#we went to a bookstore and i got a bunch of graphic novels

[thingsifindonthegroundsometimes]

falling falling falling falling now i hit the window falling falling falling falling now i hit the ground, dying dying dying dying now i hit the window, dying dying dying dying now i hit the ground

alive alive alive alive (HOME SWEET HOME)

[bookish-black-girl]

2021 Reading Year in Review

I read a lot of books in 2021! However, my overall quality of reading went down from 2020 to 2021. I’ve concluded that I’d rather read a small number of amazing reads that make me slap-happy than 100 reads that don’t do a thing for my soul. 

Things that went well:

Middle grade reads! This is definitely a goal I will carry into the next year because it’s nice to know what the younger readers are getting into plus MG literature is so bright and hopeful and wonderful in a different way from other genres (not to say that things don’t or can’t get dark because they DO but yeah)

Lower read count goal! I originally went with 20 books then bumped it up to 25, and all of this was an anticipation of me putting more focus on making my game + other responsibilities and tasks. The pressure was off to read a gazillion books but the number was super low that I didn’t insult myself. 10/10 would do it again. 

Not counting rereads. Again. I know many people are of the belief that rereads can and should count but I know myself and if I count my own rereads, then I’m less likely to read new books. And while I WISH I would have indulged in some rereading every now and again this year, I will continue to only count new books towards my yearly goals. 

Things to improve:

Topic, author or subject based reading: Ehh, I think I just got really ambitious with this goal and forgot that at the end of the day I’m a mood reader. Like...I had Jane Austen, and Baldwin, and dragon books, and something else, and then 2021 *happened*...And then it happened multiple times. And then I just straight up kicked the bucket in November. 

Ignoring Hype reading: I do like keeping a pulse on what’s popular on bookstagram and now book tok, but there were more than a few books I DFned and the more time that passes, the less likely it seems I want to try again. 

Buying books before I read them + purchasing preorders: Simply put, I don’t like having books on my shelf that I read and didn’t love or even really like. Buying a bunch of books doesn’t help that goal. This wasn’t a problem before I worked at a bookstore, but instant gratification truly is a bitch....

There will be a cuter version with graphics and everything on IG, but this structure below lets me unabridged my overview to my heart’s content/ place focus on other things.

Most Challenging Reads

The Heart Principle

Burnout and autism rep and a brilliant, imperfect, wonderful protagonist who had me ugly sobbing sometimes. Romance was on the back burner a bit but I didn’t mind in the slightest

A Psalm of Storms and Silence

wheewww....I have no more words. Refer to review. I’m still angry but also love Malik and Karina but mostly Malik as that’s my YA comfort character...

White Tears/Brown Scars: How Feminism Betrays Women of Color

So so so so eye opening and wonderful to have the terminolgy to explain what’s happened to me and my mom and the other women in my family when dealing with white women and white supremacy and the in depth deep dive history of it all 

Calling My Name

this book is like reading a diary, if diary entries were a stream of consciousness. It’s uncomfortable but it’s real. Growing up Black in the south, with an ultraconservative point of view, and experiences that weren’t mine but reminded me of the girls I grew up with pretty much sums this reading experience for me

My Favorite Reads

The Lady or the Lion

Like Home

Announcing Trouble

The Heart Principle

My Favorite Reads (Honorable Mentions)

Rise to the Sun

This Poison Heart

Cupcake

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

Fresh

Black Boy Joy

The Ex Talk

Raybearer

The Henna Artist

Hana Khan Carries On

Things We Couldn’t Say

Disappointments :(

Happily Every Afters

Pride

Anne of Manhattan: A Novel

The Upside of Falling

DFNs

Ace of Spades

Counting Down To You

Your Own Worst Enemy (hope to return to this one)

Sisters of Sword and Song

What Could Be Saved

These Violent Delights (may return to this one)

Counting Down with You (may give a 2nd chance)

The Betrayed (HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED)

Dragonblood Ring

Manga and Comics Corner

Go Go Power Rangers

Next on the list is the Mighty Morphin series, and I’ll stick to reading in volumes rather than issues

