Shameless Bragging About BookExpo America 2011 and the Book Blogger Convention Part Two: Who I Met/Who I Saw

After my first blog post about What I Did on my trip to New York last week, I thought it was time to write a more fun photo inspired blog post about the people I met and saw during BookExpo week, especially since I took 987 photographs in 5 days. Plus, my Bronchitis is finally started to clear up and I feel much more bright and shiny than I did after writing my first BookExpo recap.

The best part of attending BEA and the BBC was meeting authors, especially the ones who I’ve already read, or the ones who I had already wanted to read. Authors, to me, are like rock stars, the coolest people a nerd like me could meet, and it just isn’t because I want to be one someday. It’s because they have that wonderful ability to get my brain whirling, and leave lifetime impressions with me. Plus, so many of them are funny, or are just interesting as hell. Maybe you are the type of person who goes gaga over sports people or movie stars (I’m admittedly partial to rock stars), but I love me up some authors like no other type of celebrity.

I have decided to break apart my one very large BEA and BBC post into several semi-long posts over the next few days, saving us both time and energy, so here is part two. Trust me, I met way more authors and spoke with many other fabulous people than shown here. I either forgot to take their pictures, or felt dumb to take pictures with everyone I met and liked.

Part Two: Who I Met and Who I Saw

Cool authors who I adored chatting with more than your typical “I love you” book nerd moment:

Julianne Moore, who graciously settled a long-standing debate between me and my husband about her Boston accent on 30 Rock.

Florence Henderson, who was my tv mom for many years, and who laughingly talked about her time on The Surreal Life with me. You should have seen this photo before the magic of Photoshop. I totally looked like Jabba the Hutt next to Princess Leia. Also, I’m totally ok with her not signing any copies of her book, Life Is Not a Stage. I’ve got Arthritis in my hands and can vouch that it is a bitch.

Eoin Colfer, signing my Artemis Fowl book, who admired my skills in taking just one photograph in a split second.

Eoin Colfer again, who recognized me from the day before. This time he was signing Plugged, his new crime fiction novel. I pointed out the gigantic line of patient fans who were waiting to meet him, as I was near the front of the line and was amazed by how long his line was–seriously, the longest line I saw my whole time at BEA. He stood up, took a look, and was shocked, to say the least. God bless all those people in the back of the line, because in my few moments there I saw 3 people come up and rip off books, which I took the liberty to yell at them for you.

Jimmy Fallon, who I had previously met on the set of Whip It in Detroit, and who didn’t hesitate to tell me “he loved Detroit,” which always makes me happy to hear. I told him and the folks in line that he was the coolest guy on the set, that he even ate his meals in the crew tent and was cracking tons of jokes with the extras during takes. He is just a doll!

Dee Wallace, who absolutely glowed with happiness when I told her she looked wonderful, and laughed when I told everyone I’m an expert of these sorts of things, since I’m from the midwest and know what real woman look like. I liked learning more about her book, Bright Light, and that she, too, was a Midwesterner.

Michael Moore, who I almost missed meeting, because I had written down the wrong time for his appearance. I was so frustrated at myself, I was getting a little teary, and then when it was time to meet him, I was getting more weepy because I appreciate all that he does for our state, which is in terrible, terrible crisis and no one seems to care besides the people who live here. He was just so nice, asking me where I went to high school, and some other things I can’t even remember because I was acting all emo and embarrassed about it. I may have even hugged him, which if you know me, you know I am not a hugger. Of course, I felt like a total arse, but he seemed used to that sort of thing so it was cool.

Joey Pants, who was cool enough to tell me he was just in Detroit, attending a mental health event. I’ve always been a fan of his acting, but love him more now that I know he is an advocate for mental health issues. I can’t wait to read his book, Asylum, that talks about his struggle with clinical depression.

Authors whose books I already loved, and whose long lines were worth the wait for the chance to meet them:

Temple Grandin, whose book, The Way I See It, has already been read and loved by myself since I have a little Aspie in my life, and who advocates for Sensory Issues sufferers like myself I truly appreciate. Trust me, Javits was overwhelming for both of us. I felt so bad for her, especially after seeing she had a film crew with her.

Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children. Sadly, he was just passing out chapters pamphlets to his new novel, The Leftovers, but I’ll take whatever I can get from him.

Chuck Palahniuk, who was even more dreamy in person. My picture doesn’t do him justice, but man, was he a great guy. I told him how the security guard had yelled at a group of us for about an hour, trying to make us mistakenly move, but I stood my ground for all of us and refused to move, and we got to keep our place in line. It was a real cluster because the booth refused to let us line up, and hundreds of people swarmed the booth once the signing was about to begin. Chuck was shocked, but I told him only he could make that hell worth it. If you didn’t read my post yesterday, you have to check out what he wrote to me in my copy of Damned. I love him and have read every book he has every written, minus the travel book he wrote. I’d say he is one of my top 5 living authors, so even though I was drop dead tired, I stuck out that long line and hour of battle to meet him.

Authors I discovered at the event whose books I now want to read:

Sarah Dessen, whose beloved fans swayed me to the YA side. Can’t wait to read my copy of What Happened to Goodbye.

Daniel Stefanski, who started writing his first book, How to Talk to an Autistic Kid, at age 14. He totally reminded me of my stepson, and I could have hugged him for carrying on a great conversation and asking me everything about my camera and my own (lame) book I’m (never finishing) writing.

Elin Hilderbrand, who was drinking a beer and even passing them out at her signing! You go, girl. I’m not a beer drinker, but I can certainly appreciate that effort to get people a little buzzed at BEA. If only the beers would have been rolled at 9 a.m. rather than 4 p.m. …

Author/Blogger who spoke at the BBC and were so hilarious I must now read them:

Sarah Wendell, who I took a terrible picture of, since I was sitting in the back row, but who gave such great advice and who runs a fantastic sounding blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Even though I’ve never read a romance novel, she has perhaps inspired me to at least try one in my lifetime.

Authors whose autographs I got as much for me as for my kids, and who I foolishly asked a dumb question just so I could hear my kid laugh on the phone:

Mindy Kaling, whose upcoming book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), I can’t wait to read. I’ve been in love with her since hearing about her play, Matt & Ben, and the entire family loves her show, The Office. Mindy was so sweet and nice to me I had to embarrass myself further (first, the girl who took our photograph couldn’t take the photograph after 6 tries, then I called Mindy “Kelly” when I was showing her how bad the first one came out, with my eyes closed and double chins all around) by telling her the following, just to entertain my stepson, who had been bugging me to ask her this for a few weeks. “Kelly, OMG, I mean Mindy, I’m sorry, but may I ask you something so stupid that will make me the coolest stepmom to my 12 year-old Autistic stepson? After she says sure … wait for it …. I say the following to her: “Kelly, would you like some googy-googy?” Then me, moaning, “OMG, I am so sorry, he loves to repeat that line from Diversity Day.” Then Mindy thankfully laughed and told me the following, “OMG, you are way too funny, that is so cute.” while about 20 people wanted to kick my ass because I had taken up so much time. I am so sorry to her and all those people, but if you could have heard that boy giggle, you would have know how much it was worth the wait.

Authors whose autographs I got, as I was attempting to please my stepdaughter:

Tyra Banks, who shockingly ignored me and refused to even look me in the eye, even though I had just spend over and hour waiting in line to meet her, and has to endure her screaming security guard just to take this bad photo of her. I’ve never seen such bad author behavior at BookExpo. Actually, this is the only time I’ve experienced it in the 2 years I’ve attended. I laugh now at the memory that I had wanted to originally ask her to say “Kiss my fat ass” to me. Tyra, I will still occasionally watch your shows with my daughter, but you broke both our hearts that day.

Charlaine Harris, who was charming, and who wrote those vampire books HBO’s True Blood is based on.

Authors who I met last year and was pleased to see them again this year:

Simon Van Booy, whose new book, Everything Beautiful Began After, was my first and most-likely favorite book read after BookExpo. Buy it–it comes out July 5, 2011.

