ALA: The Books, Part One

Hopefully, there will be a Part Two when my second envelope arrives. I'm a little bit worried, as the two envelopes were mailed at the same time and only one arrived, and that one was all taped up. As if it had opened. Yet there were no markings from the post office to say something bad had happened.

Three most important missing items:
a signed Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems; I complimented him on You Can Never Find A Rickshaw When It Monsoons and mentioned my blog and he said he read it and to rock on!
a signed Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, who when he saw my name spelled it aloud as "L I Zed" which I thought was way cool;
and an ARC of Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl. Which was my "must, must, must" get book of the conference. I'm not sure what else is in that envelope. I'll let you know if/when it arrives. I will be pissed beyond the telling if I've lost all three.

What came home, in envelope number one and my bag (as mentioned, 7 pounds overweight). Considering I'd been to BEA, I tried to be choosy about what I took. Unless noted, they are ARCs:
The Killer's Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux, because it had a blurb from David Almond;
The Intruders, because it looks like a great haunted house story;
Diva: A Novel by Alex Flinn, because it's Alex Flinn and because I believe it's a companion of sorts to Breathing Underwater;
Gideon: The Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer because I was attracted by the packaging (the paperback ARC is in a box with a cutout to show part of the ARC cover);
Theodora Twist by Melissa Senate, because I'm quite hooked on the "what if Lindsay Lohan was a real person" books (and by the way, I cannot wait to post my review of More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet because it is wonderful and digs much deeper into what it means to be working since you're two);
A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park, I've wanted to read this since last year;
Caddy Ever After, because I adore the Casson family and if Hilary McKay wrote the phone book, I'd read it;
The Pinhole Egg by Diana Wynne Jones; me: "is that a new Diana Wynne Jones book?" in total disbelief; the kind publisher people at Greenwillow Books/ HarperCollins kindly said yes AND it's a Chrestomanci book AND gave me a copy;
Corbenic, when I saw it was by Catherine Fisher, I grabbed it, as I've wanted to read this since early May;
Give Me Liberty by L.M. Elliot, which at first I didn't want because recently I've been burned by bad historical fiction but then I saw that it was by the same author as Annie, Between the States so knew it would be good;
The Melting Season by Celeste Conway, because it's about ballet (or at least a ballet student, and who doesn't love The Turning Point and Billy Elliott and Center Stage and that episode of Angel;
Scarlett by Cathy Cassidy because I liked the title and the cover;
The Pull of the Ocean by Jean-Claude Mourlevat, because it sounded different (a modern reinterpretation of Tom Thumb); and
The Wave Walkers: The Pirate Curse by Kai Meyer because pirates. Who can say no to pirates?

Signed copies:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. TLS was at the author dinner I attended that was given by Little, Brown; he was cool, did a great reading, and is a candidate for Fuse No. 8's Hot Men series (alas, quite married, not single);
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, with illustrations that I just want to cut out of the book and frame;
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, a copy for me and a copy for David's true love, Brian (in addition to telling David about Brian's love, I also told David that I own his 10 Things I Hate About You, which I think I need to attempt to get signed by DL);
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles, another author I met at the Little, Brown dinner, and this book is so good I had nightmares;
The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith, another author met at the Little, Brown dinner, who was amazing and cool and funny, and is also a screenwriter including the screenwriter for 10 Things I Hate About You. This book (like Gail Giles') deserves its own post (these are the only 2 books on the list that I've finished reading), but in the meanwhile, let me repeat: cool author with a great book about trying to grow up in a world with few maps or road signs;
Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key by Jack Gantos, who was extremely funny at the Booklist program;
Everlost by Neal Shusterman, and by the way, what is it with authors, being funny and cute? (and yes, Jack Gantos was also cute. As I said, it seems like all the authors are cute.)
And finally, Book Club by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum. I'm kicking myself for not getting the shirt, "What happens in storytime stays in storytime."

Some of this is crossposted at LMW.