ALA San Francisco 2015 - The Good, The Bad, and, well...

Two weeks ago was ALA time again! This year I was super excited to have it taking place so close to my hometown, just an hour down the road. No plane ride needed, yay! :D (Can you tell I don't like flying much?)

The city was crazy as always, traffic, traffic, construction, and more traffic.  With Pride running right alongside the conference and the morning's Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriage, the city itself just seemed alive with a positive, festive hum. It was actually way less crazy and crowded in the city than I expected it to be---I think I was inside the conference when most of the parade stuff was going on.

ALA itself was run a bit different this year.  I'm not sure what the goal of some of the changes was, but as an exhibit-only badge holder, I couldn't help but feel a bit snubbed. First off, ALA always distributes an Aisle by Aisle guide to the exhibits. Publishers put fun coupons and ads in these that you can tear out to get a special giveaway, usually a featured book or bookbag. This year, exhibit-only folks weren't allowed to have these.  This was also the first year exhibit-only peeps were kept out of opening night. Now I can kind of see what they are trying to do with that--letting the first night be exclusively for librarians and library staff (it is a librarian conference, after all!) but there has to be a better way to do to that.  I saw tons of actual library staffers that were exhibit-only get turned away at the door. (Just a note: I did get in---in the rush of the doors opening, they couldn't have checked every badge, and I didn't realize until I was already in that they were stopping people with yellow exhibit badges. Felt so bad for those that did get turned away at the door, though!)

The Moscone center where it all took place is just massive.  There was so much to see. And sooo much walking. One thing that I thought was odd (and this is my last gripe, I swear lol) was that for the first time, the publishers were split between the two huge halls.  Normally, there is a sort of "publishers alley" where all the publisher are in one 5-6 aisle area.  Having them split just made it exhausting and confusing! So much walking back and forth and having to perfectly coordinate to get to each signing. The two halls looked nearly identical, so I swear I kept forgetting which one I was in! My poor brain and feet--both just exhausted at the end of the day!

One of the things that I love about ALA is not only do I get to feed my need for seeing all the lovely new books coming out and hear about publisher faves for the upcoming season, but I get to be the library girl that I am outside of the blog. Being local, it was also cool to go to a library conference and finally see some of my own library's staffers in attendance! I was especially excited to be able to check out and sample the new library catalog system my library is shifting to next year. That change is going to be a bit scary so it was neat to get to play around with the demo! I'm also the mending wiz at my branch so of course I had to check out the latest book-beautifying supplies!

SO enough of my rambling---on to authors and books!
There were some awesome signings again this year!  I feel bad that I didn't take more pics but I did get a few. 

Amy Lukavics signing Daughters Unto Devils:

 Had to show Amy from two angles--her tattoos are awesome! :D Van Gogh on one side, a raven and stars on the other!!

Erin Bow signing
The Scorpion Rules

Anna-Marie McLemore signing

 The Weight of Feathers

Nova Ren Suma signing
The Walls Around Us

Virginia Boeker signing

The Witch Hunter

 

William Ritter signing
Jackaby & Beastly Bones

Some of my favorites not pictured were Marissa Meyer (I already had Fairest so I just had her sign my bag--see below), Kelley Armstrong (I think I might have been a little too star-struck to remember to get a pic lol,) Dan Santat, and April Tucholke (she is so adorable, she was drawing little slasher stick figures in each book and her and I just giggled the whole time because the guy in front of me didn't get it--also, see sob story below *sniffle* ).  

Below is a fun little thing I started doing this time--got the idea from another attendee who happened to have this same bag! Only my faves got to sign the bag! So far there is Kelley Armstrong, David Levithan, Marissa Meyer, and William Ritter! :D

 

And finally, there's the books.  I tried to be good and only grab what I really really wanted, but it still ended up being alot. *sigh* ♥-♥

The whole last pile is signed.  There were some really cool titles that I hadn't even heard of before ALA and I am so excited for now, like The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch and Six-Gun Snow White! The new discoveries is what makes ALA so great!

And then there was this lovely thing!  Just a sampler, but it's absolutely gorgeous and makes me so crazy excited for the finished book in October!! The illustrations are so incredible.

So, yea, on Saturday night during dinner, this happened:

Stupid thieves broke into my car and grabbed my friend's backpack and a couple of bags of books.  *SOB*  Funny thing is, we weren't in a bad neighborhood, and a pretty populated one at that, so it still just flabbergasts me that this happened.  Not so funny thing is--I lost some good books---including that adorable signed-by-giggling-April Tucholke copy of Slasher Girls and Monster Boys and my covented copy of The Doldrums.  And I'm sure those jerk thieves were just thrilled when they realized they'd stolen books. Grrr. :( So precious to readers like us, but I seriously doubt they saw any value in them at all.  So so sad.  And, yea...sad about my car, too.  But BOOKS. 

