Best Weekend EVER!

I had the most incredible weekend, it was everything I could have hoped for, in fact it was so great that I will have to spread out it's awesomeness over several posts...and then hopefully it will be the weekend again :-).  It started with a cup of coffee in bed while I finished a book, got some chores done, made the whole house smell like cinnamon and apples and then curled up to start a book I have been saving for the perfect weekend...but more on that later.  I watched an amazing episode of Sherlock, played a little Lego Harry Potter, went to bed to read some more and woke up to most glorious of mornings.  You see not only was it the official first day of fall, but it was the day I was going to the 2013 National Book Festival!!!!!! So I pulled on my new bookworm socks, stocked my backpack full of books and embarked on this new adventure!

This was my first time at the festival and I have to tell you I was not disappointed.  It is one of the best organized events I have been to in a really long time.  The main point of the festival is to go and listen to various authors, librarians, and other bookies as I like to call them.  Everybody seemed to be in a good mood, all the speakers were well attended, the bookstore was a little sparse and crowded, but that was to be expected.  I again have to mention the weather, because if I could have ordered it, I could not have done a better job, it was a breezy 70ish degrees with just enough puffy clouds to keep one from being blinded by the sun.

There was an amazing variety of authors and topics to choose from, Science Fiction and Teens and Children were where I spent most of my time.  We got to hear Lynda Barry who is not only hilarious but totally shares my views on the arts and her talk on imagery was very interesting, I am now hooked on all her comics/books.  We then moved on to Elizabeth Moon who I was originally interested in for her connection to the late Anne McCaffery (they co-authored some books when Ms. Moon was a young author), but have

come to love her in her own right as well. Her talk on her journey to becoming a recognized and published author was informative and entertaining, I love an author who can look back at there younger self and chuckle.  She also seems to be embracing aging (not that she looks a day over 30 ;-) ) and uses it to write more experienced characters in her newer books.  We then rushed over to the crowded Teens and Children tent to hear Tamora Pierce who informed us right off the bat she is not a nice person...and then proceeded to prove herself wrong.  She spent a lot of time answering as many questions as she could, even going over and waving off the moderator to try and squeeze in one more question, a very nice gesture for her myriads of fans.  Ms. Pierce also has a wicked awesome sense of humor, especially about her self which makes me a very happy fan.
The conclusion to this trip was racing all of the teeny-boppers to get in line to get my book signed by Ms. Pierce, there were a couple signatures I wanted, but they were all signing at the same time and the lines were ridiculous (which is totally awesome because it shows that books are alive and kicking, and that we still honor authors as important people in our society).  I decided to wait for Ms. Pierce's autograph because of all the authors there, her books meant the most to me.  The wait ended up being 2 hours, but it did not feel that long for a couple reasons.  The first being that the event staff cheerfully, helpfully and efficiently kept the lines orderly and informed.  It is amazing how much patience a giant crowd can have when they know what it going on and what is expected (good job event staff).  The second reason was again the weather, it was

perfect reading weather and all zillion of us, just sat down and read while we waited our turn, in fact it did not even feel like waiting, it felt like a giant readers picnic (it helped that Hubbin was amazing and kept me supplied in food and drink during the wait, actually Hubbin was amazing the whole day, schlepping my books around, getting me nourishment, waiting not only patiently, but happily with me in line for the whole time LOVE YOU HUBBIN!), it would probably not have been so enjoyable had the weather been crappy.  The best part about waiting in line is that we got to make friends with other people while we waited (Hi to the world traveling, Danish girl, and tall stripey shirt girl, both of you have excellent taste in books!).  It was fun to talk to other people about books, where they were from, the longest they have waited in line to see a beloved author, it was really cool.  In the end I could only get one book signed with no personlization, but we all agreed to that so that everybody in line would get a chance to see Ms. Pierce.
I am already excited for next year, though now that I now how it works I will try and plan it a little better so that I can see more authors.  I might even volunteer, we will have to see. Also big thanks to the Library of Congress for putting on such an amazing event! (Also Harry Potter works at the Library of Congress I know because I saw him)

Finished off the day with homemade chili and my favorite red wine, drifting off to sleep, book in hand, happily relieving the best weekend ever!
Oh yeah and the Ravens totaled the Texans which was the yummy cherry on this perfect Sunday (get it Sunday/sundae?!?!?  OK I'm gonna go drink my coffee now)
What is your idea of the perfect weekend? Have you been to a major book festival?  I wonder if would frown upon me stealing a staff shirt and sneaking into all the authors tents to talk with them one on one?