I’m back from the BEA and it looks like I spent all my witty repartee and clever observations over the weekend. I’m not sure when I’m due for a refill, so pardon my humorless approach.

I arrived at the Brooklyn Marriott on Wednesday night with Tony Ritchie in tow. And Thursday he and I hit the Education Day seminars. Friday and Saturday brought the exciting and exhausting trade show. The Javits Center was clogged with people on Friday but the gang - Alex, Andrew, Ryan, Tony, and I - had a pretty good game plan. And since the Javits gets excellent cell phone reception there was always the opportunity to call for help if you got trapped in a bookseller stampede. Ryan, Tony, and I took a train back from the festivities on Monday and had a nice debriefing over a glass or two of Amtrak’s best white wine.

Nine hours in the jury room 111 on Tuesday resulted in a un-selection for me. They tell you not to take it personally.

And then finally Wednesday, it’s back to the office and the usual routine.

Although I exercised a considerable amount of restraint and only picked up a handful of books, I managed to get a few that I am quite excited about. I acquired a galley of a book called The Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England by Brock Clark. You’ll be hearing more about this book from me, as it gets closer to publication, which isn’t until September, so I have plenty of time to prepare my remarks… I read it a couple of months ago in manuscript form and I really enjoyed it. The lovely people at New Directions gave me copies of Distant Star and Last Evenings on Earth so I can further my knowledge of Roberto Bolano’s work in preparation for the translation of his final novel. I am still reading The Savage Detectives in little spurts and it is turning out to be one of my favorite books this year. Yet another book I picked up was Hocus Potus by local-ish Malcolm MacPherson. A Iraq war farce that is based on his own experiences covering the post-invasion period, MacPherson’s book is fictionalized only because the story is so outrageous.

There were a few other books I picked up that I am excited about and many, many more that I did not that I am also excited about. I kept a list so that I wouldn’t forget the ones I had to leave behind. And now, here’s hoping I find some time to read a few of these books this weekend!