So that's it guys! Another ALA annual gone by! Despite all the weirdness (Oh did I mention the all-gender bathrooms?), and the few negative changes, and my poor car, it was a blast again and so fun to see and meet so many blog friends, publishers, library friends, and authors!  Hope I can make it again next summer to ALA Orlando (in 90 degree-90% humidity- summer...honestly who picks these locations??) and Harry Potter World!

Morgan Matson & Jenny Han Event Recap & Giveaway!

Recently, at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA, I had the absolute pleasure of attending a book signing with two fabulous authors, Jenny Han and Morgan Matson.  People, if you get the chance to see them, especially together, take it! These two are a blast to meet, they are both so outgoing with their  audience.  They actually interviewed one another, which felt much like sitting in on a conversation between old friends---which they are! These two have known each since college!

 From the crowd, they got some really great questions.  They each read from their books, then talked about their writing processes, writing the YA voice, and shared stories about seeing each other succeed after being in the same writing courses in college.  Morgan spoke about her own best friendship that inspired Since You’ve Been Gone and also talked a little about writing under her pen name, Katie Finn. Jenny let us in on how she doesn’t write the scenes of her books in order, a scene here, a scene there(!! Fascinating!!).  She also talked a little about parallels of her own experience growing up Korean in comparison to her main character, Lara Jean in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and how making that part of Jean’s experience has caused some negative comments from readers.  This led to a great discussion on why we read, and how reading should make us more open to other life experiences and cultures, not the opposite.  It was great food for thought.   She also gave us a little insider info on the next book in the To All The Boys duology and who it will be about!

They gave out some fun prizes, one of which was a very cool pink pen and journal set embossed with the To All the Boys title (which we won!).  They signed lots of books and graciously posed for pictures.  Best part was Jenny declaring that my daughter was her character come to life! She said her look and outfit (you can't see them but she wore this dress with cute knee high socks and vintage-y shoes) was exactly how she pictures Lara Jean!
<~~~~~

Such a fun night!

On to the giveaway! :D

Ok, this is an odd one, people.  I'm giving away signed ARC of both books BUT in full disclosure I want to mention that:

A- The To All the Boys ARC is a bound manuscript with a picture of the cover on a white background and has what looks like a staple ding on the page edges. It came from the publisher that way. BUT the cool thing is---Jenny signed it ON THE COVER :D.  

And B-The Since You've Been Gone ARC is signed... but it's signed to me LOL. Bit of a mix up on my part oopsie!

SO if you don't mind all that, enter away! :D  

Ends June 12th, 2014

US mailing addresses only please.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rachel Hawkins Event Recap & Signed Rebel Belle Giveaway!

In an adorable little bookshop called Face in a Book, I was fortunate enough to meet one of my very favorite YA authors.  She was glowing and witty, there was lots of giggling around the whole room.  Yes, dear readers, Rachel Hawkins is just as funny in person (funnier, actually!) as the hilarious personalities she instilled in her characters. 

There was lots of  excitement in the air as this was the actual kick-off tour stop for her newest book, Rebel Belle.  Her entire sitting area was adorned in pink lollipops, tiaras, and pearls. She actually brought long strands of lovely pearls for her guests (making a hilarious crack about being surprised she made it through airline security with them without having an officer try to break one open in suspicion of finding drugs), which was such a fun idea, as her character often wears them in the book.  She answered a few quick question about all of her titles, the Hex Hall series, School Spirits (she assured us that there are no sequels in the works for this one), and Rebel Belle. She talked about cliffhangers, wild train adventures with Allie Carter, and being taught to smile for the camera by Maya Angelou.

She graciously signed all of our books, also stamping each copy of Rebel Belle with a cute little pink high heel shoe.  She was very casual with the crowd, upbeat, and animated and we all had a fantastic time!

Now, as I always try to do when I get to go to signings, I bought myself a finished copy, so I'm giving away my ARC---and, of course I got that signed for you, too!  Plus, LOOK at the adorable Rebel Belle posters that were handed out! Had one signed and I'm giving that away, too! :D

Enter below! One winner gets the signed ARC and signed poster of Rebel Belle!

•US addresses only

•must be 13+ or have parent permission

•Ends 5/1/14

a Rafflecopter giveaway