BEA Day 3: Packin' up (yes, I'm packin' up)

Ow, my achin' hooes. My dogs are barking, and I don't even have dogs! That said, I wouldn't mind a dog of my very own. I would take him for walks every day and brush him and...oh, hello! Sorry, I went off on a little reverie there. (Sniff.) Anyway, that sigh of relief you hear from me (and echoed by a bajillion booksellers exiting the LA Convention Center) means that BEA is over for one more year. So pack up the boxes, give away the books, shove the ungiven-away posters in the trash and call it a day: it's la fin de BookExpo.

From my wanders this afternoon, let's take a quick look at what passes for typography at the show: yes, it's a publisher using the evil Comic Sans to promote a quiz book:



Aw, don't panic. I'm sure we won't be seeing that font again today.

Sundays at BEA are a time for mopping up: last appointments of the show, a chance to socialize with friends in the industry, to grab, beg, borrow or steal those final galleys, and by noon prick up your ears and listen: rippppppp—it's the sound of the first tape gun revving, which means the pack-up has begun. I did a few afternoon wanders through the floor (not solely for the purpose of passing by the DC Comics booth to check out what their hourly giveaway was), and I noticed HarperCollins wins this year's prize for being packed up and ready to go well before 12:30 PM. We in the book industry salute your chutzpah and sheer go-gettedness, HarperCollins, and wish you a happy relaxing evening around your favorite bar.

And even though the show is about to close, you never know what treats you might find on the floor. For me, it was that Ian Rankin mystery novel I oohed and ahheh over the other day, stacked up as a free galley on the carpeted floor of the Little, Brown booth. Thanks, guys at Little, Brown! I'll be sure to read this on the plane, if I don't fall asleep or get too tied up watching the in-flight movie.



So, BEA is all over bar the shouting:



AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Okay, now it's over.

Back to the hotel for a relaxing hot soak in the tub (it does wonders for blistered tootsies), and then one last lovely dinner out, this time with my good friend, the delightful Miss Soo Jin, who I have missed a lot since she moved to San Francisco. (Good news: Soo Jin is moving back to New York. Hoorah!) He's me and Soo Jin:



I took her out to dinner at the fabulous Curry House in Little Tokyo (mere steps from the hotel), where I ate the other day (and loved it!). I had a steaming and savory bowl of miso soup for starters:



And for my entrée, a spicy beef curry:



...while Soo Jin had some delicious spaghetti:



After dinner we wandered for a wee bit through Little Tokyo, visiting a tea shop with a unique way to get rid of slow-moving store items:



Soo Jin introduced me to the delicious treat known as mochi:




I'd never had mochi before. It was delicious as it is beautiful!

We saw a shop with quite possibly the best name in the universe: "Nostalgic Galley of Fame and Beyond":



Sadly it was closed and I was not be able to purchase any fame. Or beyond.

The perfect ending to a nice night is cold and sweet, so we hustled into Pinkberry...



...where I had some gob-smackingly delicious green tea ice cream topped with kiwi fruit. NOM NOM NOM, as the kids cats say.



Even though there's several in Manhattan, I've never been in a Pinkberry before, but that's going to change when I head back to New York. Komapsumnida, Soo Jin, for introducing me to Pinkberry!

And so, as the day ends...

AIEEEEE! Comic Sans store!

See you next year at the 2009 BookExpo, folks. I'll be the little fuzzy one.