Buying for fall

I am in the process of ordering books for this fall. Usually it is especially hard to be thinking about Christmas in May because the weather is so gorgeous. This year, the stretch is not as hard to make. This chilly weather has been sending me to bed early, so I have been getting lots of reading done. Some of them are advanced copies of books that will be out this fall (look for Mr. Toppit!) others are just things that have been sitting in my pile for a long time. I am currently working my way through an advanced copy of the next Donna Leon, and Bill Bryson's new book. I recently read Chef - a thoughtful narrative about an chef who is an officer in the Indian army and the time he serves in Kashmir cooking for a general. I also finished the first two mysteries of a relatively new series A Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam and A Good Thief's Guide to Paris. Light, but not too fluffy books. I wish that they were a tad more atmospheric, but if that is as close to Amsterdam and Paris as I am going to get this year, I'll take it.

Next week I am off to New York City for Book Expo America. I will be wondering the long aisles of the Javits Convention Center in mid-town. My arms will be tired from lugging around galleys that publishers insist I must read. My feet will hurt because they just will. They hurt now just thinking about all the walking I will do. But I don't care because I will be in bookseller's lala-land, nirvana, heaven - surrounded by the written word, talking to passionate booksellers, publishers and authors. Can't wait!