both of them to stay longer than they wanted to).

Me with Sarah (photo curtesy of Sarah)

I would’ve loved a “getting to know you” panel, where everyone in attendance had a minute to introduce themselves and their blogs. I feel like I missed out on meeting so many people just because I didn’t know what they looked like. That said, it was so cool to finally meet Chelsy (Big Honcho Media), Nat (In Spring it is the Dawn – thanks for the red bean candy from Japan!), Avis (She Reads and Reads – didn’t recognize you without your cat), Beth Kephart and so many others.

Me with Beth Kephart (photo curtesy of Beth)

After BBC ended, Amy, Natasha and I slowly made our way towards a big blogger dinner at Dos Caminos. This was so much fun as I finally had some time to hang out with Allie (Hist Fic Chick), Jen (Devourer of Books) and Carey (The Tome Traveller). I also said my teary goodbyes to Trish (you rock, you know you do!).

Allie, Carey, Trish and me at Dos Caminos

I needed to go back to my hotel to pick up my bags, so I went on the subway with a group that was headed back downtown, including Amanda (The Zen Leaf) who told me all about the dystopian books she is writing (fascinating!!). After spending half an hour begging the hotel to release my bags to me (long story), I hurried off to Nicole’s for our post BEA slumber party and a fun edition of THAT’S HOW I BLOG (which you can listen to here).

After carrying suitcases full of books up and down many a flight of stairs and getting lost in the subway on the way to the airport (I made it with literally 1 minute to spare), It was time to relax (which is why it took me so long to post these recaps, sorry). But guess what?! I’m all ready to do it again. See you next year?

BEA 2010 Recap 2: Tuesday and Wednesday

Read Part 1 of my BEA recap.

On Tuesday, I started off the day at MacMillan for a tour with the awesome Ksenia Winnicki. This is also where I got to meet Angie from Angieville for the first time. Ksenia showed us around the narrow offices (they are located in the Flatiron Building) and gave us a bag full of books and swag. Probably the book I’m most excited about from the bag is HALO by Alexandra Adornetto. We also met Amy, Nicole and Natasha there, so afterwards we all decided to eat brunch at a diner. Daniel ordered carrot juice because Nicole did, but soon discovered he was allergic to it! So Nicole got to enjoy a double dose.

Angie and I continued on to Penguin (on our way we discussed our love for Gen from THE THIEF by Megan Whelan Turner) - but just the adult division. I confess I would’ve preferred to visit the children’s/YA offices, but they are located in a whole different building. In the lobby I met Wendy (Caribousmom) and Deborah (Books, Movies and Chinese Food), as well as a bunch of other bloggers (sorry for my bad memory). We split into three groups. Our designated publicist took us around a few floors, showed us the Penguin reviewers database (I was in it, yay!), and let us loose in the Viking book closet.

She “sold” us Paolo Giordano’s book THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS by showing us the author’s photo (he’s hot!). After that, we gathered in a meeting room with the other groups and introduced ourselves one by one. I had to slip out early though because Daniel and I were meeting up with Author Lauren Mechling for a tour of the Wall Street Journal (amazing place) and for lunch.

It was so much fun to talk to Lauren about books, publishing, her upcoming wedding, her uncanny resemblance to actress Rena Sofer and her new venture on Slate (the serial novel MY DARKLYNG). We got a picture together, but I looked so ridiculous, I had to crop myself out (yes, Sarah, I was in the dreaded foreground). Sorry!

Lauren and Daniel

After lunch, Daniel went to HarperCollins to meet with his editor. The author of his book, Audrey Vernick, was also there so they got to meet for the first time. While he was there, he signed a bunch of copies of IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN? and turned in the final artwork for the sequel, TEACH YOUR BUFFALO TO PLAY DRUMS.

Meanwhile, I met up with Kathy (Bermuda Onion) and Julie (Booking Mama) at the M&Ms store. I was hoping to score Mint M&Ms, but no luck. Kathy, Julie and I talked and laughed as we trekked the 14 blocks and 3 avenues to the Javits to pick up our badges and attend the Editor’s Buzz for adult titles. While in line, I got to meet Candace from Beth Fish Reads finally, but didn’t have my German chocolate with me (this would happen to me repeatedly, meaning Candace never got her chocolate…oh no!). We were a little worried we wouldn’t get a seat, but we did, towards the back, which turned out to our advantage later.

If you want to know a little more about the 6 books presented, Candace has a great write up about them on Beth Fish Reads. While the last editor was wrapping up, Julie, Kathy and I ducked out to get first crack at the ARC tables. I ended up picking up copies of ROOM by Emma Donaghue (I’ve already started it and the voice is sensational) and THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES: A BIOGRAPHY OF CANCER by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I dared Julie to get THE EVOLUTION OF BRUNO LITTLEMORE by Benjamin Hale (the book with a monkey/human sex scene) but she wouldn’t bite.