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW comics)

Honestly saved my life a few times this year. When I couldn’t read or my mental health was bad, or I just felt taxed for no reason, I remembered my comfort character and chilled TF out

Princess Jellyfish

blew through this in like a month!! bought the volumes too. in hindsight, I wish I had just checked out the volumes instead but it’s alright, I had a good time and while it’s not my fave manga, I still really enjoyed it

[ninja-muse]

My Decade in Books

The rules: respond to the prompt “my decade in books” however you want, & then tag some ppl! I chose a book or series to define each year of the decade, some w/a little description. You can do that, or make up your own response

Tagged by @brightbeautifulthings, @lizziethereader, and @magnetarmaddaboutbooks. Thank you!

2009 - My first full year of bookstore work! My second year of having very little self-control about book purchases! And yet somehow I don’t seem to have very many books logged as having been read this year, which I can kind of put down to not having much of a commute and spending more down-time writing, but I suspect I just plain forgot to log stuff too. In any case, this is the year I first read Austen (because P&P&Zombies had just come out and it looked horrible-awesome but I had to read the original first), and the year I discovered Seanan McGuire, and wow, it’s been 10 years since I read Ender’s Game, I could’ve sworn…. Apart from that, it doesn’t look like it was a great reading year. Lots of bad books on the list. (32 books for the year.)

2010 - The year of Jane Eyre and The Book Thief and Jonathan Strange (also, wow, that long?), so a good reading year overall even though I also had a lot of “this was fine” reads. This was also the first year I read a Connie Willis novel. I’m also fairly sure this is the year a coworker moved and sold me his bookcase for $20. (60 books for the year.)

2011 - Read this year: Ben Aaronovitch for the first time, Cloud Atlas. This was clearly near the height of my urban fantasy phase and also the year I was “nearly finished” The Trunk Novel because I was also reading lots of superhero stuff for comparisons. (60 books for the year.)

2012 - The year I seriously ODed on British settings/steampunk and resolved never to read so much of the same stuff back to back again. (Fifteen books.) I also burned through Blackout/All Clear and the Hunger Games novels (movie out!) and Amanda Hocking’s Trylle books, and reread LOTR, and went to England which did not help my OD problem whatsoever. This is the year of Howl’s Moving Castle and The Iliad and the year I really got into graphic novels, and also the year where the store I was working at closed and I moved locations, which means I obviously had to buy all the discount books I’d stashed in the staff room. I still hadn’t read a lot of those. Also I scored two bookcases for $20 during the store close. (68 books for the year.)

2013 - Read: The Years of Rice and Salt, A Canticle for Leibowitz, London Falling, Vanished KIngdoms, Saga Vol. 1, Fangirl, Sandman Vol. 1, my first cozy mystery. Nothing else really stands out as a highlight of the year, though by now I know I’d pretty much scrapped The Trunk Novel. Might be the year I gave my writing-brain a rest? I think this was the last year I was involved in book-Twitter and it was seriously getting me down. (71 books for the year.)

2014 - Hild, The Girl with All the Gifts, binged the Daughter of Smoke and Bone books, and ooh, yep, this is the year I got inspired for The Novel and started reading folklore and stuff for research. Also the year where I was going off urban fantasy in a big way, which is somewhat related to why I got inspired for writing again. (Also the year I said, “no more Thursday Next boos, they’re annoying you, stop.”) I went back to England for a longer visit, got an email from work about a David Mitchell meet-and-greet, and bought a copy of The Bone Clocks at a Waterstones in order to get it signed back in Canada. Mark Oshiro started his read-through of Discworld and I joined in, sort of, by counting his live readings as rereads. (80 books for the year.)

2015 - Lots of high ratings this year! The Martian! The Watchmaker of Filigree Street! A Darker Shade of Magic! The Golem and the Jinni! Leviathan Wakes! All the Light We Cannot See! Uprooted! Ms. Marvel! I waded through The Travels of Marco Polo for research purposes, and read a good handful of books that looked great but wound up disappointing. I joined Tumblr/booklr in November. (101 books for the year.)

