Currently, they're holding BookExpo America ('BEA') in New York City, and as a New York resident I don't have any good excuse for avoiding the proceedings, so yesterday I joined thousands in the halls of the Jacob Javits Center.
Aside from the annoyance of getting there (the Hudson-hugging Javits Center is about as peripheral as you can get while still being in Manhattan), it's enjoyable enough if one doesn't have any obligations or specific goals in mind.
I enjoyed running into a variety of folks, and meeting some I hadn't met in person before.
I'm fascinated that, yet again, the Saudis have a huge presence -- and I still don't know to what end. (I note that some peninsular neighbors have -- just as mystifyingly -- now joined in: the Qatar National Library, for example (no, it was not mobbed).)
I'm surprised that the Greeks can mange/afford/justify such an impressive spread. Not sure that was austerity-money well-spent .....
I was surprised to find that Amazon is basically invisible -- last year they had a big AmazonCrossing presence (their translated stuff), but this year it seems they've limited it to Amazon Children's Publishing.
I'm embarrassed to admit I witnessed the spectacle that is 'Snooki' (and am pleased to report that there didn't seem that much fuss around her).
I avoided picking up ARCs/swag/etc. as much as possible. A couple of publishers catalogs; The End of Oulipo ? and The Kindly Ones-author Jonathan Littell's forthcoming The Fata Morgana Books, handed off by Two Lines Press/Conversational Reading-man Scott Esposito in his various capacities; and two other ARCs:
Aside from the annoyance of getting there (the Hudson-hugging Javits Center is about as peripheral as you can get while still being in Manhattan), it's enjoyable enough if one doesn't have any obligations or specific goals in mind.
I enjoyed running into a variety of folks, and meeting some I hadn't met in person before.
I'm fascinated that, yet again, the Saudis have a huge presence -- and I still don't know to what end. (I note that some peninsular neighbors have -- just as mystifyingly -- now joined in: the Qatar National Library, for example (no, it was not mobbed).)
I'm surprised that the Greeks can mange/afford/justify such an impressive spread. Not sure that was austerity-money well-spent .....
I was surprised to find that Amazon is basically invisible -- last year they had a big AmazonCrossing presence (their translated stuff), but this year it seems they've limited it to Amazon Children's Publishing.
I'm embarrassed to admit I witnessed the spectacle that is 'Snooki' (and am pleased to report that there didn't seem that much fuss around her).
I avoided picking up ARCs/swag/etc. as much as possible. A couple of publishers catalogs; The End of Oulipo ? and The Kindly Ones-author Jonathan Littell's forthcoming The Fata Morgana Books, handed off by Two Lines Press/Conversational Reading-man Scott Esposito in his various capacities; and two other ARCs:
- 1914 by Jean Echenoz -- which I couldn't be more excited about; see also the New Press publicity page.
It's apparently only coming out in 2014 (which makes sense); interestingly, the French original was titled simply 14 (see the Éditions de Minuit publicity page)
- And, yes, I did stand on line for a copy of Marisha Pessl's Night Film (see the Random House publicity page); yes, I was underwhelmed/irritated by Special Topics In Calamity Physics, but, hey, I don't review enough American fiction, or books by women, so, well .....