BEA 2010 Highlights

Thank you to my husband, Pierre, for blogging for me during BEA week. He enjoyed reading the comments on his posts (Pierre says thanks, Staci!). And I enjoyed the increased traffic that his rantings generated! ;=)


Pierre relaxing in the hotel room after his scary BEA experience.


Some highlights from my BEA 2010 experience are:

• Taking the train there and back with my blogger friends: Tina, Cindy, Linda and Avis. They turned what would have been a tedious experience into a fun one!
• Great discussions with publicists
• Opportunity to see some of my favourite authors (low point is not getting to see same!
• Discovering new authors
• Meeting new bloggers and re-connecting with old ones (not 'old' old, but experienced)
• Being surrounded by book people in general
• The books!!!

The autograph tables were crazily crowded!


Penguin's summer releases.


In short it was wonderful. I only went for one day but it was a great one. This was my second time at BEA and I found it somewhat different from last year's experience, but nevertheless (was anyone else waylaid by the people selling shoe insoles?) excited and happy to be there. People were, by and large, friendly and helpful. The publicists were also great and it was somehow very satisfying to put a face to a name.

There was so much to see and do at BEA that it was not possible to be experience everything also considering I only attended the convention on Wednesday. I was also enjoying being a tourist for the week. Pierre loves the Metropolitan Museum of Art and we went there during our stay. Our hotel was great - we stayed at the Marriott Marquis and those elevators take some getting used to. I will post more photos during the coming week. I sure hope everyone who went to BEA had a fantastic time too and for those of you who didn't go (hey, there are other things in life during May besides BEA), not to worry, I'll be back to regular programming next week!

BEA Itinerary!

I'm going Book Expo America next week with my husband. Also attending BEA will be Cindy, Linda, Tina and Avis. All of us are traveling by train so and it's going to be a bit of trek. I took the train last year too and though it was quite long it was really nice. The scenery along the Hudson River was breathtaking and because the train was sparsely populated, most people had two seats to themselves and so it was possible to stretch out. I'm hoping it will be a similar trip this year...though traveling with my blogger buddies will make for a very fun ride!

This is my tentative schedule for the week:


Monday:

- Train!

Tuesday:

- Likely will visit The Strand and a couple of other book stores.
- Visit the New York Public Library and a museum (maybe the Natural History).
- Dinner with my blogger buddies.

Wednesday:

- BEA all day.
- Broadway show at 8 p.m. with Cindy and Linda (Mary Poppins)

Thursday:

- I may or may not go back to BEA - playing it by ear.
- Museum again (probably the Metropolitan, though I'd like to visit MOMA too)
- Meandering walk through Central Park
- Dinner and another Broadway Show (Chicago) (I know, I know, but I LOVE Broadway shows)

Friday:

- I'm keeping this open for various sightseeing possibilities; perhaps go see the Cloisters.

Saturday:

- Train ride home, during which I will have plenty of time to start planning next year's trip!

Since I'm taking the week off from work during a very busy time I'll be checking in daily to deal with office stuff. That's not ideal but not so bad either when I consider the alternative of not going to New York at all!