I went to BookCon last year and loved it. The collective enthusiasm for books of all genres and a great space for fans to connect with authors had me itching to go back. While last year was all panels, this year, I spent more time in queues and still had a pretty great time.

I’m on the right with a beanie on and coffee in hand. As one does.

Highlights

These will be in chronological order because I’m lame and organized like that.

• I was surprised at the line when we got there at 7:30am. It looped from the South building, across a sky bridge, to the North building. Then again, some fans eager to meet Cassandra Clare and Sarah J. Maas had gotten to the convention center much earlier, maybe 6 or even before that. Luckily, my friend and I managed to get wristbands for the things we wanted.
• Last year, we missed out on literary temporary tattoos. This year, we managed to get to the booth at Litographs, which have a whole bunch of awesome printed shirts using the text of entire classic (modern and old) novels. We both got a quote from Alice in Wonderland. Now to figure out how to make these last more than two days.
• We played a round of some game whose title I never caught for galleys of books. I really wanted the Garth Nix galley, but instead I got The Thousandth Floor. The first of many galleys. I came home with around 16 books. I’m surprised my suitcase made it. I’m surprised my shoulders survived the day.
• And then I left my friend to go stand on the queue line to get Red Rising autographed by Pierce Brown. I’m a huge fan of signings and meeting authors. All the ones I’ve met have been super receptive to fans and it’s a weird level of celebrity that can easily be appreciated. I finished the first book of the trilogy in time for the con. It’s a little unreal how good it is. Read my review here. Even after going to so many events, I’m still terrible at toning the nerves down when it comes to meeting people I admire. One day I’ll get it.
• Trying to find someone halfway across a con with a barely functioning cell phone is an adventure, but we did meet up and finally learned what BookBub is. And they had a random assortment of books which included United States of Japan and I might have squealed a little bit to get it.
• We split up for lunch while my friend went to go to the line to the Property Brothers. Apparently, the Veronica Roth line was so long, it cut into their time. I didn’t even realize two hours went by after we reconnected. I learned that they are super tall and dorky. The things we do for other friends.
• Only one panel was attended this year and that was Genius Squared with Leopoldo Gout, Michael DiMartino, and Eric Smith. I loved the discussion, but it was a little infuriating how much the attendees focused on Avatar: The Last Airbender as opposed to DiMartino’s upcoming title. Leopoldo Gout had some amazing things to say about researching for books and he seems like such a wonderful person. I’m keeping an eye out for him for next year’s con.
• Staying until the end has its merits for extra galleys. I won a box from Owlcrate and I’m considering subscribing. Because you know what I need? MORE subscription boxes.

I’m super glad to have made the trip this year to Chicago for BookCon. As coincidence would have it, 2017 is in New York City. And it’s my birthday weekend. So I know where I’ll be.

Happy fanning,
Jo