A Good Week in Books (17) and Leaky Con 2012!

I had a totally awesome week in books. The week started with a little trip to one of my favorite used bookstores where I picked up two fantastic books I’ve been meaning to read for forever! I also received my two preorders (along with another book I’ve been meaning to buy) in the mail! I traded two books last week with a friend (another blogger) and got my two new ones in. And then I went to Leaky Con!!!!!

I don’t know if my love of Harry Potter has come across too often in this blog, but just know that I would not love YA like I do if not for this series, and my inner nerd is about to shine through!

If you don’t know what Leaky Con is, it’s a super fantastic, gigantic Harry Potter conference with people attending from all over the world. Along with the books I brought to get signed (which were a lot…see below), I bought some more to also get signed. I bought one that was already signed too. I also have an Order of the Phoenix movie poster signed by some of the HP actors! I have A Very Potter Musical poster signed by almost all of Team Starkid. If you don’t know who they are, go watch A Very Potter musical on YouTube, and then you will understand.

At the conference, I met some amazing Harry Potter fans! I ran into a blogger or two. I met a lot of actors (including Luna) and authors. I went to YA book panels, a YA author game show, a lot of signings, and a YA party where butterbeer and pumpkin juice were served and mingling with authors encouraged. I waited in a lot of lines. I discussed everything from the Harry Potter books, to the Vlog brothers, to The Hunger Games, to Pride and Prejudice, and Sherlock Holmes and Downton Abbey while there. I also danced my butt off at the ball last night! I saw a live show of Potter puppet pals and went a little crazy while shopping at the Harry Potter vendors. And last not but least, I was in the audience for the first and only live showing of A Very Potter Musical 3D: A Very Potter Senior Year (and yes, Darren Criss was there as Harry!).

These are some pictures of me and my friend Emma enjoying all the conference has to offer:

I have a lot of pictures to share! First, I’m going to share what I got before/outside of Leaky Con. These are the books I got in the mail along with the one autographed book I purchased at the conference:

I have a lot of pictures to share! First, I’m going to mostly share what I got before/outside of Leaky Con. These are the books I got in the mail along with the one autographed book I purchased at the conference.

 
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Nevermore by James Patterson
Hide and Seek  by Sara Shepard
The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (autographed!)

These are the two books I traded for (Thanks, Christina at A Reader of Fictions) and the two used book finds:

 
Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares 

These are all the books I brought along with me to get signed. I carried my giant Harry Potter tote filled with books for a long time in that line…but I am so glad I got to meet all these authors and get all these beauties signed:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman (I still need to read this one and the sequel, which I own…but I can’t wait to do so because it’s supposed to be like the adult version of Harry Potter)
The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman (also still need to read real bad!)
Zombies VS. Unicorns by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (signed by Holly Black)
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (I already had Levithan’s signature, and now I have John Green’s in there too! Really, it’s one of my all-time favorite books)
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Signed by Margaret Stohl)

And these are the books I purchased at the conference to have signed:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (I own slightly deteriorating ARC and wanted the real deal for her autograph!)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (I now own all of his novels!)
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (Second I got to meet her!)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (I haven’t read these in forever and I’m so glad to be able to meet author I’d been reading for so long!) 

My Posters:

My swag:

How cute are the earrings? Also, I actually bought two shirts. The blue one you see says StarKid. And I bought a red one that says “My Muggle Friends Just Don’t Understand.” I bought the pink StarKid sunglasses, and I got the blue and red 3-D glasses at the show. They were actually taped to the bottom of my chair. I also got a really cool conference messenger bag filled with conference swag, and some buttons I purchased are on the bag. In the bag was a fancy hard covered year book type book of all the stuff that was happening and when. I have some autographs of Wrock bands and Puppet Pal creators in there...

Here are some more photos from the conference:

The panel: GIRL BOOKS AND BOY BOOKS –moderated by Maureen Johnson. Panelists: Megan Whalen Turner, Robin Wasserman, Stephanie Perkins, Lev Grossman, and John Green

John Green signing my books!

Holly Black, me, and Megan Whalen Turner!

Laini Taylor, me, and Stephanie Perkins!

Daniel Ehrenhaft, Robin Wasserman, me and Margaret Stohl!

There were a lot of things and shows I was not allowed to take pictures of, otherwise I’d post a lot more photos. I have some ball pictures, but they are all kind of dark (go iPhone?). The ball was packed and so much fun because authors, actors, panelists, and fans were all dancing together. It was awesome to see Team Starkid take the stage at the ball and just dance. I do have a little recording of the YA game show hosted by Maureen Johnson, but I’m having difficulties trying to get on here. I might post it a little bit later. It kind of involves John Green getting super competitive and admitting to writing fan fiction under a different name.

And most of all it was just the best feeling in the world to be surrounded by people who all loved the same things I did. I made friends with people from Portland, CA, Australia, Florida, and Atlanta. And yes, it was exhausting. I feel like I need another day to recover from the no sleep and crazy dancing, but still. Even waiting in line was kind of fun because I just got to talk about Potter with people who love it as much as me, that and sing Starkid songs really loudly.