one of these days, i will get used to the fact that it’s my job to go to places where people shove giant bags full of books at you saying “TAKE THEM! TAKE THEM!”
actually, i probably never will. I LOVE MY JOB.
so NAIBA was great. saw a lot of lovely folks, got to hear a lot of good buzz, attended some inspiring panels, got excellent information, collected lots of business cards, drank a lot of coffee, got very little sleep. in other words: bookseller conference.
and, of course, came home with TONS of books. which is ridiculous, considering that i just gave away 165 of them. but then again, i did also just buy a new bookcase. therefore: more books. also: whatever, FREE BOOKS!
a few of the titles i’m particularly excited about, and therefore you should be too (p.s., some of these are not really new, don’t ask me why/how i got them for free because i don’t really know):
- NOTHING LEFT TO BURN, Jay Varner, which Rebecca reviewed here
- EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT, Rachel Shukert (who is HILARIOUS in person, and memorably said THIS at the luncheon)
- THE BROADCAST, Eric Hobbs & Noel Tuazon (which has a FANTASTIC premise)
- THE ILLUMINATION, Kevin Brockmeier (which i actually HUGGED when the rep gave it to me. fangirl up in here.)
- THE FATES WILL FIND THEIR WAY, Hannah Pittard (which Mark from Politics & Prose gave a great big shout-out for, and i read whatever he tells me to. see also: MATTERHORN)
- NUMB, Sean Ferrell (which Liberty and Michele have been raving about for so long that i am embarrassed i haven’t read this yet)
- WHERE SHE WENT, Gayle Forman (it’s a sequel. and it only just occurs to me that i never did read IF I STAY. ack!)
- KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Patrick Ness (which MANY people have told me about, MANY times.)
- ZERO HISTORY, William Gibson (have you SEEN me nerd out? forget about it.)
- PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ, A.S. King (who is beloved of Liberty, Rob, and Lauren, and therefore very w00t-worthy)
- BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, Ruta Sepetys (it has a Laurie Halse Anderson blurb on the back of it. nuff said.)
- MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN, Joshua Foer (memory FASCINATES me)
Rachel sent me a copy of EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT and I am LOVING IT.
I keep eyeballing Gibson’s newest one – did you get to meet him?
That’s a great reading list, I can’t wait to read the new Brockmeier book.
This is a fab list, and thanks for the shout out. Also, it’s funny b/c I have a post titled pretty much the exact same thing going up tomorrow.
Terribly green with envy over here. As an English prof, I am rarely handed a bag of free books. Unless they’re academic, and that’s just not always fun.
THE FATES WILL FIND THEIR WAY by Hannah Pittard is AWESOME. She captures male voices beautifully–I didn’t think I would like it (girl disappears, upset boys turn into unsettled men) but I was swept away. Not to bias you or anything but it’ll be good to hear what you think. Great editor shepherding Pittard too (Lee Boudreaux–has worked with Curtis Sittenfeld, David Wroblewski et al) Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.