Book Blogger Convention

On Friday morning, I woke up extremely early and still managed to make it to the Book Blogger Convention with only minutes to spare. That takes skill. Emily had to go to work (boo) and Ben decided to tackle the city on his own (which is also why I have no pictures from the Convention), but I was in for my own treat.

I don’t want to rehash the day too much since others have done a very good job already, but here were the highlights:

• First up was Maureen Johnson, a YA author I have never read but immediately loved. She is absolutely hilarious. She had the whole room in hysterics. I want to read all her books now.
• Ron Hogan gave a talk on ethics where we learned that bloggers have apparently just won a war and that we are not to use the term “free books.”
• The panels were mostly made up of bloggers I don’t really know (although moderated by some of my favorites). I learned some useful things and I hope to use some of that information here in the near future.
• I got to meet a lot of the people I missed the day before and spend a little bit of time with them. (I loved my trip but if I could change one thing, I would have planned to hang out with other bloggers more).

Dinner and the Strand Bookstore

After the convention, I made a pretty swift exit (sorry guys) and maneuvered my way uptown to meet Ben and Emily. We went out to dinner at the Amsterdam Alehouse with some of Emily’s coworkers and then made our way to the Strand (is there a “the” or not?).

If you love books, you must go to this bookstore at some point in your life. It was actually my number one “must-do” item for my trip.

Ben and I ended up with a few books and a tote bag (because that’s what I needed – more books and tote bags)

But the best part was just wandering the store. I understand why people love it.

Bookstore Tour of New York City

Saturday found us at no fewer than 5 different bookstores with various other stops along the way.

We started the day at Books of Wonder and I think I have found my new favorite place on Earth. Books of Wonder is a children’s bookstore and it is, in fact, wonderful. I could have spent all morning there and I think Ben is lucky I only walked out of there with the four books I did:

Next we went to brunch at Lillie’s Irish-Vistorian Bar and Restaurant, which was kind of strange because we were the only ones there, but our meals were delicious and came with mimosas which is pretty awesome. Lillie’s was followed by Idlewild books. Idlewild groups its books by country and it was fun to peruse the various corners of the world.

Then we went to Three Lives and Company where we actually did not buy any books. It was getting hot and we were in need of refreshment.

So after a quick stop at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, we went to Magnolia Bakery. Another must-do on my New York list. I had a “Carrie” cupcake (like Sex and the City I think) and it was delicious.

Magnolia was followed by bookbook which was another bookstore I really liked but I can’t find a website to link to.

It was 3pm by then so we headed to Times Square to try and score some Broadway tickets in the TKTS line. We were hoping for Promises, Promises but ended up with Le Cage tickets for later that evening.

At that point we went to a cookout a friend of Emily’s was having to rest for awhile. I can’t thank this friend enough for giving us a place to sit for a few hours.

We spent out evening at Le Cage and it turned out to be a fantastic show. It was hilarious and the music was very good. Plus, Kelsey Grammer was in it and we got his autograph as well as some of the other performers’ after the show.

Friday and Saturday were both fantastic days. And I was once again glad that Ben was carrying the backpack because we ended the day with another pile of books.