Monthly Archives: June 2012

This week I headed down to New York City for one of the highlights of my year -- Book Expo America.  It's such a great event for us word nerds: all of the big (and little) publishing houses show off their upcoming wares.  Authors do signings and wander the crowds...and get the sort of rockstar treatment that is usually reserved for, well, rockstars.  And in many ways, it's just delightfully random -- where else could you, in the span of two days, rub elbows with people as diverse as David Pogue, Ina Garten, Meghan McCain, Molly Ringwald, Neil Young, and Dan Rather?  (And those are just some celebrity names.  The famous authors (as distinguished from "already famous people who have written books") elicit just as much excitement from the crowd.  I saw a group of middle-aged women do a full-on fangirl squee over James Patterson when he happened to walk past them downstairs near the bag check area -- and you should see people reacting to meeting Lemony Snicket!)   It's so much fun, and there's always such a positive energy in the crowd -- there's something so awesome about being around likeminded people, and how can it be bad to be around people who love books?

I always love BEA, but this year I feel like everyone outdid themselves.  My coworker and I agreed that it seemed like there were far more giveaways (both of galleys/finished books and of swag) than there have been in past years.  Last year it seemed like several of the big publishers (HarperCollins comes to mind) were really trying to push e-galleys, but this year paper was back in a big way.  The number of books I have stacked in my living room right now is really sort of obscene....and I was being SELECTIVE in what I picked up.

And after I took this picture, I found a few more stragglers that didn't make it into the stacks.  I think there are about 80 books, all told.  Like I said, sort of obscene.  As always, some are destined for the library's permanent collection; some are destined for my (and Ian's, and Jim's) permanent collection; some are galleys that I will circulate around friends and family and coworkers.

There are a lot of books here that I'm really excited to read.  Going into the conference, I was hoping to snag galleys of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and The Age of Miracles -- two books I've heard a lot of buzz about and have already pre-ordered for the library -- and was able to get both (signed, even!).  The Yellow Birds was one that everyone was talking about (and is one of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2012); I missed the author event but got a copy of the galley.  I loved Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project, and am looking forward to reading the sequel.  Ian has a copy of the forthcoming Skippyjon Jones book, Cirque de Ole.  The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets has a totally appealing title; as does Things I Want To Punch In The Face.  I already loved Alice Bliss, so it was a genuine pleasure to get to meet and converse with Laura Harrington.  And I've already (!) finished one book, The Good Girls Revolt, an utterly absorbing story about the women who sued Newsweek for sex discrimination back in the early days of Title VII. (Review to come closer to the book's publication date.)

I have so much to read now, I barely know where to begin!  I'd better go crack a few spines...