Book Expo America 2015

Wow, has it really been two entire months since Book Expo America?!? Time flies when you are having fun, huh? So much to report. 

I picked up some great books and met some fabulous authors and publishers this year. I was most excited about Jenny Lawson's new book, Furiously Happy, coming out this September. That would be me on the left with one of the promo fans. #winningatlife

I was also ridiculously pumped to pick up DK Publishing's new Big Ideas Simply Explained series, The Sociology Book. You may remember how much I loved The Science Book, The Psychology Book, and Heads Up Psychology, so I raced to get this one when I knew it was dropping.

The picture on the right was Day 1 haul. It was a little frustrating having the Blogger's Conference on the same day as the show opening, so I had to miss most of the sessions in order to get the books I knew I wanted. You can't see super well, but I scored The Sociology Book, Illuminae, Road Trip, Girl Waits With Gun, and The Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist.

My nerdiness came out when I saw that Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published in Latin. Be still my heart. I picked that up for some light reading this fall. 

Then I saw that Brian Selznick was releasing a new book in August. I almost died. You may remember my unceasing love for Hugo Cabret. It's the number one gift I love to purchase for the small humans in my life, and the release of another beautiful Selznick book was exactly what my heart desired. And it is as gorgeous as you would think. I can't wait to crack it open later this month.

You may also recall (if not, click on the link) how much I adore Sloane Crosley. I feel as though we are spirit animals and are meant to be best friends. So I asked her, and she was like, for sure. She even signed my book, "To the best friend a stranger could have." I almost died I was so excited. This is her first novel, and the review will be coming in October.

On the right is the hottest fall release you could ever imagine. It's Garth Risk Hallberg's City on Fire. It was everywhere, and I jumped on line to get it. Signed, of course. It's going to be my beach reading over the next couple of weeks. Not that I'm taking it to the beach, but I will read a little bit every night when we are showered and curled up on the couch. I take my trade paperbacks to the beach. Duh.

This kid gets it.

On the right is Day 2 haul. I scored Saint Mazie, City on Fire, Lois Lane: Fallout, new Stella Batz books, The Clasp, and The Marvels among others. It was quite a day, I will tell you that much. Remember, Book Expo is a marathon, not a sprint. It's crazy, really. Every year I say that I'm only going to take what I can read, and it's the truth. I will read 90% of these before next BEA. But there are so many, and so many good ones, that it's hard to walk away. When you love doing this as much as I do, you will fight tooth and nail for the good ones.

Which brings us to our final show day. This was a big one, guys. John Grisham, which, come on, you have to know by now is my book candy, was signing at 9am sharp. Not a full book, mind you, but an excerpt of his new one coming out this fall. Whatever. I love him, so sign me up. That's my copy on the right.

But even bigger than that, in my eyes, was Furiously Happy dropping at 2pm sharp. That's me with the taxidermied racoon on the left. Well, a cardboard cutout of it anyway. I am not even joking when I tell you that I continuously stalked the book starting at 1:15pm to make sure I got it.

It was worth it. I stood triumphantly as the first person in line to get an ARC, and the picture on the left if my victorious arm salute to my advanced review copy. Jenny wasn't there, of course. This thing is so insane that there is no way she would come, but Jenny, on some off chance you are reading this humble little book blog, know that you were sorely missed.

Other crazy books dropped included a limited edition anniversary copy of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, which I scored. I haven't actually read it yet, but so many people are in love with it that I knew it would be worth it. I loved Landline, so I already knew I was a Rowell fan, and this has been on my list for so long it seemed silly not to fight wait in line for it.

The picture on the left are the people who got in line up to an hour before me. No joke. I was excited, and I was still in line an hour before the signing, but wow. You go gurl, Rainbow Rowell. Everyone loves you.

This is the insanity surrounding Mindy Kaling's signing of an excerpt from her new book. I love her, but I ran the other direction. That was just a tad too crazy for my taste. She looked gorgeous, though. Also, it have the security guards a lot to do by yelling at people to move. You have to hand it to BEA for giving the guys a very important job. (Can you sense my sarcasm?) Actually, it was one of the more frustrating times of the show since you can see how everyone was crowded around. I was in line for another book, so I can honestly say I'm not part of the madness. [Insert smiley face here.]

On the left below was how I felt about the whole show in the last hour. It was awesome and so very exhausting. That is a beer in my hand along with my water and popcorn. A huge thanks to Hachette for the beer. You have no idea how amazing it was.

On the right is my Day 3 haul. Including, but not limited to, Furiously Happy, Fangirl, This is Where It Ends, Another Day, and Brad Meltzer's new novel. Whew.

Finally, my last picture is almost my whole BEA15 haul. I had left some books at a friend's house, so this picture is missing about 15 books. Crazy, huh?

More like amazing.

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