Then Daniel and I met up again to go to the Class of 2010 signing at Books of Wonder. I met a whole slew of bloggers and authors here too, but my most memorable chat was with Shannon Delany, author of 13 TO LIFE, when she assured me that there was no werewolf sex to be found in her book. A group of us went afterwards to Rosa Mexicana (I love their guac!) but were too many to fit at one table. Daniel and I ended up at a table with Esme (Chocolate and Croissants) and Vania (Reverie Book Reviews). I loved hearing all the behind the scenes drama of Vania’s book trailer business (Vania’s Life Captures). She’s so much fun! Oh, and I should have gotten her to take a pic of us together, because the one I had taken with my camera did not turn out…like AT ALL. Next time!

Wednesday Daniel and I met up with Bri (Bri Meets Books) for breakfast, and she asked, casually, if Chelsea Campbell (author of THE RISE OF RENEGADE X) could join us. OMG – yes! Bri and Chelsea were dryly entertaining, and a perfect start to a BEA day. And because the Tick Tock Diner would not let us split our check (and neither Bri nor Chelsea had cash on them), I got to treat them.

Daniel and I booked it to the Javits and met Angie going in. We had to stop off at Chronicle first, because usually they have the best tote bags. I picked up PRISONERS IN THE PALACE by Michaela MacColl, which looks good. From there, we went on to Candlewick where I got a copy of STORK by Wendy Delsol. Then I went to Richard Peck’s signing and got THREE QUARTERS DEAD.

At this point, I sent Daniel off to Marla Frazee’s BOSS BABY signing and I went to the YA dystopias panel. Initially, I thought it would just be Ally Condie (MATCHED, which I am reading now) and Adam Dunn (RIVERS OF GOLD) but Lesley Hague (NOMANSLAND) and Sigrid Nunez (SALVATION CITY) were also on stage. I ended up getting all but Lesley’s book and got them all signed after the panel. The panel itself was a tad uneven, but still fascinating. I’ll probably wait to do a write-up (based on my copious notes) until Dystopian August – unless you all just can’t wait that long.

I went around the booths some more before heading to the Harlequin Teen signing. This was total chaos! A line had built up, snaking around single file for miles (it seemed) but once the authors arrived, everyone just made a mad dash for the front, making a lot of people very angry. I managed to meet Rachel Vincent and get MY SOUL TO KEEP signed – after being shoved around a bit. Craziness!

I next went to Mitali Perkins signing of BAMBOO PEOPLE and Alison Winn Scotch’s signing of THE ONE THAT I WANT. While in line for Alison’s book, I met Melissa (Sweet on Books) and noticed that Paul O. Zelinsky was signing his new picture book DUST DEVIL, so I had to get a copy of that too (and say hi).

I ran into Trish (Hey Lady!) and we visited a few more booths before meeting Jennifer Hart at Harper Collins to go to meet Adriana Trigiani and 4 other bloggers for the tea we won at Alice’s Teacup. I was a bit bummed to miss signings for Lemony Snicket, Lauren Oliver and Diana Peterfreund (Daniel stood in line for me to get ASCENDANT though), but what an experience! Adriana is so warm and welcoming, she made us all instantly feel like we were hanging out with a long-time friend. She told us stories, asked us about our lives and blogs, and insisted we try the pumpkin scones (to die for!). Sheila (Book Journey) has a great recap if you’re interested in hearing more and seeing lots of pictures!

Kathy, Julie, me, Adriana, Sheila, Dawn (She's Too Fond of Books), Trish, Jennifer

After dropping my bags of books off at the hotel, I walked to the Algonquin to HarperCollins’ blogger bash. I was so exhausted, I found a nice spot to sit next to Sharon (Sharon Loves Books and Cats), Laura (Laura’s Review Bookshelf) and Donna (Bites), and didn’t move the rest of the night, making people come to me. We were soon joined by Angie and Janice (Janicu’s Book Blog) and then visited by a ton of different bloggers including both of the Book Smugglers (Ana and Thea) and “my enemy Amy”. I also got to meet Marie (The Boston Bibliophile) and many others.

Me, Angie, Ana, Janice, Thea (photo curtesy of Angie)

As the party wound down, Donna gathered up a group of us and we took a subway to Max Brenner’s to indulge in some decadent chocolate creations. Unfortunately, we filled up on non chocolate, and didn’t end up even getting desert. Oh well!

April (Good Books, Good Wine), Laura, Donna, Alea, Erica (The Book Cellar) and Gail.

I shared a taxi with April and crawled into bed to get rest up for the next day’s adventures.

Stay tuned for more BEA recap! Coming soon…