2016 - Read The Canterbury Tales in Middle English and fell in love with it all over again! Also The Dark Lord of Derkholm and A Time of Gifts on my dad’s recommendation and POSSESSION and Yiddish for Pirates and The Untold Tale, which I discovered here on booklr. I also seem to have binged on a reread of the Vorkosigan Saga. And I found, bought, and read Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats because I hadn’t read it since I was a kid and had a plot bunny related to it. Also had a lot of disappointing reads, by the looks of it. (88 books for the year; wrap-up post.)

2017 - Discovered Curtis Craddock and Alice Oseman and Bob Proehl and S.A. Chakraborty and Eden Robinson, who I read as a possible comp-title. Read A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and If We Were Villains (both from Tumblr.) Lots of rereads and a decent reading year all round, because I have a lot of 3-stars and higher. Some major disappointments too, though, like The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (96 books for the year; wrap-up post.)

2018 - Discovered my local library no longer seems to have the complete Chaucer that I’d borrowed for The Canterbury Tales read, because I really wanted to finish all his lesser poems and prose. I discovered Vivian Shaw and R.E. Stearns and Shaun Bythell and Rebecca Roanhorse, and true crime in the form of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. This was the year of ace rep and YA! Had to do some major library rearranging and bought three IKEA bookcases which a friend helped me assemble. (91 books for the year; wrap-up post)

2019 - Alyssa Cole! Ruth Goodman! Sarah Waters! The Wolf in the Whale! Middlegame! A good chunk of which I read waiting for a Mumford and Sons concert to start. Reread Gulliver’s Travels and The Secret Garden and Good Omens (and then watched the show and got a bit back into the fandom). Also reread a bunch of Seanan McGuire and Ben Aaronovitch stuff. This was clearly a year of rereads and light reading in general, but that balanced out the true crime (5) and some really heavy, dense books. (96 books for the year; wrap-up post)

No idea who’s done this and who hasn’t, so if you want to do it, you’re tagged!

[megwritesfanfiction]

Let Go, Chapter 3/?? (Raven/??)

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.

A/N: Here we go update! Here we go!! 

Did you miss the first two chapters? I got you, fam!  Chapter One Chapter Two

Flashback

Her nose wrinkled as she tried to hide her amusement. “That isn’t cliche.” Raven spoke as she turned to hide her grin, but the sarcasm was evident in her voice.

“Oh, really?” Beast Boy laughed, following her down the aisle of the bookstore. He tucked the graphic novel he’d selected underneath his arm as he followed her as if she were prey. “Really now? You wanna go there?”

“I’m just saying.” Raven’s voice was light and teasing as she picked up a novel. “It’s cliche. The whole superhero story?” They lived it. She never understood why he wanted to ready about it.

“And that isn’t?” He eyed the romance novel in her hand. He plucked the book from her hand, placing the book against his forehead. “Don’t tell me…” Beast Boy’s brow furrowed in mock concentration, “Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl, and girl likes boy. There’s mutual attraction and chemistry, even if it’s the love hate thing or friends to lovers, but…” He paused dramatically as he pretended to struggle, “enter conflict. Boy and girl are separated by conflict, but then are somehow brought back together in a whirlwind of emotion.”

“You know-“

“Or one of them dies,” he smirked, handing her back the book, “and then there is some bullshit sappy, light hearted feel good ending that eases the main character’s suffering.”

Raven nudged him, turning her back to him as she focused on the selection of books.

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, mama,” Beast Boy spoke, flashing a brilliantly flirty smile at her as he moved rested his chin to her shoulder.

“That’s fair,” She nodded, looking at another book and ignoring the blush creeping up her neck. “But your comics-“

“Graphic novels.”

“Graphic novels,” she corrected as she continued to shop for a book, “are just as cliche as any romance novel.”

“No, it is no-“

“Name one superhero who doesn’t have a tragic origin story,” Raven smirked. She casually picked up a book, reading the summary on the back as she waited for a response. The empath felt him stiffen behind her. “I’m waiting…”

“Mama…”

She hated that pet name. “I thought we agreed Rae was acceptable,” Raven murmured, more to herself than speaking to him.

