Books, backpacks & autographs

I promised myself this would be the year I would refrain from gleefully and greedily grabbing every free book offered by publishers in the exhibit hall. I did not want to drag them to sessions, back to my hotel room, or through the airport and on to the plane. Eager to stick to this missive I did not even take my bright orange day-glo ALA Anaheim Conference tote (it really is department of transportation orange barrel orange) to "The Stacks." Satisfied with my personal declaration, I shared it with various friends along the way.

I lasted until happening upon the Scholastic Publishing booth. Though they were selling more than giving away, I did snag a 39 Clues book bag and thought ... "I will only take as many books as will fit comfortably into this book bag" and NOT make me wander through the remainder of the day as a hunch back. A bit less smug than anticipated, here they are:

Juvenile/YA fiction ARC's:

• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman
• The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith
• Burn, by Suzanne Phillips

Regular fiction and non-fiction ARC's:

• Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel
• Epilogue: A Memoir, by Anne Roiphe

Not ARC's, these books are already in technical services destined for the library collection. All three are probably more suited for a public library, and point of fact are located in several nearby public collections, but the two juvenile biographies will work in my collection as well.

• Sterling Biographies, Marian Anderson: A Voice Uplifted
• Sterling Biographies, Abraham Lincoln: From Pioneer to President
• The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom

The autograph? I was dragging my bookbag toward the exhibits exit when a nice man from Harper Collins publishing handed me a paperback copy of Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I politely declined with thanks, stating I owned the hardback edition. His reply? She's currently autographing these paperback copies, take another! I was thrilled. The long line moved quickly; Ms. Phillips very gracious and, if I may say so, snazzily garbed in a trendy animal print dress. I now have an autographed book in my paperback collection and know that her next novel, What I Did for Love, has a February 2009 release date.