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Chris Colfer, John Green, Mob Wives, and Jeffrey Eugenides: Thoughts from Places Book Expo

2012-06-12 · John, M. T. Anderson · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · personal update

In a Thoughts from Places diary of BookExpo America, John reveals the fan-designed Abundance of Katherines cover and meets celebrities and writers, and concludes that he was nervous only around the writers he admires: worship is inevitable, but we choose our gods.

What is said

00:00:00 — Arriving at BookExpo America, "the VidCon of book publishing": a celebrity fest where books are treated like iPads

  • ★★ John spent last week in New York City at BookExpo America, which he calls essentially the VidCon of book publishing, and found it a celebrity fest. — 00:00:00 · New York City, VidCon
  • ★★ John says at BEA the world treats books the way it usually treats iPads: a mad dash for advance copies, a staircase devoted to Cassandra Clare, banners for Libba Bray's new book. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Attention for Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray and The Fault in Our Stars; reveal of the fan-designed Abundance of Katherines cover

  • ★★ The Fault in Our Stars got quite a bit of attention at BEA, shown off on camera by a woman John calls extraordinary; he corrected someone who listed "The Fate in Our Stars" as a favorite. (playful) — 00:00:29 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★★ John was at BEA for interviews and signings and to reveal the new An Abundance of Katherines cover, designed by a 17-year-old longtime nerdfighter who then left for her prom. — 00:00:29 · An Abundance of Katherines, Nerdfighteria

00:00:58 — Speeches with Lois Lowry, Kadir Nelson and Chris Colfer; lunch with Jeffrey Eugenides; nerdfighters; dinner with Shannon Hale and M. T. Anderson

  • ★★ John gave speeches, one alongside Lois Lowry, Kadir Nelson and Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer, whom he found extraordinarily nice, generous and quick-witted. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ At a writers' lunch John met Jeffrey Eugenides, who with Michael Chabon made him want to be a writer in high school; he filmed him from behind for ten minutes before shaking his hand and embarrassing himself. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John met nerdfighters (one gave him a singamajig), spoke to an enormous room, and ate dinner with Shannon Hale and M. T. Anderson, with whom he once broke into abandoned buildings in Detroit. — 00:01:27 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ M. T. Anderson, whom John says always speaks in full and beautiful sentences, says criticizing a book character's intelligence is a huge insult to teen intellectuals already put down by peers. (hedged) — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Skyscraper party with Colfer, Tony Danza, John Hodgman, reality stars and Darin Strauss; nervous around writers, not the celebrity

  • ★★ After dinner John ended up at a skyscraper-top party with Chris Colfer, Tony Danza, John Hodgman, SNL cast members, reality-TV housewives, a mob wife, and writer Darin Strauss. — 00:01:56
  • ★ John says Darin Strauss wrote Chang and Eng, the book that introduced him to conjoined-twins literature. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Geeking out with Strauss, John realized he had not felt nervous around Chris Colfer, who was just a guy, but was shaking around Eugenides and Strauss. — 00:01:56 · celebrity

00:02:33 — Worship is inevitable, but we choose our gods; sign-off

  • ★★★ John concludes that in a hyper-secular world worship is still inevitable, but people choose their own gods; he is glad he chose Eugenides rather than a mob wife. — 00:02:33 · celebrity > «our gods don't choose us. We choose them.»

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