Decatur Book Festival Recap

BOOKZILLA!  RWAR!

I had the greatest weekend ever, all thanks to the Decatur Book Festival.  As I mentioned in my previous post, my tentative schedule was bound to change and it did.  Here's what really happened:

SATURDAY:

• Left home around 9:15am, later than I wanted.  After hitting up the ATM, our first stop was the Library Book Sale, which was swamped.  Didn't see any of the books I donated and that made me happy (because I assume they had already sold, not that they never made it out).  Spent nineteen dollars and got...

Four books for me...

and eight books for hubs.

• Then we walked around the booths and saw some sights and picked up some cool t-shirts.

I'm totally wearing this shirt tomorrow.

• After that, we headed over to the church and heard James Swanson talk about his books Manhunt and Bloody Crimes.  It was a really interesting talk about what most people don't know about what happened to Lincoln after he died and about Jefferson Davis on the run.  I knew a lot of the facts he mentioned because I have a degree in history, but it was still interesting to rehear.  Got Bloody Crimes signed.
• Lunch at Sammiches N' Stuff.  Mediocre but fast, as usual.
• Then it was over the library where I listened to Libba Bray crack hilarious jokes during her talk.  I couldn't even get into the overflow room and we left early to get in line for the signing.  It's a good thing we did because that line lasted hours.  I haven't read Beauty Queens yet, but it sounds great.

Libba Bray and me!

• After that we had a bit of time to kill to it was off to Starbucks for sugar.  While hubs took a load off, I headed over to the emerging author stage and heard Anne Riley chat about her new YA book The Clearing and I had her sign a copy for me.  I didn't see anyone else around with a book for her to sign and that made me sad.  I believe it was the only YA book from the "emerging authors" that day, which is why I picked it up.  Eventually a review will show up here.
• Then it was back to the library to hear the Zombie/Apocalypse chat with Jeff Hirsch and Jonathan Maberry.  It was a very interesting chat, even hubs enjoyed it.  I'd never heard of Maberry before, but I will definitely be checking out his books in the future.  Then I got my ARC signed like I wanted.

Hirsch and Maberry before the discussion

Didn't get a picture with Hirsch, but here are the three signed books.

• After that we went back to the church for a discussion my husband wanted to see with Amanda Kyle Williams and Louise Penny called "Making a Great Murder Mystery."  It was because of the title he wanted to attend the talk and he decided to buy one of the books after.  When we went to have his copy of The Stranger You Seek signed, he realized he'd sold the author a TV last week!  Small world, huh?

The two books hubs got signed.

• After that it was around 7pm and we were both ready for dinner.  We splurged and went to Ted's Montana Grill.  After that we went to Little Shop of Stories where I picked up a signed copy of Shine by Lauren Myracle because I had missed her chat/signing earlier in the day.

• When we came home I took a shower (it was a hot, sweaty day and somehow my legs got covered in dirt) and reorganized our bookshelves.  The following are my new three whole shelves (74 books) of TBR.  But at least my TBR is all in one spot now.

SUNDAY - I spent the day by myself because hubs had to pull a shift at work, but I still had a fabulous day.

• Went and saw Diana Gabaldon at Eagle Eye Bookshop.  Got there half an hour early and was lucky to find a parking space!  It was packed!  I bought a copy of The Fiery Cross (I own the first four books in the series but have only just started the third) and a copy of the 20th Anniversary edition of Outlander.  She had a great talk about how she got started writing her series, she read two excerpts from upcoming books, and then held a signing.  The lady in front of me in line was kind enough to take a picture for me.

I met Diana Gabaldon!  Squee!

• It was 4:30pm by the time I left Eagle Eye, so I high-tailed it over to the Decatur Library where I had completely missed the panel Stephanie Perkins was participating in.  It was just letting out when I arrived.  I bought a softcover edition of Anna and the French Kiss for my giveaway and later heard that they'd had early, finished copies of Lola and the Boy Next Door!  I was so sad to have missed that.  It probably wouldn't have helped me, but I think they should have limited it to one per person - I saw girls in line with five copies of Lola to get signed.  Anyway, I met two really cool girls while I was in line and one was kind enough to snap a picture after the signing.

Stephanie was so great to chat with;
turns out she's a fan of Diana Gabaldon, too!

And then the day was over and I met my husband at home and we headed out to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.  Whew, what a weekend!

My giveaway of book + swag will be posted at 8am tomorrow, so stay tuned!  It will run for about a week and you must be a follower to win.