BEA Recap: Day 6

Day 6: Friday

Thankfully after some much needed sleep and amazing Israeli food, Friday morning boded much better than the previous. Josh and I headed to Javits bright and early for the second annual Book Blogger Convention. I was really excited about this part of the week because I was looking forward to meeting up with other bloggers and learning great tips from the experts. However, the whole thing left me disappointingly underwhelmed. The panels I attended weren't as informative as I'd expected, and I was not very impressed by the amount of swag for the taking. I guess it all just seemed like it would be so much bigger than it was. I feel terrible saying this, and maybe it was just me. Either way, I don't think I'll be attending next year.

Because of our shared disappointment, Josh and I left early to spend our last afternoon exploring the city. Before that, however, we thought it was a good idea to visit UPS first to ship all our goodies back. Dozens of blocks and a few hours later, I said goodbye to my babies (all 106 lbs of them) and entrusted them with Billy. I may or may not have personally threatened his existence should something have happened to said babies.

After that fiasco, we headed to The Strand first to pay homage to one of the oldest bookstores in the city (and to Dash and Lily, of course). To say The Strand is a booklover's heaven just doesn't quite cover it. With over 2.5 million books covering 18 miles of shelves in a 55,000 square foot store, it is the mecca. I could have spent days weeks in that store. It was amazing.

Sticking with the theme, we walked a few blocks over to the famed Veselka for dinner. (Have you caught the theme yet?) We ordered borscht (not too bad!) and pirogies (so so good) and reflected on our week in New York. Back in March 2009 I read this book called Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and it blew me away. I could not believe that this book - this book that so perfectly captured so many of the thoughts and feelings I could never convey to words - was written for young adults. This was the book that led me to Jessica Darling, to The Book Thief, to Laurie Halse Anderson, to John Green. This was the book that led me to blogging. This was the book that ultimately lead me to New York. No matter what I read, what I discover, or how much my love for YA grows - it all comes back to that one book. It all comes down to Nick and Norah. So it's really no wonder I spent my last night in the city in a Ukrainian diner reflecting on just how far I've come. It was truly a great week.

BEA Recap: Days 1 & 2

BEA Recap: Day 3

BEA Recap: Day 4

BEA Recap: Day 5

BEA Recap: Day 5

Day 5: Thursday

Thursday morning was the second Adult Author Breakfast, which featured Jim Lehrer; Roger Ebert, Anne Enright, and Erik Larson. We received ARCs of Lehrer's Tension City, finished copies of Larson's In the Garden of Beasts, and chapter samples of Ebert's upcoming memoir. Unfortunately the speeches got started a bit late, so we were only able to stay for Jim Lehrer and Roger Ebert. I was really looking forward to Erik Larson, but I was planning on seeing him at a signing later that afternoon so we made our way to the floor for the last day of BEA.

Josh and I split up again to grab copies of Caridad Ferrer's When the Stars Go Blue and Steve Brezenoff's Burning Brooklyn. I was really excited to meet Steve as I loved his debut, The Absolute Value of -1, and I've talked to him on twitter before. I actually won a contest on his blog the week before, so in addition to his new novel, I was able to get a signed copy of |-1|. This was very much appreciated because it was sort of an ordeal for me to get my copy. (I say this jokingly, of course, because I would have waited forever.)

While I was at the Lerner booth chatting with Steve, Josh grabbed copies of Ellen Hopkins's Perfect and Allisa Grosso's Popular. Then I got in Kody Keplinger's line for Shut Out, and I just so happened to be behind Kirsten Hubbard. After that I waited in line for Micol Ostow's Family, but unfortunately she wasn't there so I wasn't able to get a signed copy. I found out later that she got there not long after I left because Steve Brezenoff blogged about getting her signature, and he wasn't too far behind me in line.

After the last of the signings we made our last rounds of the floor. I was able to get a few books from Flux and a few others from various publishers. At some point on Thursday I just so happened to see Sara Zarr tweet about her new book being at the Little Brown booth. So freaking excited to have gotten a copy of that. When we were done scoping everything out, we headed back to our hotel. I had planned on going to the Erik Larson signing that afternoon and then to the This is Teen event at the Scholastic store, but I wasn't feeling very well and opted to stay in. I really wish I would have gone, but I knew I needed to catch up on some sleep if I was going to make it through Friday.

Unfortunately I don't have any other pictures from Thursday. I wasn't feeling well, and Josh was too busy running around for me. I wish we would have taken more pictures of the floor, but there wasn't a whole lot of time to stop and look around without getting run over. I, fortunately, didn't incur anyone rude or pushy, but it was just too crowded to stop and take pictures. Leaving Javits on Thursday was definitely bittersweet. I was worn out but not quite ready to say goodbye to BEA.