“Babe...”

She also hated that pet name.

“A tragic origin is absolutely an essential catalyst in the creation of a hero.”

He never ceased to amaze her. Only Beast Boy had the ability to speak so eloquently about comic books. She loved it. “I get that, but it’s cliche.”

“Nooo…”

“Yea…” Raven teased, imitating his tone.

“It’s not the same thing.”

“Well you can’t have a great love story without conflict,” she argued, picking up another book.

His eyebrows raised. “Disagree.”

“I mean,” she shrugged. “I don’t mean fighting-“

“Yea.”

“I mean, love isn’t easy. In reality, there are ups and downs,” Raven told him. “I feel like great love stories have challenges. Things like separations, fights, death, break ups, whatever… makes the love story more meaningful.”

“I get it,” Beast Boy sighed as he nodded, leaning against the self in front of her, “but…”

Raven stopped. Her arms wrapped around the novel she picked as her eyes rose to meet his gaze. For a moment, his eyes were too green and too vulnerable.

“I’d like to think not all love stories are complicated.” His smile was soft.

She nodded, returning his smile. “I’d like to think not all heroes are broken.”

Flash Forward

“Do you care if I smoke?”

She wrinkled her nose in surprise. “You smoke?” Raven was really in no position to judge him, but she couldn’t help her initial reaction of surprise.

“I know,” Roy smirked, placing a cigarette between his lips. He rolled down his window and hoped to bypass the ‘smoking is bad’ lecture. “It’s bad for me,” he murmured, lighting it. “I am well aware that it’s disgusting, and it’s going to kill me.”

Raven smirked, fingers wiggling a bit as she continued to drive. “I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I’m basically the patron saint of the goth scene in Jump.” She was practically immune to it.

“The patron saint of the Jump City faction of goths,” Roy repeated with a snort. “I love it.”

“What?”

He inhaled deeply as laughter bubbled from his chest. “That is probably the greatest thing I’ve heard all week.”

“Not to brag-”

“Please,” he gestured graciously. “I need to know about your journey to canonization.” He couldn’t stop laughing. “Brag.”

She shrugged keeping the smirk from her lips, adjusting the rear view mirror. “It’s not that exciting.” Her eyes drifted to the clock docked between them. They were only a few hours into their cross country drive, and she welcomed the mindless conversation.

“I beg to differ,” Roy disagreed taking a puff. His head and eyes tipped in her direction as he wiggled his eyebrows. “I have to hear this.”

With a chuckle, she exhaled loudly as she adjusted herself in the driver’s seat. “Okay.”

“Excellent,” he grinned.

“There’s a club in downtown Jump called Nyx and Erebus that, I may or may not have frequented regularly.”

“I honestly can’t decide what’s more amusing,” his grin grew wider than the Cheshire Cat. “The fact that the goth club is named after the Greek deities for night and darkness or that you go clubbing.”

“I don’t go ‘clubbing’.” She rested her wrists against the wheel to ensure she could quote him properly. Raven didn’t even have time to express her delight and shock at his Greek mythology knowledge.

“Regularly attending a venue for the purpose of debauchery-“

“No!” Raven laughed. “No debauchery. Just a bunch of goth kids raving with glow sticks and smoking.” Not mention some drinking and drug use.

Roy sighed, his smile ridiculous. “I gotta say,” he gave her a little shrug as he leaned toward her with a pout. “I’m hurt that you’ve never mentioned this to me or haven’t taken me.”

Whatever.

“I mean,you let your team know this part of you, and I get it they’re your team, but,” he paused dramatically as he took another drag. “I am your grilled cheese buddy. We’ve broken bread together. The fact that you’ve never shared this information with me hurts.”

“Actually,” she corrected, eyes glancing to the GPS for a second as she continued her drive. Raven couldn’t help but wonder how their conversation drifted to this randomness, and she wouldn’t admit how much she was enjoying this. “My team never went to Nyx and Erebus with me.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “Seriously,” Raven confirmed.

