Book Haul #23: Chicago & BookCon

It’s another bookhaul and a large one at that because in May I traveled alllll the waaaay to Chicago to attend BookCon, a large book expo where publishers feature their new releases and upcoming books and readers can interact with publishers and authors. It was my first time attending the event and visiting Chicago, and I was beyond excited to go. I didn’t know what to expect so I had large assumptions of how the event would be. Some were fulfilled, like the long, everlasting lines for author signings, while others weren’t, all the books weren’t free. Either way, I was glad that I attended and that I got to visit a new city.

As for Chicago itself, I haven’t much to say since I didn’t see much of it. I was in Chi-town for only the weekend so I didn’t have a lot of time to sight see. Plus, my sight-seeing time was further squished when my cousin and I decided on the spur of the moment to hop over to Wisconsin to visit friends and family. Despite that, I had a wonderful time in Chicago and was glad to visit and meet new friends and family (yes that’s right; I met new family members). I especially appreciated the serendipitous moments I had in the city when I ran into friends by chance. It was a lovely outing.

Due to the short sight-seeing time, I didn’t take many photos of the city as I wanted to but here’s what I managed to capture:

The photo on the lower left is part of a wedding procession my cousin and I saw. The people were so festive that we got caught up in the mood and started dancing along too. I think the guy on the horse is the groom and he’s going to meet his bride. I wish I could have seen his bride. I took photos of buildings and fire-escapes because I like photos of such things. Unfortunately, the camera on my phone didn’t pick up all the details I wanted to capture, but the view of the city from the air is pretty good. Better than I expected of my phone.

Well, that’s all the Chicago I managed to capture. Now let’s get to the books.

I’m not sure how to organize this because I’ve forgotten which publisher I got certain books from and which ones were free or bought; so I’ll just group some together and then give details if I remember them. Sounds good, right? 🙂

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins

I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young

Albina and the Dog-Men by Alejandro Jodorowsky

S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

Saga, Vol. 5 by Brian K. Vaughan, illus. by Fiona Staples

Showing these first because I bought them at a bookstore; some before BookCon, some while there, some after. I always wanted to read about that evil beard and I’ve wanted S. since I first laid my eyes on it. Sucks that the box-sleeve it comes in was dented and chipped when shipped from BookOutlet. Right now, it’s the most intimidating book I own because I doubt I’ll know how to start when ready to read it. Skottie Young’s comic and Jodorowsky’s novel sound like they’ll be pretty zany. I doubt I’ll be bored reading them. I traded my first volume of The Wicked + The Divine to get Saga, Vol. 5, which isn’t pictured. I’m more of a Saga fan.

And now the books from BookCon.

Quest by Aaron Becker

The Curious Cat Spy Club Mysteries, books 1-3, by Linda Joy Singleton

The sticker on the cover of Quest reminds me that I bought it (and that the damn sticker won’t come off). Quest is the second book in a wordless children’s picture book series that starts with Journey, which I featured in my last haul. I love the bright covers of Singleton’s books so I grabbed copies when I saw they were giving them out and she was signing them.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Fear by L. Ron Hubbard

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Serpentine by Cindy Pon

Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall by Aaron Safronoff

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

I think I bought all these except Sunborn Rising, which had a pretty cool booth because they had an interactive game feature that I forgot the name of. Basically I put on a headset and could see like the character on the cover. Sleeping Giants was a total cover buy and I HAD to get The Star-Touched Queen. I’ve always wanted to try Novik’s books because I think she’s cool since she’s an engineer and I’m curious about Pon’s. I’ve always skirted Hubbard’s work but a lady (publicist?) at that publisher’s booth made me think to get it.

H2O by Virginia Bergin

Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards

The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

We Know It Was You by Maggie Thrash

True Grit by Charles Portis

Psycho by Robert Bloch

Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman by Lindy West

The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

The majority of books in this pile were free. I bought True Grit and Psycho because I’ve never read either and I was told they are both great. Plus, it’s easy to convince me to buy a book if I’m told the writing is great, even if it’s a Western. I got Richards’s book signed. She was sweet. I wasn’t enthused to meet authors because I didn’t have anything say (being shy and all) but Richards was really cool and chatty, which I liked because that made it easier for me to talk to her. I didn’t go in line to have Lindy West’s book signed because I’m a weirdo who hates lines, even short ones. I bought The Weight of Feathers because I liked the premise and had it signed by the author, who was nice.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein

Devotion by Marianne Evans

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

Bream Gives Me Hiccups & Other Stories by Jesse Eisenberg

Europa was at BookCon!! 😀 I was glad. I thought I could get a copy of The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery, but by the time I got to their booth, all the copies were gone so I got Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend instead. Sherman Alexie was at the event so I bought and got Reservation Blues signed. I just need to read The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which has been sitting on my shelf for some time now.

Of course, I bought a bunch of comics, mostly from Valiant comics because they had a deal going, plus I HAD to get Faith. I also picked up some previews from Image but didn’t purchase anything because the majority of comics I own are published by them. I also COULD NOT leave without getting Pablo by Julie Birmant, illus. by Clement Oubrerie, which is a biographical graphic novel about Pablo Picasso. It’s part of the Art Masters series published by SelfMadeHero. If I’m lucky, I’ll get them all. If not, I’ll still try to get them all.

That’s it for now. It’s quite a lot. You’d think I’d stop purchasing books after this. Ha!

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