BEA Recap: Days 1 & 2
BEA Recap: Day 3
BEA Recap: Day 4

BEA Recap: Day 4

Day 4: Wednesday

Wednesday started off with an Adult Author Breakfast featuring Mindy Kaling, Diane Keaton, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Charlaine Harris. We all received a flyer about Keaton's book, a chapter sampler from Kaling's, and a finished copy of Dead Reckoning. Mindy Kaling (Kelly from The Office) was freaking hilarious. From introducing herself as Padma from Top Chef to making fun of the audience's shoes, she had everyone laughing the entire time. On the other end of the spectrum, Diane Keaton had most of the room bleary-eyed (okay, me) with a reading from her upcoming memoir. Jeffrey Eugenides was also funny, and he spoke a lot about his inspiration for his new novel and the few bumps he incurred. Charlaine Harris was last, and instead of talking in detail about the latest installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series (because she could have been there all day recapping the first ten books) she talked a lot about her journey to publication and having the HBO series. She, too, was funny, and I loved her accent! It was nice hearing a fellow Southerner speak.

After that we made our way back to the autographing area. I guess I should explain this for those of you who have never been. This whole thing was a cause of great stress to me because I just did not understand how this was supposed to work. First of all, Javits is ridiculously huge. However, it is also ridiculously well organized, and even though I felt like a fish out of water on Tuesday, by Wednesday I could actually make my way around rather easily. There was a large autographing area with around 25 tables which featured authors pretty much back to back all day. There was also in-booth autographing where authors would sign in their publisher's booth. The autograph schedule was put out way in advance, so there was plenty of time to map out who I wanted to see. My only complaint (which isn't really a complaint) was that there were so many great people scheduled at the same time! Again, it's not an actual complaint because this was not due to poor scheduling. There were just THAT many authors there. Also, having Josh there was great because we could be in two lines at once. As for the lines, they were MASSIVE! Especially for the big name authors who naturally I wanted to see. However, these lines moved very quickly, and there was only one instance the whole week where I waited in line for over an hour for them to run out of books just a few people ahead of me. Another thing I just didn't get was where these books came from. I knew it was frowned upon to bring books to BEA, but I didn't understand where I was supposed to get these books for signings. THEY GIVE THEM TO YOU! There is literally a huge stack of books on the tables/in the booths and the author grabs one, signs it, and hands it to you. FOR FREE! They do ask for a donation of $1 for every book signed for the National Book Foundation (?) so be sure to bring cash for that.

Okay, back to the day. First up was Lauren Oliver signing finished copies of Delirium and ARCs of Liesl and Po. While I was in that line Josh ran over to the Penguin booth to grab me a ticket for Ally Condie. Then he got in line for Jennifer Castle's The Beginning of After while I went to Penguin for Crossed. Then I got in line super early for Maggie Stiefvater because I knew it would be a long one (I was right) and got The Scorpio Races signed. Then Josh went over to Maureen Johnson's booth for The Last Little Blue Envelope while I headed over to Harlequin Teen for Julie Kagawa's The Iron Queen and Hannah Harrington's Saving June. That was the line that took FOREVER and unfortunately they ran out of the other books before I got there :(

After lunch Josh and I had tickets to the ABA Tea with Children's Authors. When we got there they told us we'd be seated at different tables which freaked us out because Josh was like my security blanket all week, and he doesn't read nearly as much as I do so he was only there because of me. For a minute we thought about skipping out, but I thought we should at least find out which authors we were seated with. When I saw I was at Maggie Stiefvater's table I knew I couldn't pass it up. Then I saw Josh was seated with R.L. Stine, who was probably the only author there he'd actually read! Needless to say, we both stayed and had a great time. Maggie talked about her inspiration for Shiver (She'd just read The Time Traveler's Wife and wanted to create a story with that same emotion but for teens.), her real name (I'll let you google that one ;)), and her upcoming novel The Scorpio Races.

We left Javits to drop our loot at the hotel before headed to NYPL Mulberry again for a Writing for Teens Today event that featured Ellen Hopkins, Lauren Kate, Ally Condy, Scott Westerfeld, Maureen Johnson, and James Dashner. It wasn't nearly as crowded as TAC, but it was just as hot and I ended up having a rematch with the copy card dispenser. FYI: Do not bump into one of those things! They will leave a nasty bruise. After getting a few books signed, we headed to 'wichcraft for some amazing sandwiches. Sure it was just a sandwich, but Tom Colicchio does it right.

BEA Recap: Days 1 & 2

BEA Recap: Day 3

BEA Recap: Day 3

Day 3: Tuesday

Tuesday was the first day of BEA which for us started with the Children's Author Breakfast featuring Julianne Moore, Katherine Paterson, Sarah Dessen, Brian Selznick, and Kevin Henkes. In addition to hearing these wonderful authors speak, we got a signed Freckleface Strawberry poster, an ARC of Wonderstruck, and finished copies of What Happened to Goodbye, Junonia, and Little White Rabbit. All of the authors were wonderful, and I was really glad I made the decision to attend. (For those of you who don't know, general admission was $20 and seated breakfast was $40. This is per person per breakfast (there was one each day) which may seem expensive, but to me the general admission was well worth the goodies and the speeches.)

