BEA 2010, Pt. 2

I wanted to save Thursday of BEA for a different post because I feel like, in some ways, more happened on this day than on the previous. So Thursday I woke up with a much better sense of how to navigate the exhibitions and make the most out of my time there. I debated getting up an hour earlier and taking the earlier train in so that I could somehow attempt to grab some 9am titles, particularly Cassandra Clare's The Clockwork Angel, which was heavily advertised beforehand as having only 300 ARCs available. In the end, however, I decided to uphold my deep-seated dislike of crowds and take my time instead.

I arrived at the Javits Center around 9:20, checked my bag in, and began to wander past the booths, to see if there were any ARCs left that I could still get. I wasn't expecting to get any, however. I meandered past the S&S booth, only to hear a bunch of publicists say to a lady, "You got the last ARC of Clockwork Angel!"

Damn! I couldn't believe that it was almost 9:30 and they had still been giving out ARCs. And then that I had JUST missed it. I was about to leave when I heard the publicists talking amongst themselves, wondering what to do with the last CA ARC that was under the case they had on display. "We should give it away," one of them said, and the others agreed with her.

Well, I decided to go for it. "Excuse me," I said, stepping forward. "Did you say you were giving that ARC away?" After a few exchanged looks, the publicists decided that yeah, they were going to give it to me. Insert a million exclamation points here! We chatted for a bit--I learned that they had an ARC snafu when one box of CA ARCs went missing, disappointing about 20 people earlier (though lucky for latecomers like me!)--and they even took a posed picture of me taking the ARC out of the case. We exchanged business cards, and it turns out some of the S&S people knew my blog! Check out the picture; Cassandra Clare even tweeted it later:

How crazy is that? That sort of thing hardly EVER happens to me.

(And then I tweeted about it and bloggers brought it up when I met them later that day. Crazy tech-savvy bloggers. lol)

I got to get books signed by a lot of authors I'd been looking forward to meeting or whose books I've wanted to read: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (and yes, I did get her in on a surprise for Jenny of Wondrous Reads *grins*), Chelsea Campbell and The Rise of Renegade X (she had these cool H, V, and X embossers that she stamped onto each book she signed, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should read her book), Mistwood by Leah Cypess (loved her book! and she said she read my review!), and some more.

During those lines I met and/or stood with bloggers Cat (Beyond Books), Laura (Laura's Review Bookshelf), Khy (Frenetic Reader), Taschima (Bloody Bookaholic), Eleni (La Femme Readers), Susan (Wastepaper Prose), and oh goodness so much more and I'm sorry if I forgot you! (There will be another list coming up later in the post/afternoon.) I also got to talk to author Jackie Dolamore (Magic Under Glass), who is a lot of fun. She drew these awesome "name cards/bookplates" of herself in, like, 30 seconds flat, and she showed us an early idea for the cover of her next book. Gorgeous, by the way.

And then for lunch I went outside of Javits (Actually, the exclamation point should come for, I actually ate lunch!). I met up with author friend Lauren Mechling, and happily our mutual blogger friend Cat (Beyond Books) came along because the two of them had been trying to plan for a meet-up as well. So that was great fun. We had lunch at a small bakery. It was a great time; Lauren and Cat even took pictures! (As you can tell by now, I clearly didn't. I'm not good with taking pictures of people.)

As my college friends might say, ADORBS!

After lunch, we came back to Javits, and I got to meet up with Barb and Sarah of Blue Slip Media! This was lovely, because I have been talking to these two ladies for a long time, and Sarah and I have, like, the EXACT SAME reading tastes, and it was just so great getting to meet them in person. Afterwards, I stood in line for signed ARCs of Jennifer Donnelly's upcoming YA, Revolution (finally! she's written another YA!) with blogger Korianne. I also got to see Beth Kephart again, and meet bloggers Keyona (Only Sexy Books Allowed) and Donna (Bites) for the first time! And I can't forget Dominique (The Book Vault)!

I ended the day by getting an ARC of The Passage signed by Justin Cronin. According to the Random House publicist I talked to, they printed 10,000 ARCs for this book. TEN THOUSAND! I don't think I can even imagine that number. That's crazy. I hope to read that book soon.

And now some random (awesome) pictures:

The cover for the last book of the Vampire Academy series! A little weird, but it's VA, so whatevs!

A crazy costume at the EgmontUSA booth to... um... I forget?

And then...after an agonizingly delayed and slow train ride home, my BEA adventure ended. I slept 11 hours that night, and then took a 3-hour nap Friday afternoon, and STILL felt tired. Ah well. It was so worth it, and next year I might even go to Book Blogger Con, as I heard great things about it.

Now what you guys have been waiting for: pictures of the books I got! You can click on them to enlarge, I believe.

The right column is signed ARCs:

The right column is signed finished copies, plus a few on the left side:

Some of the books in the last picture I had gotten from the Strand or the Teen Author Carnival on Monday.

Overall, I had a fantastic time and would only hesitate slightly to go again (the slight hesitation comes from my fear of large crowds). I also learned a lot, probably enough to be able to give advice next year. It was a fantastic time and I'm very glad I decided to take the plunge and go this year--even though next year I might decide to stay in the city at nights, instead of commuting! Hehe.