A few good book signings

In the month or so that I was away from this blog, I still was out and about at some fun book signings!

About a month ago, I went to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square for the New York City stop on the Life, Actually tour, featuring Lurlene McDaniel, Shawn Goodman, Anna Jarzab, Alyssa Sheinmel, and Elizabeth LaBan. As you can probably guess based on the name of this tour, these authors' books are contemporary.

Elizabeth LaBan, Anna Jarzab, Alyssa Sheinmel, Lurlene McDaniel, and Shawn Goodman

Each author chatted briefly about his or her newest book, why they decided to write that particular story, and why they write contemporary fiction. Then they took a few questions from the audience and signed their books. I got a copy of Lurlene McDaniel's latest book, The Year of Luminous Love, signed for a good friend whose been a Lurlene McDaniel fan for a very long time.

Skip ahead a couple of weeks to post-BEA, and there I was at another book signing. This one was at Books of Wonder for six great authors, including Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi, Elizabeth Norris, Lauren Oliver, David Levithan, and Andrea Cremer.

Lauren Oliver, Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi, Elizabeth Norris, David Levithan, and Andrea Cremer

This even was extremely packed (to no one's surprise, considering the popularity of all of these authors), so I stood in the back to listen to these authors chat about their books and take some questions from a very eager audience. I didn't have any books to get signed, but I hung around for a little while to chat with my bookish friends Eunice and Adam, the lovely Elizabeth Norris, and others (whose names presently slip my mind since this was a couple of weeks ago!).

Then, skip ahead another week and a half, and, you guessed it, there was another book signing. This one was at PowerHouse on 8th, a cute little offshoot of the independent bookstore PowerHouse Arena. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, since the event space was so small and I didn't want to stick my camera in the faces of everyone at this small gathering.

The featured authors, Melissa Walker, Michael Northrop, and Barry Lyga, each read a few pages from his or her latest novel and then had a discussion that covered everything from research to past pets to book titles. This was a more casual event, since we were all sort of gathered in a little circle, but I had a great time listening to everyone talk and chatting with authors Marianna Baer and Kathryn Holmes (who, I learned that night, just found out that she was going to be published HarperCollins).

In all, it was a very successful month of some very interesting and fun events, at both old favorite bookstores and new (to me) ones too!