

Observation
Author interview: Amor Towles
Such as this: In his new book A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles completely invented the scene in which the electrical grid is powered up in segments throughout the city. (I totally can’t wait to read this book, and only partly because it takes place in a luxury hotel. But mostly because Rules of Civility rocked my world.)
Interaction (organized)
Book signings
This can be scary, my friends.
Authors. I know they’re people just like us, but seriously: scary.
So, thank you, authors of BEA 2016, for your kind forbearance.
My favorite book signing experience was when Jane Hamilton — such a gracious and lovely human! — signed a copy of The Excellent Lombards. I adore her books, and I like her every bit as much. Since she is a remarkably nice person, we had a normal human conversation (though it lasted too long for her assistant, who started hustling the line along. Sorry, Katie! I’m still feeling bad about that.) Years ago, Jane Hamilton had spoken at the library where I worked, and we were reminiscing, I was gushing, it was maybe a little weird on my part.
Interaction (random)
Encountering an author in the wild
We ended up walking to the El station, which was nearer than I’d realized. I asked him what brought him to BEA, and he said he was a journalist.
Then he said something that made me realize he was also an author, and I asked his name.
Charles Finch.
I had been directionally rescued by a bestselling, award-winning mystery author.
I did a mild freak-out, then calmed down and requested photographic evidence of this episode (because that’s normal behavior; see “authors freak me out,” above).
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At BEA, not only are there authors all over the exhibit floor, but they’re also unleashed on the wider world to wander at will. You May Encounter Them In The Wild.
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Charles Finch: not only an excellent writer, but also a thoroughly nice human being
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The random author encounter: pure serendipity
But I gotta say: it’s all about the people.
The book bloggers who are now friends in real life, the librarians who swapped stories and tips, the authors who withstood the onslaught of our nervous admiration, and back again to the bloggers and librarians who understand exactly what we mean when we say, “I met [famous author person] and it was amazing, even though I made a complete fool of myself. I think I’m gonna go hide somewhere now.”
We’re right there with ya.
*and also Julie of JulzReads, but I think she was off on one of her marathon autographing sprees that made us all marvel
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