After that I made my way to the autograph line for Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer. Then I made my way over to the Sarah Dessen line which was ridiculously long but moved very quickly. After that Josh and I did a lot of wandering around and grabbed a bite to eat. At some point I saw a girl with an ARC of Jessica Rules the Dark Side, and I immediately booked it over to the Houghton Mifflin booth to request a copy. (I loved the first book so so much!) I was too intimidated to just flat out ask for review copies (even though it's perfectly fine to do), so Josh walked over to Scholastic and came back with ARCs of Forever and The Scorpio Races. The girl there told him she was going to make him the best fiance ever, and she was absolutely right :)

We got tickets (super cute magnets) for the Daniel Handler signing. I love the idea behind his YA title Why We Broke Up, so I HAD to get a copy. He literally took the time to tell a story to every single person in line, which I thought was really awesome of him. He told me the story of a middle school girlfriend also named Jamie and why they broke up. I also was able to get an autographed copy of A Touch Mortal which I've been wanting to read. Our last stop of the day was to the Ellie Krieger signing. Josh is a personal chef so he obviously had to stop by. I was really glad there was something there for him, too.

Later that night we headed to Brooklyn to visit Greenlight Bookstore and Di Fara for more pizza. Unfortunately Di Fara was closed and we missed our stop on the subway (multiple times...) so we ended up at a Mexican place in the West Village. Josh was a little disappointed with his dish, but I must say my enchiladas were out of this world. On our way back to the hotel we walked around Columbus Circle and snapped a few pictures before calling it a night.

At the hotel Josh, Michelle, John, and I looked at our spread and deemed day one of BEA a huge success!

Just in case you missed it, check out yesterday's post BEA Recap: Days 1 & 2

BEA Recap: Days 1 & 2

I went back and forth with myself trying to decide whether or not to do a recap post(s), but I know when I was preparing for BEA I couldn't get enough of them. I had so many questions, and there were so many things I didn't understand. So for those of you who might be going next year for the first time, I hope these posts answer some of your questions. For everyone else, I hope you at least enjoy the pictures and stories! I admit that I'm also using my blog as a scrapbook for my week in New York :)

Day 1: Sunday

After flying from New Orleans to Chicago to LaGuardia, we finally hit NYC just after 1pm. We then checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Midtown, which was one of the hotels designated for the ABA. After getting settled and taking a breather, we headed to Little Italy for some pizza. By Josh's recommendation, we ended up at Lombardi's, America's first pizzeria. After stuffing ourselves with some amazing food, we walked a few blocks to Eileen's Special Cheesecake which was recommended by our waitress.

Then we walked to a few more big tourist attractions including the Scholastic Store, Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, the Lego Store, and St Patrick's Cathedral. Being my first time in New York, it was really amazing to see all the familiar sights in person. It was also a lot of fun to see Josh's reaction as he'd never even been on a subway before. Later that night, Random House hosted a cocktail party at our hotel for ABA members. (I guess I should explain that Josh and I were registered as ABA members because we traveled with my local booksellers, John and Michelle of Cavalier House Books.) I picked up a few books and got to talk to our New Orleans neighbors from Maple Street Book Shop. All in all it was a great day in the city, and we were wiped out after being up for so long.

Day 2: Monday

We got up bright and early to head down to the Javits Center to pick up our badges. Josh and I skipped out on the first half of the ABA Day of Education to fit in some sight seeing. We rode the subway down to Battery Park to see Lady Liberty. We were hoping to take the ferry out to actually tour the statue, but we didn't have enough time.

We got back on the subway and walked to Chinatown for some lunch. I must say Excellent Dumpling House did indeed have excellent dumplings and they were well worth the wait for them to open. After lunch we jetted back to Javits for a few afternoon classes. The first was Creating Events for Children, which gave me a ton of great ideas to bring to my local indie. The next was The Digital Market and the YA Audience. This one was also very interesting and featured one of my favorite authors, David Levithan. After the panel was over, with a lot of shoving from Josh, I introduced myself as one of his biggest fans and asked for a picture. As we were leaving I mentioned I would actually be seeing him later that afternoon at Teen Author Carnival. And then, something crazy happened.

He asked if we would like to split a cab with him. And then I apparently said yes because the next thing I knew I was sitting in a cab with David Levithan and having an actual conversation without having to breathe into a paper bag or vomit or squeal or anything else grossly embarrassing. Unfortunately the cab ride ended, but what awaited us at NYPL Mulberry was nothing short of amazing. Over 25 authors were there speaking, signing, and just being awesome. We sat in on the Kick Ass Females and Teenage Angst panels which respectively featured Malinda Lo, Carol Estby Dagg, Michelle Zink, Courtney Allison Moulton, Andrea Cremer, Elizabeth Scott, Michelle Hodkin, Kirsten Hubbard, Lisa Desrochers and David Levithan, Hannah Moskowitz, Melissa Walker, Susane Colasanti, Gayle Forman, Kody Keplinger, Torrey Maldonado, Caridad Ferrer, Ellen Hopkins. Both panels were hugely entertaining and insightful. Afterwards everyone lined up for the signings and Kristi from The Story Siren just happened to be right in front of me. It was nice chatting with her and putting an actual person with the blog. I got a huge stack of books signed, and I scored a Mara Dyer shirt and a Figment goody bag filled with ARCs and candy. All in all it was a great day, and we were wiped out by the time we got to the hotel that night.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when I recap last Tuesday, the first day of BEA!!