The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books 2014 Part 2 (Sunday April 13th, 2014)

Hey Everyone!!

So here's Part 2 at The Los Angeles Times Festival of Book 2014!! Today I'm covering the second day, Sunday April 13th!  In case you missed last week's post, HERE is the link!  BTW sorry for saying it would be up the next day, things have just been crazy busy as always, and the uploading of these videos took a lot longer than expected!

So Day 2 began bright and early! We left a little later, because it actually hadn't taken as long as we anticipated, so YAY for an extra half hour of sleep!!

Anyway Sunday was probably the funnest day!

It started with a visit to meet Marissa Meyer (AGAIN!)! Marissa Meyer is the author of The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and next years release Winter).  I met Marissa back in 2012 at Passion and Prose, shortly after Cinder, her debut novel, was released (less than a month after).

Flashback to 2012...

Check out my long hair!

Well, this time around Marissa signed my copies of Scarlet and Cress!

Signed "Who's afraid?"

Signed "Hack Away!"

And I also got a picture with her again!

Oh check it out! We both got hair cuts! :)

I also got one of those awesome pins you see in front of Marissa...

Team Cinder!!

Here's something really awesome guys!  Marissa REMEMBERED ME!!  No joke!!  I happened to mention that I met her before, and before I could say when she went, "I knew, I remembered you!"  It was awesome!! I mean, Marissa did sit at my table at Passion and Prose and eat lunch next to me!  Here's proof...

Signed in 2012, at Passion and Prose "For Mandy, With thanks for a lovely luncheon chat! It was a pleasure to meet you."

Pretty awesome right?!

After meeting Marissa, I ran to our first conversation of the day...

the panel featuring Ann Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Melissa de la Cruz (The Au Pairs and Blue Blood Series), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), and Tamara Ireland Stone (Time Between Us)!

The table before they arrived

From left to right: Tamara Ireland Stone, Melissa de la Cruz, Ann Brashares, and Eoin Colfer

This was an awesome panel! No joke! Who made this one the greatest entertainment?? Well, I must say, none other than Eoin Colfer! Holy moly, is that guy hilarious!!

I got to record a bit of this conversation...

After the conversation, we went out to the field, where we had met Margaret Stohl and Laini Taylor the day before, to get our books signed by these authors.

Melissa de la Cruz and me

My signed copy of "The Au Pairs" by Melissa

Ann Brashares signing my copy of "Sisterhood Everlasting"

Ann Brashares and me (She was so sweet!!)

Signed "For Mandy, I'm so happy to meet you!"

Signed "For Mandy, I'm so glad you enjoyed this book."

Ann Brashares was such a delight, and it was honestly such an honor to have met her!  I read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants back in middle school, with my girl friends at the time, and we pretended all of that summer to be those girls!  I told Ann that story, and she just loved it!


Because the lines were crazy, Amara and I separated, so while I waited for Ann Brashares and Melissa de la Cruz, she waited in Eoin Colfer's line, and got my copy of his latest signed for me...

Signed "To Mandy, Warped Wished, Eoin Colfer"

After meeting Ann Brashares, Melissa de la Cruz, and Eoin Colfer we headed to the next conversation of the day...Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) in conversation with Ransom Riggs!

After listening to this hilariously depressing duo, we headed to wait in line to get our books signed!

While in line we met two delightfully awesome book fans, who we ended up hanging out with for the rest of the day! :)  That is why I love book events, meeting people who are nice, fun, awesome, and into the same things I am...BOOKS!!!

There is Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket!)

Daniel Handler signing my brother's copy of the first book in "The Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning"

Hilarious story behind this pic...see paragraph below :)

So there was actually a really funny story behind this picture.  My little brother is the fan of Daniel Handler (or to be more precise, Lemony Snicket, since that is the pen name he used for The Series of Unfortunate Events).  So after waiting for about an hour in line (which wasn't too bad, considering the day before's John Green line), I went up to Daniel and asked him if he could ultra personalize my brother's book.  I said to him, "Hello, I was wondering if you could like ultra personalize this book, and write, "To Ben, who has the best sister in the entire world!"

