Books I grabbed at #BEA15
I plan to write about a couple BEA-related things, but if I know you guys, you just want to see the BOOKS.
Day 1: Buzzed
Day one was all about Blogger Con, so I wasn’t on the show floor at all. I did make it to the Editor’s Buzz Panel, though, and elbowed my way to the table full of galleys:
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (Knopf) aka The Two Million Dollar Book. Nuff said?
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (Scout) aka the next Gone Girl? I read this one on the way home but I haven’t read GG, so I can’t tell you if the comparison is apt.
Home is Burning by Dan Marshall (Flat Iron Books) aka A Heartbreaking Work of Holy Shit It Already Has a Movie Deal. Dave Eggers meets The Royal Tannenbaums, maybe.
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press) aka The Dark Horse – dark cover, dark subject matter, and for me, the one I was least interested in – but I grabbed it, because it’s BEA.
Day 2: Line up, line up, as if you have a choice
Day two was spent on the show floor and therefore in line-ups big and small.
Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Harper Perennial): One hour line up full of excited young’uns and bewildered olds.
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (Viking): Half hour line up full of middle aged moms. My people!
Purity by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): Tickets, multiple line-ups, general confusion. And he wasn’t even signing!
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth (Graywolf Press): No line up here, but probably the strangest of the books I took home. Like Home is Burning and City on Fire, the film rights are already sold – to Mark Rylance aka Cromwell in Wolf Hall! Check him out reading from the book here, and you’ll see what I mean.
Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey (Aresenal Pulp) and The Scamp by Jennifer Pashley (Tin House): Snagged there from an indie publisher’s party that CJ and I were intensely uncomfortable at. Lost Boi was on my TBR, and The Scamp appears to be Ablutions with a young female protagonist, so, score!
Also, some kids books and stuff
Day 3: Flailing
Do I have enough books? Should I run around the show floor aimlessly and grab a few more? Yes, let’s do that.
Pillow by Andrew Battershill (Coach House Books) because I’m a sucker for damaged male protaganists, and for chocolate.
Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford (St. Martin’s Press) because it’s a “Bonfire of the Vanities for the 21st Century” and BofV blew my mind as a teenager.
And that’s it! No extra suitcase needed. Stay tuned for more on the Franztravaganza, the blogger’s con, and where to get pizza in Hell’s Kitchen and not get judged for coming back three hours later.
Reading in Bed 
Lucky you!! I can’t wait to read Purity.
Everybody Rise is on my list, too.
I hadn’t heard of Everybody Rise before but it sounds good and is very pretty 🙂
You seem to have picked up all the books that I would have gone for had I been in BEA. However, I’ve requested City on Fire as a galley, and I’m also excited for House is Burning, Everybody Rise (go green covers!), Welcome to Night Vale and the newest Franzen.
Nice! I’ve just finished Welcome to Night Vale and… I… don’t think I get it. I may be too old!
I just started listening to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast the other day. I wish I knew about it before BEA so I could have realized I how awesome it would be to get the book! It’s the weirdest/best podcast.
I would have lined up for the Geraldine Brooks book as well, and would have fit right in. 🙂 I hope you enjoy all the books you got. (Happy to see the Sandra Boynton one!)
Meeting Sandra Boyton was a highlight, and my kids love the CD.
I hadn’t heard of City on Fire until now, but now I want to know it’s worth the $2 million! Love the cover of In a Dark Dark Wood (did you like it?). And, highly jealous of The Secret Chord, because I’ve loved everything else by her. I don’t know much about most of these books, but you make them all sound so good, so you better get reading so I can know which ones are good and which ones aren’t. 🙂
I dunno which Big Bad Book to tackle first, CoF or Purity. In a Dark Dark Wood is gorgeous (I’ve seen another cover, maybe US, that’s no where near as nice) and hmmm I didn’t love it, but it was a good airplane read. I didn’t even realize who Geraldine Brooks was, I went to her session because Ron Charles was interviewing her (books guy for Washington Post, I think he’s hilarious.) Then someone mentioned Year of Wonders and I was like AHHHHHH I loved that book! How embarrassing for me haha.
I would’ve lined up for Brooks too! I’ve loved the few I’ve read of hers. However, I’m most jealous of your Welcome to Nightvale book! Do you listen to the podcast?
I’ve listened to four episodes, so I have some catching up to do. I just finished the book and I dunno, I don’t think I get it. Some passages taken on their own are really good, interesting, almost like poetry, but I dunno if it works as a novel.
Yeah, I’m hesitant about the novel. The voice actors and the longer story arcs are really why I keep listening.
In A Dark, Dark Wood is nothing like Gone Girl which was heavy on the psychological head games. I find IADDW is less complex and goes at a slower pace. I can’t make up my mind if I like the main character either. She’s a bit wimpy. Do you find yourself in a bind between reading our BEA books and what’s on your TBR? I had books lined up for June-July, but now there’s this beautiful stack of books in my face.
I kind of want to read Gone Girl now. Yeah the editor said it would “mess with your head” but um, nope. I don’t think I knew the main character enough to know if I liked her or not. I wanted to know more about her life – the fact that she’s basically agoraphobic is mentioned but not really addressed, you know?
I didn’t have much lined up for June-July other than The Group which I’ll do later. My problem is I’d like to read some classics in between, not to mention some Canadian content. I’m going off-brand here, lol.
Ahhh you snagged Welcome to Night Vale! I’m very jealous! I’ll be curious to hear how it is. I was super into the podcast for a while – I listened to maybe the first 30-35? I went to a live show too. And then I got a little bit WtNV-ed out, not sure why. So I haven’t been listening lately, but I still want to check out the book – I requested a galley online, so we’ll see how lucky I get! All the buzz about the book is making me want to go back to the Podcast now that I’ve had a break, so I might do that too. 🙂
I just finished and I dunno, it didn’t work for me as a novel, despite having some really great ideas and passages. It’s almost more of a satire of a novel than an actual novel? I guess I should review, people are curious about this one!
Looks like you snagged some great stuff! I also grabbed City on Fire and Everybody Rise! So pumped. Like I said, I only just started listening to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast. Now that I’ve listened to it and see your post here, I do remember seeing signs for a book of that title at BEA! Too bad I didn’t know what it was then otherwise I would have been all over it (interested in a book swap..? hehe) ! I’ll be doing my own BEA book haul sometime soon! PS I love seeing other Canadian bloggers!! And thanks for stopping by fbf. I also love finding blogs that *aren’t* only about YA. I mean, I love YA. But it’s not the only thing I love!