“How?”

Her shoulders shrugged as she turned onto the interstate. “Honestly? I didn’t think they’d be into it.” Her teammates had nothing against clubs. The often frequented bars and clubs during their team nights, and Raven knew they wouldn’t object in joining her at her usual venue.

“Bullshit,” Roy chuckled. “Starfire finds the delight in everything, so the fact that Starfire is happy would make Nightwing happy. Cyborg wouldn’t complain even if he wanted to…”

“That’s fair.”

“And I’m sure Changeling and Terra would all over the dance floor…”

Raven felt her heart sink at the mention of that particular couple. “I know, I just-” The thought of those two evading her personal space made her irrationally angry. For a brief moment, the easiness of their conversation caused her forget some of the things that plagued her. “I just-“ What would be safe answer?

Roy’s eyebrows raised.

“Nyx and Erebus is my place. It was something away from the tower and the team. I was some girl with purple hair would just wanted to dance.” Partly true.

“I dig that,” he nodded, eyes examining her closely. He pushed his questions back and favored optimism. “We’ll find you a place all your own in Steel,” Roy smiled.

“I can’t wait.” Her excited smile was accented with sullen eyes.

Hell was freezing over.

Or had already frozen over.

Green eyes darted around the kitchen as he slowly brought another mouthful of cream of wheat to his lips. Still observing, he reached for another piece of toast as he tried to process the scene.

First, he’d woken up at a reasonable hour.

Early.

Changeling, by some miracle or divine intervention, managed to open his eyes before the chime of his alarm. He’d kissed the sleeping blonde next to him and gotten an early start on his day. After a refreshing shower, he made in record time to the kitchen.

NIghtwing was up, no surprise there. He was at the kitchen table brooding over what Changeling could safely assume he was on his second or third cup of coffee judging by pile of newspaper in front him.

He gave the masked Titan a little nod, before getting a large pot of water on the stove for breakfast. Since he managed to beat Cyborg to the kitchen, he figured he might as well make breakfast for everyone.

He smirked curled on his lips as he pulled the ingredients for breakfast.

Cream of wheat, toast, and fruit sounded perfect to him.

While he waited for the water to boil and the oven to heat, Starfire and Terra entered the kitchen. Starfire greeted him with a seemingly half hearted chirp,and Terra kissed him sweetly before taking her seat. Changeling finished cooking and promptly served breakfast before taking his own seat. With a happy sigh, he tossed some blueberries into his hot cereal and buttered his toast.

“Looks good.” Terra smirked, placing banana slices in her own bowl.

Starfire gave a smile smile as she nodded in agreement. She sprinkled a bit of sugar in her bowl before stirring it absentmindedly. “Indeed,” she added.

The changeling hadn’t even noticed when Cyborg entered the kitchen; but when he saw the gleam of metal from the corner of his eye, Changeling couldn’t help the devious smirk curling on his lips.

“I already made breakfast,” he tried to keep his tone even in the midst of him intentionally antagonizing his friend.

Changeling was surprised at the metal man’s silence when he approached the stove, and he was down right bewildered when joined them at the table with his own bowl. Changeling watched wordlessly as Cyborg ate the cream of wheat without complaint.

He counted on him at least making a couple slices, or a pack, of bacon to go with the meal. But, Cyborg settled for a few slices of cantaloupe and some raspberries to go with his hot cereal and toast.

Unsure of what to think or say, the Changeling kept eating in the silent kitchen. The scratch and squeak of spoons against the ceramic bowls echoed off the walls and unnerved him. His eyes settled on the empty chair across from him as slowly realized they were short a Titan.

“Where’s Raven?”

“That’s gross.”

Roy raised an uninterested eyebrow as he took another bite of the massive sandwich in front of him. “It’s delicious,” he told her, mouth full of melted cheese as he stuffed a few ketchup soaked fries in his mouth.

Raven shook her head, eyeing her own sandwich strangely. How the hell was she supposed to eat this thing?

