"she is too fond of books, and it has addled her brain"

How awesome was the New York trip? Empire State, Guggenheim, Bronx Zoo, MOMA, Natural History, Met. Harbor lights cruise. Time with John.

Book Expo America:
http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/App/homepage.cfm?moduleid=42&appname=288

I attended this with another librarian from my district; we got along well, both willing to be together or go separately to do our own thing. We adventuresomely went to Kmart, since she hadn't packed enough undies; who knew there was a Kmart in Manhattan?

At the Expo, I went to three informative sessions - the best was about how to plan author visits. I traipsed around both levels of the Javits several times, becoming more and more laden with free tote bags, advance reader copies of books, pens, pins, bookmarks, you name it, I got it. Crazy.

The best thing about the Expo (well, in addition to the free totes) was the opportunity to just run into authors. I went to the booth of the publisher for Jan Brett because I had seen people carrying a tote with the art from her Three Snow Bears book and I wanted one, and when I got there, she was there too. Jan Brett. Just hanging around. We chatted about hedgehogs. Another time I noticed John Green so I waited til he was free and went to tell him my thoughts upon finishing An Abundance of Katherines.

Friday night during Expo, we went to a concert by the Rock Bottom Remainders. http://www.rockbottomremainders.com
How amazing that was! Stephen King, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Greg Iles, Scott Turow and others, playing like a garage band. Frank McCourt came out and played harmonica (a little, bless his heart). Lesley Gore sang with them. Then they brought out Roger McGuinn; what a dream come true for a long-time Byrds fan, to be singing along with Roger McGuinn, in person, in a small hall. I'm so glad we decided to go to that concert.

More on New York to follow.