BEA

First off, I have to say thanks to Amanda from The Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker for encouraging me to attend BEA (the Book Expo of America) this past Saturday with her. I'm not sure I would have had the courage to attend by myself. This event was eye opening to say the least! There were so many interesting people, booksellers, publishers, book bloggers, authors, etc. in the book industry there.

During registration I was handed a BEA program book which, no kidding, was the size of the yearly installment of the Entertainment Coupon books. A little overwhelmed, Amanda and I decided to plunge into the heart of the Expo's booth extravaganza. Timidly we wandered the halls taking in the global book contigency; publishing heavy weights; academic presses; independent publishers; non-profit book foundations; author signings; etc.

Around 1pm my stomach started to rumble and we made a mad dash to the Javitz Conference Center's food center. It was a nice break before the 2pm Blogger Workshop downstairs. It was great to hear from more experienced book bloggers about how book blogs can help the industry with reviews of books or bookstores, how they came to book blogging, and various tips on communicating within the book blogging community. If you are interested in hearing the panelists discussion check Book Club Girl's site out tonight at 6pm. Each of the panelists are listed below and have their own (more in depth) insights on BEA:

The Book Blogger Panelists

Stephanie Coleman-Chan from Stephanie's Written Word.

Candace Levy from Beth Fish Reads.

Natasha Maw from Maw Books Blog.

Julie Peterson from Booking Mama.

Dawn Rennert from She is Too Fond of Books.

Amy Riley from My Friend Amy.

Following the workshop Amanda made the rounds to familiar book bloggers in the audience. It was really exciting to meet these people in person. (A special thank-you to Stephanie from Stephanie's Written Word from both Amanda and I!) Then we headed back to the booth mayhem. Not quite so whelmed this time we had the opportunity to chat with some great people in the book industry. I made sure to say hello to the National Book Foundation whom I saw at the Brooklyn Book festival back in the fall, MIT Press my husband's favorite publisher, and AEG my Dad's book publisher. 5pm came too quickly but I was really glad that Amanda and I were able to take in what we could on a Saturday in New York!

MIT Press Bookstore

For the first time in my relationship with my husband, I was the one being dragged to the bookstore. My husband is studying Music Technology at the graduate level with an emphasis on microtonal music and mathematics. As you can imagine this is a highly specialized field with only a few people exploring its realms.

In his studies he noticed that most of the research books he was using had one common denominator, their publisher, the MIT press. As luck would have it we were in Boston for Memorial Day weekend and the main thing my husband was interested in seeing was the MIT Press bookstore (http://web.mit.edu/bookstore/www/index.html). Surprisingly it was open on Saturday from 10am-6pm regardless of the holidays.

I really wasn't sure what i would be able to find anything personally interesting in the depths of this specialized bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised and found books on theology (the essential reinhold niebuhr) , religion & economics, writing during the information age, and universal education and its effects. Chris of course found all of the specialized books he was looking for inclduing: "Microsound" by Curtis Roads, and "Musimathics Vol 1 & 2" by Gareth Loy.

It's pretty amazing to pick up a book from the publisher's store that you might not be able to find anywhere else. It is an easy walk from the Kendel T-Stop in Cambridge. The staff was unassuming and quite knowledgable. (We managed to sneak in a conversation about where printed media... books, music, etc. are headed.) So if you are in Boston I highly recommend taking an hour or two out of your trip to visit the MIT Press bookstore. In the mean time check out their website and browse their recent books: http://mitpress.mit.edu/main/home/default.asp.