The sun had just started peeking over the horizon when the bright neon lights of the diner came into view. They’d been on the road for a little over six hours, and Roy insisted this place had the best grilled cheese sandwiches in town.

Raven looked at the long stretch of empty road, darkness, and dust around them. She quickly insisted that this diner must be the only thing in town. Placing the car in park, her violet eyes looked at the diner curiously. The seafoam wood panel walls were weathered and faded below the bright pink neon sign. Raven noticed small signs in the window hanging in front of discolored blinds. There were a few trucks parked in the dirt lot and lights on inside.

They were open, but would they serve grilled cheese at this early hour?

Her question was quickly answered. Before they could settle in booth, Roy flashed the waitress a dazzling smile and ordered two grilled cheese specials with extra cheese.

The grilled cheese special consisted of several selections of cheese melted between two thick slices of bread with a large serving of fries and coleslaw.

“My arteries are clogged looking at this thing,” Raven sighed wondering how her companion was able to unhinge his jaw to bite his sandwich. How many much cheese did they use?

“You’re being dramatic,” Roy smirked as he continued attacking his sandwich. “What the hell are you doing?”

Raven looked down at her sandwich, gesturing with the knife and fork in her hands. “There is no way I can bite into that thing.”

“You haven’t tried,” he dismissed, taking another bite to finish off the first half of his sandwich.

She dropped the cutlery with a sigh. “I’m gonna be covered in cheese.” Raven delicately dipped a fry in ketchup, nibbling on it.

“Rae,” Roy started, messily eating his own french fries covered with ketchup. “We’re on a road trip. Calories don’t count, and junkfood is a must.”

Raven gave a theatrical sigh as she picked up one of the halves of her sandwich. “This is going to be messy.” Her lips twisted into a little frown.

Roy shrugged with an obvious lewd smirk. “Some of the best things in life are messy.”

She took a large bite in the sandwich, struggling to catch and control the strings of cheese that stretched.

She shrugged. “It’s good though,” she decided, chewing as delicately as she could. “Crap,” she commented, rushing to chew. Dropping her sandwich to her plate, she picked up a napkin.

“What?”

“Phone’s ringing,” she informed him, pulling out her phone. “And my hands are covered in grease.”

He shook his head. “No phones during grilled cheese breakfast time,” Roy told her. “If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.”

True.

Ignoring the screen, she placed her on on silent before sliding it back into her pocket. She picked up her sandwich resuming her breakfast. “This is a lot of cheese,” Raven commented, hand covering her full mouth as she struggled to chew. “Probably too much cheese.”

“No such thing,” Roy told her seriously pointing one of his fries at her.

To be Continued... 

[kanegaivesi]

What a week…

The past few years applying to BEA was like trying to get refugee status or something. They wanted everything except my grandmother’s phone number.  I understood the point: lots of people were stocking up on ARCs and selling them- even advertising them prior to actually getting them.   Couple of years ago there was a woman who brought her kids to a trade show just to help her snag extra copies to sell.  Heck, a woman was just caught trying to sell Leigh Bardugo’s ARC on eBay for $200 the same day it was given out!!!  So, yeah- I get it…

…so you can imagine my surprise when my application was rejected.

That took a moment to process.  I’d been attending since 2010, and had even been a VIP Attendee; the only one I missed was that one time they went to Chicago.  And now I wouldn’t be attending this year’s either.

When I contacted them via the handy link they provided to inquire what the issue might be- had I possibly neglected to provide some info, etc- I got the stock response: “…it’s our event… we reserve the right to refuse anyone… all decisions are final… blahblahblah.” Not what I asked, but whatever, yo.  And hey- they still invited me to register for BookCon!

*sigh* Aiight… I haven’t been to BookCon since they initially rolled it out- and lemme tell you, that first one was probably how the term “shitshow” got coined.  It’s been a few years, so how bad could it possibly be now?  (More on that in another blog) And it was relatively cheap, so- what the hell?  I’d still have the week off beforehand.

