![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This past Thursday, Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games trilogy and The Underland Chronicles, stopped by the Books-A-Million at Arundel Mills Mall to sign copies of Mockingjay.
At first glance, it sounded like it was going to be a mess. The manager I talked to a couple weeks before seemed relatively clueless about how they would run that thing. I was worried. So, I told![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andy_wolverton to work recon that day, since he had taken the entire day off and I was working until 4. Around 2pm I get a text that says "Call Me" so I comply and he gives me the run down - first, she's not signing books. She hurt her wrist. But she is stamping them. Second, they are handing out numbered tickets but since he could only get one he was going to wait for me to show up so our numbers were the same. Also, you can take pictures of her but not with her.
So, since I was on the desk, I Googled information about the signing/stamping and found out that Collins has a repetitve strain injury so the stamp was custom made by Scholastic for the tour and they plan to retire it as soon as the tour is over, making it still a bit of a "collectible". Ah well, I figured it would be a fun night no matter what - I mean, I was leaving work early (and with a combo of comp time + leave, I had only been there a whopping 3 hours...)!
Anyway, so I get off of work, do a quick change in the bathroom into jeans and my Hunger Games t-shirt (fangirl alert!) and dash over to the mall.andy_wolverton meets me by the store and we walk up and get our tickets - #60 and #61! And who is in front of me in line but ANOTHER librarian, from Baltimore County, who I met at a training probably about a year ago! She's got her daughter there so we start chatting books. Then the Books-A-Million people say that since the tickets are numbered, they are just going to line people up by number so just be back at the store around 6:30-7. Which means - FOOD!
I had a HUGE bacon-cheeseburger to prepare myself, then we wandered around the mall a bit because we still had plenty of time. Made the mistake of going into the Disney Store where they had stuffed toys on sale for $5...they had Doc, from Snow White, and he had a little book in his lap so I had to have him. Then, among the toys in the middle of the store, I found a talking Dug (from UP) which I was really looking for and figured they would never have again. So I snatched him up. Then we went to FYE and they had Beatles mugs 2/$5 soandy_wolverton got With the Beatles and I grabbed Hard Day's Night. Score!
Then back to the store and back in line. It's all very orderly now, we line up next to the balloons that are the same color as our ticket, then get in order by number. We're back next to Paula from BCPL so we talk books. Totally randomly she finds out the woman next to HER in line is a BCPL patron and she had recommended Hunger Games to her! LOL! Small world. We talk about how every single frakkin YA book out now is a series and/or steampunk. We talked about Roar (she loved it, I did not), Ship Breaker (she's read it, it's on my desk), and Black Hole Sun (She hated it, it's on my desk). And then Suzanne Collins came out.
Well, I assume she came out of somewhere, because the store was not really very condusive to a meet & greet. Instead, she went over to the PA system, which I think was behind the check out desk, and said she was going to read from Catching Fire and Mockingjay. She said she reads Katniss the way she hears her; with an accent she could only describe as "futuristic Appalachian". Wish she had told the narrator on the audiobooks that - Collins' reading was much more enjoyable than the official audiobook.
After she finished reading, she went to the table they had set up for her by the magazines. A staffmember from the store came around and said she would pose for photos and to just give your camera to the staff person at the front of the line. She was very nice, taking a moment to say hello to every person even though I'm almost certain there will 200 people in the line.
ANYHOO - PICTURES:
( Read more... )
At first glance, it sounded like it was going to be a mess. The manager I talked to a couple weeks before seemed relatively clueless about how they would run that thing. I was worried. So, I told
andy_wolverton to work recon that day, since he had taken the entire day off and I was working until 4. Around 2pm I get a text that says "Call Me" so I comply and he gives me the run down - first, she's not signing books. She hurt her wrist. But she is stamping them. Second, they are handing out numbered tickets but since he could only get one he was going to wait for me to show up so our numbers were the same. Also, you can take pictures of her but not with her. So, since I was on the desk, I Googled information about the signing/stamping and found out that Collins has a repetitve strain injury so the stamp was custom made by Scholastic for the tour and they plan to retire it as soon as the tour is over, making it still a bit of a "collectible". Ah well, I figured it would be a fun night no matter what - I mean, I was leaving work early (and with a combo of comp time + leave, I had only been there a whopping 3 hours...)!
Anyway, so I get off of work, do a quick change in the bathroom into jeans and my Hunger Games t-shirt (fangirl alert!) and dash over to the mall.
andy_wolverton meets me by the store and we walk up and get our tickets - #60 and #61! And who is in front of me in line but ANOTHER librarian, from Baltimore County, who I met at a training probably about a year ago! She's got her daughter there so we start chatting books. Then the Books-A-Million people say that since the tickets are numbered, they are just going to line people up by number so just be back at the store around 6:30-7. Which means - FOOD! I had a HUGE bacon-cheeseburger to prepare myself, then we wandered around the mall a bit because we still had plenty of time. Made the mistake of going into the Disney Store where they had stuffed toys on sale for $5...they had Doc, from Snow White, and he had a little book in his lap so I had to have him. Then, among the toys in the middle of the store, I found a talking Dug (from UP) which I was really looking for and figured they would never have again. So I snatched him up. Then we went to FYE and they had Beatles mugs 2/$5 so
andy_wolverton got With the Beatles and I grabbed Hard Day's Night. Score!Then back to the store and back in line. It's all very orderly now, we line up next to the balloons that are the same color as our ticket, then get in order by number. We're back next to Paula from BCPL so we talk books. Totally randomly she finds out the woman next to HER in line is a BCPL patron and she had recommended Hunger Games to her! LOL! Small world. We talk about how every single frakkin YA book out now is a series and/or steampunk. We talked about Roar (she loved it, I did not), Ship Breaker (she's read it, it's on my desk), and Black Hole Sun (She hated it, it's on my desk). And then Suzanne Collins came out.
Well, I assume she came out of somewhere, because the store was not really very condusive to a meet & greet. Instead, she went over to the PA system, which I think was behind the check out desk, and said she was going to read from Catching Fire and Mockingjay. She said she reads Katniss the way she hears her; with an accent she could only describe as "futuristic Appalachian". Wish she had told the narrator on the audiobooks that - Collins' reading was much more enjoyable than the official audiobook.
After she finished reading, she went to the table they had set up for her by the magazines. A staffmember from the store came around and said she would pose for photos and to just give your camera to the staff person at the front of the line. She was very nice, taking a moment to say hello to every person even though I'm almost certain there will 200 people in the line.
ANYHOO - PICTURES:
( Read more... )
