A Very Belated, Better-Late-Than-Never BEA 2010 Post: Photos

I had every intention of doing a proper write-up of my BEA/BBC experiences, but since I got back from New York two months ago now, I’m (finally) going to give you the brief version, in photos. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

My first day at the Javits Center was overwhelming...

The autograph area was completely mad... (I only ventured there on the second day, when there were fewer people.)

Amy (Amy Reads), Trish (eclectic/eccentric), Megan (Leafing Through Life), Amanda (The Zen Leaf) and I had dinner at an Indian place near Times Square...

Later that same evening, I met Wendy (Caribousmom) and her husband, along with a great many other bloggers, at the Celebration of Book Bloggers hosted by Harper Collins at the Algonquin Hotel (where the famous Algonquin Round Table used to meet)...

The following night, Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books), Linda (Better with Books) and I had dinner with Kathy (Bermudaonion’s Weblog)... (This is not a great picture of Kathy and me, but it’s the best of the lot!)

After dinner, we wandered around Times Square, where Kathy took this picture of Cindy, Linda and me...

It’s shameful that I didn’t take more pictures! (I don’t know what I was thinking.) After Book Blogger Con, as I was heading back towards my hotel with Melissa (The Betty and Boo Chronicles), I took this final picture of the Javits Center...

There are so many bloggers* I met but didn’t get pictures of:

Alea (Pop Culture Junkie)
Amy (My Friend Amy)
Candace (Beth Fish Reads)
Carey (The Tome Traveller’s Weblog)
Colleen (Books in the City)
Dawn (She Is Too Fond of Books)
Diane (Bookchickdi)
Heather (Age 30+... A Lifetime of Books)
Jenn (Jenn’s Bookshelves)
Jenny (Take Me Away)
Julie (Booking Mama)
Lenore (Presenting Lenore)
Lori (The Next Best Book Blog)
Marie (Boston Bibliophile)
Melissa (The Betty and Boo Chronicles)
Michelle (Galleysmith)
Nat (In Spring It Is the Dawn)
Natasha (Maw Books)
Nicole (Linus’s Blanket)
Pam (Bookalicious)
Rebecca (The Book Lady’s Blog)
Sarah (Reading the Past)
Serena (Savvy Verse & Wit)
Sheila (Book Journey)
Stephanie (Stephanie’s Written Word)
Swapna (S. Krishna’s Books)
Tania (Literary Cravings)
Trish (Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?)

Next time, I’ll try to write my posts while I’m still in New York!

*If I’ve omitted you from my list, please forgive me (and let me know, so I can add you)!

With thanks to Amanda and Trisha for inspiring the layout of this post!

BEA 2010: Books (Part 2 – The Ones I Missed)

There were a number of books that I’d heard were being promoted at BEA that I missed out on. These are the top five I’m most bummed about not getting (in no particular order):

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin (already pubbed) – I’ve read so many rave reviews of this book (see Presenting Lenore, Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?, Books and Movies, Reading Extravaganza, S. Krishna’s Books, A Reader’s Respite, Boston Bibliophile and Book Chatter, for starters), but I was too dazed on my first day of BEA to stand in line to get an autographed copy.
   


2. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (already pubbed) – Linda and I tried to get an autographed copy of this one, but they’d run out of books by the time we got there. It was Lenore’s review that piqued my interest in this dystopia: she rated it 5 zombie chickens (“the Ultimate Dystopian Experience”)!
   


3. Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide by Linda Gray Sexton (pub date 9/10) – I couldn’t even find the booth of the publisher of this book (Phoenix Books), despite asking about them at the info booth, so I’m not sure Half in Love was actually available at BEA. I read Linda Gray Sexton’s first memoir, Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton years ago, and I will definitely be buying this one at some point.
   


4. Great House by Nicole Krauss (pub date 10/10) – I still haven’t given The History of Love a second try (I couldn’t get into it the first time around), but Great House, which is apparently “a powerful, soaring novel about a stolen desk that contains the secrets, and becomes the obsession, of the lives it passes through,” sounds very good.


5. The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent (pub date 11/10) – I slept in rather than go to Kathleen Kent’s signing, which I didn’t feel too unhappy about when I heard she was a no-show. Unfortunately, this did mean that I didn’t get a copy of this prequel to The Heretic’s Daughter, which I loved (read my review).