By Wednesday I’d remembered something: when I first started attending BEA in 2010 they also had onsite registration at the Javitz Center.  Then a friend of mine also advised me to try it, so I treked out to the Javitz and wouldn’t ya know- I got right in with no problem!!!  Yep- after giving me a bunch of bullshit online they let me sign up on the spot anyways.  Only difference was the $50 I would’ve saved via Online Early Registration.

Amazing.

A few of the usual YA publishers were set up in the atrium looking to snag your attention before you got caught up in all the madness.

I’m not the only one who’ll tell you the quality of BEA has declined the last few years.   This one was stark in its degradation: fewer small/indie/self publishers, less swag, even fewer author booths & signing sessions from the big guys.  I didn’t bother with any of the panels, sessions or lectures- there really wasn’t any new information to pick up from them.  A big problem was the layout of the floor.  What used to be a strict, linear structure was jumbled and cross-combined: 1200 & 1300 numbered booth in the 1400 rows, etc.  It didn’t help that an entire wing of was taken up by something called UnBound: vendors selling all the knickknacks & chotchke you see in bookstores- mugs, pens, candles, etc.

Most of the usual suspects were present- Hachette, Penguin, Simon & Shuster, Macmillian, Shadow Mountain, Sourcebooks, Black Stone- but I was surprised to see this spot by Granity Studios, Kobe Bryant’s indie.  The books looked really interesting.

Some of the smaller vendors like Vesuvian were off on the side, but never seemed to be around.  Went by their booth three times to check them out- and no one was there!  Not a good look, fellas.

Best moment came when I was trying to find the line to stand in for an ARC drop only to discover George Takei was signing previews of his memoir graphic novel about his time in American Concentration Camps during WWII.  Got to shake his hand (twice) and chat with him for about a minute & a half! (apologies for that to everyone in line)

Second best moment came at the end of a long, kinda disappointing day.  Hachette reissued a book from just a few years ago- think I still have the ARC- complete with the same campaign: free beer! Granted- they were Coronas, but at that point you take what you can get!  In fact, a few spots were doing it: mimosas, fruit & veggie snacks and whatnot.

All in all, it was memorable only for what it lacked in comparison to previous years.

BEA2019 Pt 1: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Book Expo… What a week... The past few years applying to BEA was like trying to get refugee status or something.

[theworldofshipping]

I work at a chain bookstore called Books-A-Million. We don't only sell books, but comics, graphic novels, toys, and a hodgepodge of other things. We got in a pretty descent selection of Wonder Woman stuff for the movie and I expected we'd get more people in wanting stuff. What I did not expect was how emotional I was going to get. A little girl came in and couldn't seem to stop animatedly talking about how she was going to dress up as Wonder Woman for Halloween. She was excited and she wanted everything Wonder Woman I could find for her. A lady from my parents' church came in and we talked about how her daughter was also going to dress up as Wonder Woman for Halloween and for her birthday and for character day at school. Another lady and I were talking at check out and she saw my Wonder Woman button on my lanyard and we talked animatedly about the film for far too long. Two girls came in holding hands (I live deep in the Bible Belt of Tennessee so this is a big deal) and one was just grinning at the other while she ranted about how AMAZING Wonder Woman was. One of my regulars, a mentally handicapped girl named Jasmine, came in decked out in full Wonder Woman gear. She's been a fan for ages, way before the movie, and it's all she's been talking about for months. She just wanted to come in after seeing the movie for the second time to tell me how much she loved it and ask me if I'd seen it. We made a Girl Power bay of shelves in our Kids sections that was already demolished by the end of my shift. I could even be mad, because I knew it was just little girls being excited to fight crime like their brothers and fathers and uncles and cousins. I knew, in a vague sort of sense, that Wonder Woman was going to mean something to women and little girls. I just wasn't prepared for seeing it all unfold in real time, right before my eyes. I've seen it three times already. I walked out of the theatre at 10, texted my friend to meet me, and walked right back in at 11. Then I went back the next day with a bunch more friends. I'm already planning to go again after I get paid. I am so so in love with this film. And I'm even more in love with the effect it's already having. I can only hope that this means Hollywood is about to start giving us the female-lead films that we deserve.