On the way home from Book Blogger Convention and Book Expo America

I am writing from my sister's house in Queens...more than a tad shattered by the giddy whirl of the last two days. The best thing about yesterday was meeting up for lunch with kidlit peeps, the best part of today was the joy of seeing people in real life for the first time! I wish there had been more time to talk--I was so happy to meet Lenore, for instance, but didn't get to say more than a glad Hi! Next time..........

The Book Blogger Convention was great--many kudos and many, many thanks to the organizers, and thanks to the speakers and the publishers who brought us swag!

And I had an added bonus. I found a super secret display that had been left up in a room that us bloggers weren't using....and it still had piles of ARCs....and one of those was the ARC I was most counting on getting but hadn't managed too--the Jewel of the Kalderash, by Marie Rutkowski. The room was being cleaned up, and the cleaners were moving closer to the display, and so I saved all the arcs and put them in neat piles in the hallway. They were all taken, and I feel almost as if I had found a good home for an abandoned puppy.

Another ARC that pleased me lots to get was one for Julianna Baggot's new book, Pure, coming out next winter. That one was lying forlornly on a table in the main foyer display area, and I asked the people manning the display if it were one of theirs, and they said no, and to take it, so I did! If I go to BEA again and feel I need more books to take home, I have decided that I will simply go lurk around the shipping area and pick up what gets abandoned (which is apparently lots). So much less stressful than having to talk to strangers and ask, although I do of course realize that Making Contacts is important, and I actually did do a lot of this, and bravely gave people my card, even though it turned out hideously Christmasy due to Staples making the crimson boarder much broader than nature intended. (Note to self--use extra business cards for present labels next December).

But anyway. There were three copies of Jewel--one for me, and one for Anamaria of Books Together, who was also sad not to have gotten one, and one to give away here. And I have two more books I have two copies of (one saved from neglect and one extra swag, that I checked first if it was ok for me to take). So I will putting that give away up when I get home....

And here is my pile from Thursday and today, which is quite enough books, thanks. The book whose title you can't see because of glare is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (yay!)