I was warned clearly by previous BEA attendees that picking up books was a bad idea. They have to be schlepped around the convention floor (growing heavier with each step), then hauled all the way back to LA. Get them shipped, I was told. But I caved yesterday, especially after picking up the most excellent tote bag (made from recycled tires) from worldchanging‘s booth. They’ve got a book coming out early next year that will be a kind of best-of encyclopedia from the site.
A few books that made their way into my new cute tote bag:
Chris Anderson has been all over the conference talking about The Long Tail, the book-length version of his article, but I haven’t caught any of his appearances. So I grabbed "the new Tipping Point" (that’s what the blurb says) and will soon learn Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More (that’s the subtitle).
Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno from Punk Planet Books and Akashic Books (in stores in September). I loved the description by the folks at Punk Planet, but I don’t think I’ll do it justice until I’ve had a chance to read it myself.
Memorial by Bruce Wagner (on Simon & Schuster). Apparently it’s not set in Hollywood. That’s new.
La Porte, Indiana by Jason Bitner on Princeton Architectural Press. Bitner, one of the founders of Found Magazine, walked into a diner in Indiana and noticed some photos that had been tacked up. Turned out they were from a long-closed portrait studio and the diner had boxes and boxes of portraits in the back. The book are those potraits, and they’re beautiful. The stories that accompany them are great; I heard a few and hope to get Jason to visit the Paperhaus with them.
Maul by Tricia Sullivan on Night Shade Books. I think it’s time for me to start reading science fiction again.
The bound shooting script of Adaptation from Newmartket Press. Because if Charlie Kaufman is the greatest writer of our generation, shouldn’t I have something by him on my bookshelf?
