SIBA -- Day 3 Saturday

Kathy and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning because we had purchased tickets to the Taste of Harper Collins Breakfast. We arrived early enough that we were seated at a table with two of the authors who were speaking. That's right! Kathy and I sat at the same table as YA author Sara Zarr and Christina Baker Kline, author of ORPHAN TRAIN!!!!

The Harper Collins breakfast was definitely one of the highlights of SIBA. Of course, it didn't hurt that I got to chat with Sara Zarr and hear about the movie that's being made from one of her books. Squeeze! However, all five speakers were outstanding. The event was hosted by Harrison Scott Key, author of THE WORLD'S LARGEST MAN, and he was absolutely hilarious. I felt bad for the person who had to follow him, but Kevin Wilson, author of PERFECT LITTLE WORLD was fantastic and very funny too. Next up was Sara Zarr, author of the new novel GEM & DIXIE. She spoke from the heart and brought me to tears -- I can't wait to read this one! Then, Christina Baker Kline spoke about her book A PIECE OF THE WORLD. Naturally, I'm dying to read it because I adore her books. Finally, we heard from Peter Swanson, whose new book HER EVERY FEAR, sounds great. All in all, I came out of this breakfast knowing that I had to read these five books!

Kathy and I took to the show room floor. While it's much smaller than what I'm used to at BEA, I loved it! All of the reps were extremely friendly. Because the crowds were so much less than BEA, they actually had time to talk about the books they are excited about for the upcoming season. I'd like to say that I showed some restraint, but I'm a sucker for a good book pitch or two!!! Kathy has the same problem, and I enjoyed being an enabler to her book collection.

It was another gorgeous day in Savannah and not too hot, so Kathy and I took to walking around the city. I'm not sure there were many more sights for us to see because we had already done so much walking, but we did manage to hit an ice cream parlor that had caught my eye on a prior day. It's called Leopold's Ice Cream, and it was adorable. I felt as if I had traveled back in time to another generation. The shop was next to a theatre so the decor was heavy on the movie posters and photos of Hollywood stars, and the ice cream was delicious.

After our ice cream settled and we walked a bit more, we decided to try the Crystal Beer Parlor for lunch. We definitely were lucky in picking this restaurant. Crystal Beer Parlor is a historic restaurant that's over 83 years old and was one of the first places to serve alcohol after Prohibition was lifted. I loved the look of the restaurant -- it was an old grocery store prior to be turned into a restaurant; and my salad was delicious. The beer menu wasn't too shabby either.

Of course, we hit the showroom floor later in the day to see if there were any new books available. We also noticed that we missed a publisher or two that we wanted to see. Then, we headed over to The Public Kitchen and Bar for a SheReads Cocktail Party. The party was held on a rooftop bar and it was so nice just to have a drink and visit with some fellow bloggers. We met up with Sandy and Heather, and it was fun to talk about the conference and books as well as life in general.

Our last event of the day was the Saturday Supper featuring Jodi Picoult, Robert Hicks, Beth Macy and David Arnold. I was fascinated by the story behind Beth Macy's new novel TRUEVINE, and I was charmed by Mr. Arnold whose new YA book KIDS OF APPETITE sounds great. Of course, the speaker we all wanted to hear was Ms. Picoult. Her new book is called SMALL GREAT THINGS, and it deals with a very sensitive (and timely) topic - racism. Her speech, which focused on race relations, was very well received; and she definitely made every person there think... which I'm pretty sure was her intent.

And that was pretty much a wrap for SIBA Saturday! Kathy and I had no problems getting out of the garage on Saturday night because we learned our lesson and parked outside. It was a very long day and I think we both had book overload, but I loved every minute of it!