Frankfurt Book Fair 2008

Another Frankfurt Book Fair has come to a close. Like last year, I went every day. Here’s a short (ok, it is rather long) retrospective inlcuding a list of the books I brought home each day (and I was VERY picky about what I took with me because books are heavy and I had to carry them around).

Wednesday October 15
I always head straight for Hall 8 (English language books) on day 1. I walked around and picked up catalogs and the couple of first day galleys (this year only MacMillan and Hachette had them out for the taking). Most of the sales reps were very busy on Wednesday, but I did get the chance to talk to two at Algonquin and Bill at Llewellyn (Flux) who promised me review copies if I came back on Saturday morning. I did have some interesting conversations with reps in general about blog reviewers and they were all really excited about the development and said they pass around the links we send them to our reviews. A couple even said they’d heard of my blog! How cool is that?

Books brought home:
Bliss by O.Z. Livaneli (Sept 2007)
The Coroner by M.R. Hall (Aug 2009)

Thursday October 16
Daniel had some portfolio reviews in the morning and I took the cat to the vet to get her stitches out. Before I went to meet him in Hall 3.0 in the afternoon, I stopped by Hall 6 to see Mikhail Gorbachev for 5 minutes (his bodyguards were massive!). Daniel and I walked around some and looked at German picture books and saw Bruce Darnell talking about his new book (he was the catwalk trainer on the first two seasons of Germany’s Next Top Model). Then we met Alice who works at Dtv and went together to an author reading: Anya Ulinich read from her novel Petropolis (Feb 2007). Sounds like a great book! In the evening, we met our friends Wes and Craig from PowerHouse books for dinner and I had the hugest schnitzel I have ever seen (they stayed the week at our apartment too).

Books brought home:
None, but I did get a free issue of Der Spiegel for Daniel

Friday October 17
Our first stop was Hall 4.2 to see our friend Hans Martin Trautner’s new book: Children’s understanding and production of pictures, drawing and art.

We walked around 4.1 and looked at design and art books for a while as well as the Type Directors Club exhibition of the best type projects of the year. Then, we went to the comics center to see Lewis Trondheim talk about his creative process. Right afterwards, there was a signing, and this is where things went wrong. The comics center staff told me they hand out numbers to people in the interview audience so they can get their books signed first. Daniel was right out in front, so I thought no problem. Well, instead of a peaceful handing out of numbers, a bunch of people stormed the stage, elbowing Daniel out of the way and knocking over drinks and destroying equipment. Daniel ended up with a number that put him 20th in line behind all these barbarians, meaning we had to wait for one and half hours. I was not pleased. Finally, it was Daniel's turn and I got this picture (sans flash because Lewis threatened to bash in anyone's head who used flash):

Books brought home:
Die Welle (graphic novel) by Stephani Kampmann (signed)
Savoy by Celia Rees (German translation)
Ausser Dienst by Lewis Trondheim (signed)

Saturday October 18
I headed straight to Flux to pick up my cherished copy of A.S. King’s Dust of 100 Dogs (see my post about it here). YAY! On Saturday, most of the reps are less occupied so they finally have time to talk. So I went around and introduced myself as a book reviewer and talked to some really nice reps, including one from Faber who gave me 7 books he thought I might like.
I met my friend Tracy at the entrance in the afternoon and we went to Libba Bray’s appearance. She read a scene from each of the books in her Gemma Doyle trilogy and then Julia Nachtman read a scene in German. Libba is hilarious. Apparently her dream job is Queen of England, and since she’s too old to marry the princes, she says she has to gain the throne by more nefarious means. She’s looking for people to help her plot. Any takers? I got her to sign a whole gaggle of books (do I sense a contest coming up?!) and got this picture with her.

Books brought home:
Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King (Feb 2009)
Fairy Lust by Cyn Balog (June 2009)
Pure by Terra Elan McVoy (April 2009)
Savvy by Ingrid Law (May 2008)
Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks (July 2008)
The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall (Feb 2009)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (June 2008)
The Collector of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov (March 2009)
Far North by Marcel Theroux (March 2009 UK)
Suffer the Children by Adam Creed (May 2009 UK)
The Hidden by Tobias Hill (Jan 2009 UK)
The Black Monastery by Stav Sherez (April 2009 UK)
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews (Feb 2009 UK)


Sunday October 19
Not much actual business goes on here on Sunday, so Germans bring their biggest wheelie suitcases and go on a book rampage. Some stands sell books at a discount (hard to come by in Germany) and some outright give them away, especially as the closing bell nears. Tracy and I met at 9 am and went to Hall 8.0 to look for picture book dummies (these are free for the taking). I must have gotten about 20. Then I also got a ton more galleys and even bought a few at HarperCollins for 1/3 the regular price.

Books brought home:
A Secret Alchemy: A Novel by Emma Darwin (June 2009)
The World in Half by Cristina Henriquez (April 2009)
No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (August 2008)
Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Jan 2009)
The Dracula Dossier by James Reese (Oct 2008)

Do Cats Hear with their Feet? by Jake Page (Dec 2008)
Bogus to Bubbly by Scott Westerfeld (Oct 2008)
Tell Me Who by Jessica Wollman (Jan 2009)
You are so Undead to Me by Stacey Jay (March 2009)
Skinned by Robin Wasserman (Sept 2008)
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (July 2008)
Evernight by Claudia Gray (May 2008)
Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott (May 2008)