Are you excited about any of these books? If you went to BEA, which book(s) did you miss out on?

BEA 2010: Books (Part 1 – The 50+ Pounds I Brought Home)

As most of you know, I spent four full days in New York City recently for BEA and Book Blogger Con (May 25 to 28): I was there to pick up books, meet fellow bloggers (as well as authors and publicists) and of course enjoy some good food. (I didn’t really do any sightseeing at all!) I’m therefore going to break up my BEA/BBC reports into several posts focusing on these themes.

First off, books, because obviously BEA is all about the books! I certainly did well in that department: I brought an empty suitcase with me on the way to New York, and it was full to the brim with 50+ pounds of books and assorted swag on my way back:

Click on photo to enlarge

Here are the books I lugged home, most of which I picked up at BEA (the ones on the bottom right are books I bought, except for Designated Fat Girl: A Memoir by Jennifer Joyner, which was also a BEA snag):

Click on photo to enlarge

It’s hard to narrow done the list to the top few I’m most excited about because frankly I’m pretty excited about all the books I picked up. However, there were a baker’s dozen that stood out:

Click on photo to enlarge

1. By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (pub date 10/10) – This is the book I’m most excited about: Cunningham is one of my favourite authors and I didn’t even realize he had another book on the way until I heard about this one at BEA.


2. Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir by Joyce Farmer (pub date 9/10) – Graphic memoirs are one of my favourite genres these days: this was the first book I snagged at BEA from a friendly rep at Fantagraphics.
   


3. I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (pub date 9/10) – I loved What the Dead Know, which I read last year (but unfortunately didn’t review), so I’m keen to read more of Lippman’s mysteries.
   


4. Room by Emma Donoghue (pub date 9/10) – I haven’t read anything by this Canadian author yet, but this novel told from the point of view of a five-year-old boy who has spent his whole life locked in a room with his mother sounds both creepy and fascinating.


5. Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship by Gail Caldwell (pub date 8/10) – I had read Wendy’s review of this book, which is about Caldwell’s friendship with writer Caroline Knapp, and I’m interested in the relationships between women writers, so I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of this memoir.


6. The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (pub date 1/11) – This YA dystopia about a world where water is more precious than oil or gold sounds all too plausible. I have high hopes for this one!
   


7. Ape House by Sara Gruen (pub date 9/10) – I heard Gruen speak at the Author Lunch at BEA and her amazing stories about the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa (which inspired this novel) brought tears to my eyes.
   


8. Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart (pub date 8/10) – I’ve heard so many good things about Kephart’s books (thanks mainly to Amy), plus this YA novel is a story about sisters, which sounds good to me.
   


9. The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction by Rebecca D. Costa (pub date 10/10) – After reading Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé recently, this book sounds like a good follow-up.
   


10. Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson (pub date 10/10) – I had never heard of this debut author or this novel before I found a copy in my swag bag after the Celebration of Book Bloggers hosted by Harper Collins, but I started reading it on the subway back to my hotel and it sounds really good.
    


11. Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon (already pubbed) – I was afraid this tale of suspense might be too creepy for me, but I devoured this book last week and really enjoyed it. (It’s creepy, but not too creepy!)
    


12. Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son by Michael Chabon (already pubbed) – Two of my favourite bloggers, Rebecca and Jenners, raved about this one, so my expectations are high!
    


13. Sima’s Undergarments for Women by Ilana Stanger-Ross (already pubbed) – I’ve read good things about this one on the blogs, and it’s blurbed by Michelle Richmond, one of my new favourite authors, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it too.

Are any of these books on your wish list? If you were at BEA, what fabulous books did you pick up that I missed?

My BEA Schedule + Reminders & Announcements

It’s becoming pretty clear that I’m not going to finish all the things on my miles-long to-do list before I leave in a week to go to BEA and Book Blogger Con, but I’m trying not to panic (especially since many of them are work-related). I’m also still in the process of figuring out all the things I want to do and see while I’m in New York City (not to mention what I should wear!). So far, my BEA/BBC schedule is as follows:

Monday:

• Eleven-hour train journey to NYC with Linda, Cindy, Tina and Donna (+ Donna’s hubby)
  

Tuesday:

• The Strand + touristy things + dinner with Montreal book bloggers
  

Wednesday:

• 9:30-10:30 AM: Brunonia Barry signing The Map of True Places (Table 13)
• 10-11 AM: Justin Cronin signing The Passage (Table 8)
• 12-12:45 PM: Maria V. Snyder signing Inside Out (Booth 3922)
  
• 4-5 PM: Emma Donoghue signing Room (Booth 3750)
• 7-9 PM: A Celebration of Book Bloggers – Harper Collins (Algonquin Hotel)

Thursday:

• 9:30-10:30 AM: Kathleen Kent signing The Wolves of Andover (Table 26)
• 10:30-11:30 AM: Delia Sherman signing Interfictions 2 (Table 1)
• 11 AM – 12 PM: Jonathan Kaplan signing Urban Mindfulness (Table 9)
  
• 12-2 PM: Author Lunch hosted by Patton Oswalt
• 3-3:30 PM: Jennifer McMahon signing Dismantled (Table 20)
• 3-4 PM: Debbie Stoller signing Stitch & Bitch books (Table 1)
• 4-6 PM: Book Blogger Convention Reception

Friday:

• Book Blogger Convention all day

Saturday:

• Eleven-hour train journey home

I’m for sure attending anything in bold on Wednesday and Thursday; the others (on those days) are tentative. I haven’t included any of the conference sessions in my schedule yet—I wasn’t that excited about any of them, but I should look through the schedule again. I’m also looking forward to meeting some of you there! What are your must-attend events?
_______________________________________________

If you’re not attending BEA this year, you might be interested in participating in Armchair BEA, which I first heard about on Florinda’s blog, The 3 R’s Blog: Reading, ’Riting, and Randomness.
_______________________________________________

Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter my two current giveaways. Click on the images below to enter each giveaway:

_______________________________________________

Finally, I will be posting my review of Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want by Frances Moore Lappé tomorrow, along with a guest post by the author and giveaway later this week, so be sure to come back for that!

I Won! (I’m Going to Book Blogger Con!)

About three weeks ago, the Book Blogger Convention site announced its Registration Fee Giveaway and today Michelle at Galleysmith emailed me to tell me I won! This means it’s official, I’m going to BEA and Book Blogger Con!

I’ve been doing the happy dance all day (and freaking out a bit because I don’t know where I’m going to stay in New York yet). I’m so excited!

Are you going to Book Blogger Con? Let me know!

Meeting Elizabeth Kostova + Some Thoughts on BEA

Despite the fact that Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and hosts the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival every year, not that many English-speaking authors visit Montreal. So when Linda let Donna and me know that Elizabeth Kostova was doing a reading and book signing at Paragraphe Bookstore last Tuesday evening, I knew I had to go, even though I haven’t read either The Historian, Kostova’s bestselling debut (the first debut novel to land at number one on The New York Times bestseller list), or her latest, The Swan Thieves. And I undoubtedly committed a further faux pas by not buying The Swan Thieves at the event (I really dislike hardcovers and they’re so expensive!). I did, however, bring my copy of The Historian to get signed!

Kostova read two passages from The Swan Thieves and then took questions from audience members. Paragraphe isn’t very big, so there were probably no more than 20 people there, but the questions were very interesting, as were her answers. Afterwards, I thought I should have taken notes! Kostova did mention that she did extensive interviews with a psychiatrist and several artists (and also observed artists at work) in order to write this book.

Following the questions, we lined up to get our books signed. When it was my turn to actually talk to a real live author, I felt completely tongue-tied and had no idea what to say! (In the end, I told her I’d enjoyed her readings and was looking forward to reading her books, and she thanked me for coming, but I felt completely silly for being so nervous!)

Here’s a photo Donna took of Elizabeth Kostova and me (don’t I look nervous? I couldn’t figure out what to do with my hands!):

Elizabeth Kostova (right) and me

As Donna, Linda and I left the store, I remarked that if I was this nervous meeting one author, imagine what I’ll be like at BEA when I’m surrounded by authors, publicists and big-name bloggers? (Yup, after reading the BEA tour posts organized by the Book Blogger Convention folks, especially Amy’s, I’m determined to go to BEA with Linda and Cindy—and maybe Donna and Tina—even though I haven’t quite figured out how to pay for this trip yet.) I’m afraid I’m going to be a nervous wreck! Does anyone else feel this way? (Please reassure me!) Also, if you’re going too and would like to meet up, let me know!

You can also read Linda’s and Donna’s posts about this event:
Better with Books • BookBound