Book Expo America 2011 Recap!

So finally, here is my mandatory BEA recap and haul post. Sorry for the delay; one of the great things I brought back with me from New York City was a terrible cold. I'm finally starting to feel better and so was able to write up this post! I hope everyone enjoys it.

This was my first time attending BEA. This was my first time going to New York and also my first time planning a trip for myself. All in all everything worked out great! I had an amazing time in NYC. I went to see Mary Poppins and Wicked on Broadway, did some shopping, went through Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Yes, I was exhausted!

Not knowing what to really expect from BEA, I found it to be really fun and also a lot of work. There's a lot of waiting in lines for books and navigating the exhibition floor. I thought the best parts about it were getting to meet authors, publishers and other bloggers while finding out about new and upcoming books. There was a large emphasis on young adult novels and I was hoping to find more adult speculative fiction, but I knew going into it that YA was more prevalent at this convention.

Without further ado, here is the major haul I took back home!

You can click the images for a larger view.

Day One

Day One was pretty hectic. I got a lot of books since there was a lot of giveaways, but I also was trying to figure out how to find out about the various giveaways and signings. Highlights from Day One include meeting Jeri Smith-Ready and getting a copy of Shift and taking to the very nice people at Orbit!




Day Two

Day Two was great because I was finally catching on to how to navigate the convention and became incredibly efficient! I got a lot of books I was interested in. I didn't know Maria Dahvana Headley, author of Queen of Kings, was going to signing and was super excited to get a copy. She was very nice. Also, Mira Grant did a signing of Deadline and she was also super nice!



Day Three

Days One and Two were so exhausting I almost didn't go back for the third day. Glad I pushed myself to do that because I got some books I really wanted including Enthralled, Glow, Skyship Academy and Blood Rights. We ended early this day and went back to the hotel and collapsed in a heap of book exhaustion. But it was so worth it!



I wasn't able to go to the Book Blogger Convention but I hope to perhaps next year. Not convinced I should spend the money on it... but I definitely want to make it back to Book Expo in 2012.