Andrew Shaffer, whose alter ego “Evil Wylie” is always so much fun, and so is his book, Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love.

Authors who I’ve been meaning to read for ages:

Chuck Klosterman, who I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never read, yet managed to confess my sin to him.

Authors who I didn’t stand in line to meet, but who willingly posed for pictures when I asked:

Kathie Lee Gifford, who I desperately wanted to meet, but I ran out of steam and couldn’t stand to stand in one more line after the drama at the Tyra Banks booth. Kathie Lee was so kind to flash me her big smile after I did a drive by and called out to her on my way out of Javits.

Duff McKagan, who I luckily saw wandering the floors of Javits the day before his book signing. Not only was Sweet Child o’ Mine (Just in case you don’t know, he was the bassist for Guns N’ Roses.) my senior class song, Duff was super cool in person. After standing in line for his book for 30 minutes, I realized he was just signing a chapter book, so I split to get in the Chuck Palahniuk line, since I had already met him. Can’t wait to read  It’s So Easy (And Other Lies). ***Update: Evil Wylie informs me that is not Duff. I need a GNR expert. I knew Duff had blonde hair, but thought he went dark for a more intellectual look. This dude was at Duff’s booth, turned when I called his name, smiled and posed for me. If It’s not Duff, is it his ghostwriter? Or just some evil rocker dude? Help! In the eternal words of Vinne Barbarino, “I’m so confused!”

Ice-T, who I secretly followed into the E! Reality Show private room where they were filming the couple. Ice-T was totally cool enough to pose for this photo.

CoCo and Ice-T, just seconds after kissing. (My camera was having heat stroke, darn it, but then again, so was I.) After watching the 30 minutes of Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Backstory on E! while sick in bed with Bronchitis, I now understand the crazy appeal these 2 lovebirds had–no wonder even the librarians were going apeshit over them at BookExpo.

Authors whose lines were too long and I didn’t get to meet or get their book, but desperately wanted to:

Chris Van Allsburg, who is also from Michigan and a beloved author in my house.

Miscellaneous fun photos from the BEA floor:

The Wednesday Adult Author Breakfast at BookExpo America 2011

My thanks to the Italians, who fed a fellow Italian girl on a budget a full brunch and Champagne and orange juice my first day.

The Michelin Man, who I had posed with, but smartly cut out of this picture. We looked like Irish Twins–it was just ridiculous. I’m not sure if he wrote a book, but his handlers were very friendly. I just hope they burn their copy of our time together.

Nicole “CoCo” Marrow’s butt, just for the dudes (or lesbians) who read my blog.

The folks at the Guinness World Records 2012 booth, who were so happy I wanted to promote this book on my blog via photograph they offered me something to drink. (My family loves reading these books each year!) I was never so happy to drink a cold can of coke in all my life.

Spiderman, who kept begging me to pose with him, but I insisted that my Perimenopause symptoms of excessive sweating was going to ruin the photograph. I love how Spidey is squatting next to a stain in the carpet and it look like he peed himself, even though we all know my favorite super hero would never do such a thing. Also, a big shout out to Marvel, who once I heard I was a big fan and stepmom, gave me an Iron Man book that wasn’t an arc. I’m giving to my bff, The Big A’., since she has 2 little boys who need some Marvel from this geek.

And, a few fun photos from what I saw around town:

Radio City Music Hall, which I risked my life for this shot by squatting on the ground in the middle of the street, slightly buzzed and in heels, while holding a large purse and book bag.

The only sunset I managed to see, since I was staying in midtown/the upper east side area.

Top of the Rock, a place I’ve never been on top of, but would love to.

An artist on Broadway, painting his version of Times Square.

Fleet Week, the greatest week to come to New York. If you don’t feel the way I do about men in those Navy Whites, please watch this video and drool along with me, and shout the following line, “Way to go, Paula, way to go!”

To read more about my time at BEA/BBC 2011, visit More Shameless Bragging about BookExpo America 2011 and the Book Blogger Convention Part Three: What Books I Got and BookExpo America 2011 and the Book Blogger Convention Part One: What I Did.