Why BEA is Fun to read about

I was thinking about Kevin’s reaction to Michael Schaub’s snark about Christians, which reminded me of the dustup last fall when Mark Sarvas banned Collected Miscellany from his blog roll after John Kerry failed so miserably in Ohio. This post is supposed to be about the Book Expo America; I’ll get to that. After all an assemblage of so many publishing luminaries should offer at least comic relief if not astonishing insight into the publishing world.

Back to Kevin. Since he invited me to join CM last summer I’ve admired his even handed approach to the books he reviews, the stuff he comments on and his honesty about the slings and arrows of being one of the few conservative bloggers on the ‘sphere. Kevin manages to put up with me even though I am far to his left, a mad dog about freedom of speech, not enamored of the current administration and a Yankees fan to boot. As to Schaub, I have to agree with Kevin that cheap shots to an easy audience lead me to believe that Michael Schaub is a jerk. That’s my view, not necessarily Kevin’s.

Anyway, Mark Sarvas is covering BEA and has posts about it over at The Elegant Variation. I’m envious of all the attendees since free tote bags are a passion of mine. I’d like to meet Michael Cader; Bud Parr went to the blogger panel and posted his observations. BEA rages on through Sunday at the Javits Center in midtown Manhattan. After that, the publishing industry will head for the Hamptons until Labor Day.