To which Daniel looked up at me, and said, "I don't know that.  I don't know if you're the best sister in the entire. So I can't write that."

LOL it was hilarious!  He said it with this amused serious voice too!  It was just perfect!  

I had ended up buying my brother a copy of Lemony Snicket's latest novel, File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents for my brother's birthday, which is coming up in July.  And this is what he signed it as...

"To Ben, whose sister seems bossy."

So great!  My brother is going to love it!

He was also kind enough to sign my copy of the first book in The Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning for me! :)

Signed: "To Mandy, with all due respect."

Daniel Handler was just an absolute delight!

After meeting Daniel Handler, I headed to the table next to him to meet Ransom Riggs, the author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children!  I'm glad I waited to meet him, instead of doing it at the YA Stage the day before, because I heard his line was RIDICULOUS then.  When I saw him it was completely empty, because most people were there to see Daniel Handler! :)

Me and Ransom Riggs

My signed copy of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" signed: "To Mandy, very peculiarly, Your, Ransom Riggs"

I can't wait to read that one!  It looks pretty creepy!

After Ransom Riggs and Daniel Handler, it was time for our last conversation of the day, also one of my most anticipated for the weekend...Laurie Halse Anderson!!

On the Left is Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson was such a great opinionated speaker! I just loved listening to her!  She described my high school experience to the exact queue (minus the part of being raped).  I loved her opinions on our education system!  Me, wanting to become a teacher, it definitely was interesting listening to her speak!  She has some great ideas!

After listening to Laurie, it was time for the signing!

Laurie Halse Anderson and Me!

 Laurie was such a nice and sweet person!  Loved getting the opportunity to meet her!

She ended up signing my copies of Prom, Catalyst, and Speak!

"Prom" signed: "Dare to dance! Laurie Halse Anderson"

"Catalyst" signed: "Be a catalyst!" 

"Speak" signed: "Speak Up!"

Laurie also has such a gorgeous signature!!!


After meeting Laurie Halse Anderson we done for the weekend!  We were exhausted, but it was well worth the lack of rest for that weekend!

While I missed a couple of other authors I wanted to meet, including Jane Green (Jemima J), who I missed by literally TWO minutes!!, Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor and Park and Fangirl), and Veronica Roth (Divergent), whose line was just not worth it for me, after having stood in line for John Green so long!, I still had an amazing time!!

I did manage to catch a glimpse of Veronica Roth, because I snuck over there while I was line for Lemony Snicket and Ransom Riggs!!

That's Veronica in the orange, at the signing table

Veronica Roth being escorted in a golf cart after the signing

Also I caught a glimpse of Lauren Oliver while she was on stage with her panel, as I was running around trying to find where Rainbow Rowell was signing!

Lauren Oliver!!

But because I already met Lauren, only last month, and already had all my copies signed, and because there were so many others to see that weekend, I didn't really stick around long enough.  I wish I had had more time!

So for my overall haul for the weekend...

All the beautiful signed copies I get to add to my book shelf! :)

Then, in yesterday's post I mentioned that had Tahereh Mafi be the first to sign my Kindle cover...well, this is how my Kindle looks at the end of that weekend...

Signed by: Tahereh Mafi, Laini Taylor, Margaret Stohl, Ransom Riggs, Ann Brashares, John Green, Marissa Meyer, and Melissa de la Cruz on the front!

Amy Hatvany and Laurie Halse Anderson on the back!

The LA Times Festival of Books was overall a fairly good first experience! I will be honest I have a few complaints, for instance some of the people around (but who can control that?!), but also the lack of information the volunteers were able to give!  I actually became a volunteer this year, but after going this year, I must say I don't know if I will in the future! Maybe, only because I do kind of know my way around the campus now, but overall I don't think so, because I can't even imagine how many authors I would miss if I had to stay at one location for hours on end!

But if you're ever in the Los Angeles area around April, you should definitely check this fun and free event out!!  Parking does cost $10 per day, and if you want conversation tickets in advance (which I would honestly recommend), you can buy a set of eight of your choice for $35!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend, and a great week! :)

The Romance Bookie :)