BEA 2006: the recap

Today was a wash for the most part in terms of BEA. I felt like all my energy had been zapped, but I did manage to get a few final books I wanted and not kill myself in the process of walking around laden with 7 bags. And I got a pretty purple lei, and really, how bad can life be when you're wearing a "cupcake fiend" t-shirt and a purple lei and the sun is shining?

I walked in utterly exhausted, shipped some books, grabbed a few last minute ones, had to cancel an appointment, then collapsed into the car. But it was so fun and worth the exhaustion. I hope to enjoy all the books I got while continuing with my own writing and all that I have planned. Here's some highlights of my BEA experience:

Best Quote: Shari Goldhagen, "I was with Rachel, and then five minutes later, I was Rachel" (because of how many books and bags she gathered)
Best Dog: Amadeus see www.amadeus.bz for pics
Best Non-Book Giveaway: Guinness Book of World Records’ Balloon Animals (and flowers, hats, earrings, etc.)
Best Bag That I Didn’t Get: Shari’s mighty vegetarian bag, McGraw-Hill’s huge red bags
Best Bag I Did Get: Penguin’s shiny, cartoony ones that held tons of stuff
Best Author Signing: Amy Sedaris
Book I’ll Be Reading First: Pornology by Ayn Carrillo-Gailey. And after that: Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Ballsy by Karen Salmansohn, Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture by Maria Elena Buszek
Book I’m most afraid of: it’s packed so I don’t remember the exact title, but it was a L. Ron Hubbard book for kids
Most offensive title (2nd year running): My Parents Went Through the Holocaust and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt: A Near-Life Experience by S. Hanala Stadner
Best Bus: Ellora’s Cave - they drive around in it
Most Incongruous booth: Sounds Erotic, which I am planning to write about for the Voice, run by the most normal, suburban-looking couple, complete with 11-week-old baby, who puts out audio porn CDs
Best heartening single girl talk: Bridget Harrison
Best food: Running Press’s promo for Delilah’s Soul Food - yummy macaroni and cheese, Chronicle Books’s hot dogs, Honorable mention: Google cookies
Best non-book goodie: Backrub from Douglas
Book that wasn’t available yet but am most looking forward to: Tara McPherson’s Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson (with a foreword by Frank Kozik). Runner up: Amy Sedaris’s I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.
Best catalog intrigue: Dawn Eden’s The Thrill of the Chaste, Justin Racz’s 50 Days Worse Than Yours.

Huge thanks to The Heartless Stone author Tom Zoellner for the ride (check out his website for tour dates), Shari Goldhagen and Martha Burzynski for help in book grabbing, silliness, and playing the "Jayson Blair or Kaavya Viswanathan" game in the car, and Sira for letting me invade his apartment.