I find other people posting about all the things they got annoying and obnoxious so of course I’ve done one myself … because when you confess your own hypocrisy it stinks just a little bit less.
I could wait until all of my books come home to me … I mailed some to myself because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to transport them all. These fears may have been unnecessary and since I didn’t pay for the tracking information there’s no way of knowing if those five media mail envelopes will ever arrive. But they were the less important books to me and I felt that losing them wouldn’t be a great loss. Shall we begin? I may also talk about books I purchased on my trip…do people do haul posts on purchases? Of course they do. Exhibitionist shoppers. My goodness I’m becoming some capitalist stooge.
I’m very pleased to say that I returned home with a signed copy of Tequila Mockingbird by my favorite new New York author Tim Federle. I don’t know if you will believe me when I tell you that the line for Tequila Mockingbird was longer than the line for Chuck Palahniuk (maybe it just moved slower) but I was very impressed at all of the people there to see Tim. I also got a Tequila Mockingbird tshirt and apparently that’s extra large and I don’t know if I’m okay with that because I managed to lose weight on the trip. (Kidding. Like I’d ever wear the shirt. Must. Keep. New.)
The delightful people at Dorling Kindersley gave me LEGO. So of course they win massive points. It’s to promote the Lego Play Book… The box is decorated like a book and contains an excerpt from the book with amusing tips and suggestions and I now know how to construct a LEGO toilet so beware internet, beware.
James Dashner was signing ARCs for the Eye of Minds. It looks very scifi high tech and comes out in October.
Recommended by John Corey Whaley is a new book by Holly Goldberg Sloan, “Counting by 7s” which I may have been referring to as just the number 7 with a bunch of fish on the cover. I just noticed he has a blurb on the back. He hasn’t steered me wrong with a recommendation yet… so maybe you should follow him on the twitter (@corey_whaley) in case you want to get his recommendations too. And now I realize that I’ve spent an entire paragraph about him and not about the book he did not write.
NEW PARAGRAPH SOLUTION. YABC read Holly Goldberg Sloan’s book I’ll Be There back in December 2011. From what I can recall and see from goodreads it would appear that the book was well received. Counting by 7s is “an intensely moving story of being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.” I believe our protagonist compulsively counts by 7s. Which is fine because 7 is a very good number. Might be one of those really bad books that cause you to have feels. Book comes out in August so make sure you’re ready with the kleenex and the emotional support system.
From Maggie Stiefvater is The Dream Thieves which is book II of The Raven Cycle. Book I was the Raven Boys. I have nothing to say about this because I haven’t read anything from her. The book comes out in September.
From Kami Garcia I got a signed ARC of Unbreakable, The Legion Book 1. “I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.” So … we’re looking at a paranormal young adult book from one of the authors of the Beautiful Creatures series. The cover looks creepy and it comes out in October.
Chuck Palahniuk was signing ARCs of Doomed…which may be a follow up to Damned. The cover appears to have a masculine face covered in a white drippy liquid. I suggested it was frosting because I was in mixed company and wondering out loud why a book is covered in ejaculate is not something I’m prone to do. Out loud. Another October release. Oh. I told him the story about how I’ve had the worst luck with meeting him. Once up on a time I was a bookseller at Borders. One day he came into the store and signed stock. I was not working that day. But I picked up quite a few of his books signed so that was ok. But it happened a second time. (May have been a different Borders location). And in retrospect this isn’t a very good story because it’s just me coincidentally missing meeting an author twice. It’s not like that one story where I was talking to Brian Farrey about stalking a certain author I’ve already mentioned too many times to find out that he was actually very close by.
In September Jonathan Lethem has a book called Dissident Gardens coming out… “A dazzling novel from one of our finest writers–an epic yet intimate family saga about three generations of all-American radicals” (30s commies, 70s hippies, and the much more modern occupy movement) this could be interesting and has no sparkly vampires. This is a signed ARC and at under 400 pages I don’t really know if it can be considered a true saga. Kidding.
Nathaniel Philbrick was signing copies of his new book, Bunker Hill. It’s another real book. Has color illustrations. Heavy and intimidating I shall place it in a pile because I’m afraid of non-fiction for adults. Might actually learn something and then I’d just try to educate others.
Little Brown really wanted people to try Hannah Kent’s (first?) book, Burial Rites. I believe it’s about the last person to be executed in Iceland. A novel. Set in the 19th century Iceland. *sigh*
Am I such a rubbish reader that books for adults scare me? Regardless I really should get back to reading. I just started reading the book that I think I need to finish for this weekend and I don’t think it’s going down easy like Sunday Morning.
sounds like an amazing haul. chuck palahniuk kind of freaks me out. in a good way.