My BookCon Experience + May Wrap Up

May was the month where I basically failed from a bookish stand point. But a lot did happen.

Most of May, I was in an epic post-Lunar Chronicles book slump. And I mean this was a terrible slump. I began reading at least five different books before realizing I wasn't in the mood to read any of them. Partially because they weren't living up to the awesomeness that is The Lunar Chronicles. (Though in the books' defense, I probably only made it through the first ten pages of each book, if even.) But, A Court of Thorns and Roses saved me from my terrible slump. It took me a long time to read it but being back in Sarah J. Maas' writing is amazing. This lady knows how to use the words.

One of the more major things that happened in May has nothing at all to do with books but I'm so so so happy for it. I might have mentioned in passing somewhere in a past post that I had braces. For twelve years. Yes, 12. It was ridiculous. And to make matters worse, my orthodontist didn't give me a retainer after he took them off. Instead, I got a "positioner" which is basically a giant mouthpiece (think like what they use in sports only bulkier) that I was supposed to wear for as close to 24 hours a day as I could get. Basically, that didn't happen. I was a freshman in college and still working nights after class so for most of the day I wasn't wearing it. In the end, over time, my teeth reverted right back to how they were before braces. Now though, after diligently saving my money (and finding a capable orthodontist), I was able to get myself Invisalign and I started the process this month. I could not be happier with how it's going so far. I mean, it was a bit awkward at first because I had to figure out how to talk without lisping while I was wearing them. But now that I've gotten used to them, there's been no pain (like braces had) and I barely feel them anymore. I brush my teeth a lot now but that's the only difference. It's still going to take two years to straighten my teeth completely but I'm really happy with the way things are going so far.

BUUTTTT... The most major thing that happened is that I went to BookCon and it was freaking amazing!!! There was so much to do and see!! And books were everywhere - like literally everywhere and almost everywhere I stopped, a booth was handing out a free ARC or a tote or buttons or stickers, posters, chapter samplers... I brought so much stuff home this weekend. I don't know what I'm going to do with it all.

 All the things from BookCon

On Saturday, I met Frank Beddor author of the Through the Looking Glass trilogy which I read a while ago. I bought a copy of Hatter M. Far from Wonder which is book one of his spin-off graphic novel series surrounding Hatter Maddigan (aka his version of The Mad Hatter) and little deck of playing cards with all the characters. He signed the book and also signed a Hatter M. poster which he added for free. I also saw Shannon Hale who wrote a bunch of middle grade girl power princess books like Princess Academy. She was signing and giving away copies of her newest book for beginner readers, The Princess in Black, along with a little black face mask like Princess Magnolia and some stickers. (No shame: I read this during down time at work last week.) I also met Patrick Ness. I almost didn't meet him because by the time we got to his autographing line, it was technically capped because there weren't going to be enough books to give away. But I told the line organizer lady that I brought my own copy of A Monster Calls and she let us in. By the time we got there, there were still a few giveaway copies left so he was nice enough to sign my book from home and give me a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go and signing that for me too. We also went to the Wands not Required! Exploration of Epic Fantasy for Readers Aged 10-110 panel with David Baldacci, Kevin Sands (debut author), Maggie Stiefvater, and Jackson Pearce. Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce stole the panel. They were hilarious and I really want to read their new book, Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures. I've also decided Maggie is my new author spirit animal. It was a done deal when she described her childhood self as "small and creepy who didn't like hugs."

Sunday was the day I planned everything I wanted to do around Sarah J. Maas. Sadly, it didn't go as well as planned but that was the day that I got almost all of the free things in the picture above. Judging from how Saturday went, my boyfriend and I planned to get there by about 9am. The showfloor didn't open until 10 so we assumed that gave us plenty of time to make it to the line for Sarah's first autographing. But what we didn't know was that they moved everything around on Sunday and let people start lining up for the autographing booths around 7am. Saturday was different - no one was allowed to line up for anything until after the showfloor opened. Needless to say, I missed out on getting my copy of ACOTAR signed which bummed me out but oh well. I also missed out on getting a Throne of Glass Litograph poster signed later in the day but I had a good reason for that. We went to the Fierce is my Middle Name Panel with Rae Carson, Charlaine Harris, and Sarah J. Maas instead and by the time we got out, the line was capped. I'm not too disappointed about that though because the panel was amazing. It was all about the fierce leading ladies these three authors created in their various books and was basically girl power galore. It was honestly extremely inspiring to hear them talk about their process and why they created such badass protagonists that wouldn't give up that hour of listening to them for anything. After that, we caught the tail end of John Leguizamo's panel about his new graphic autobiography. It was cool to see him but I was more excited for the Booktube 101 Panel that came after him with Kat, Christine, and Jesse from YouTube. They were just as awesome in person as they are in all of their videos.

All in all, I had an awesome time at BookCon and I'm so upset that it's moving to Chicago next year and I won't be able to go back. Hopefully in 2017, they'll come back to NYC so I can go again. Now without further ado, here's some pictures from over the weekend: