Can I Read 50 books in Two Weeks????

No this isn't a crazy post where I'm going to attempt to read 50 books in two weeks, but I wish I could!

Why?

Because the LA Times Festival of Books is coming up! And there's nothing that, to steal from my friend Natasha of Maw Books Blog, makes me feel illiterate like book festivals!

It is truly amazing to me how huge the world of books is. Despite the fact that I do my absolute best to keep on top of the world of publishing, there are still so many authors I've never heard of. And simply not enough time to read the ones I do know of already!

I was so excited to finally see the list of panels. Many of the topics are interesting to me and many of the panelists look fascinating as well. I do know from experience that it can be hard to sit in panels all day, but I'll still probably try to get as many tickets as possible.

I'm actually a bit more excited about Sundays panels, but here are the ones I'm interested in for Saturday:

Fiction: Writing the Other
Moderator: Mr. Alex Espinoza
Mr. Leonard Chang
Ms. Marilyn Chin
Ms. Chitra Divakaruni
Ms. Petina Gappah

I've read books by exactly ZERO of those authors! But I do have One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni and I'll probably try to read it before the Festival.

I'm also interested in this panel:

Memoir: Keeping the Faith
Moderator: Mr. Jack Miles
Ms. Hope Edelman
Mr. Eric Lax
Mr. William Lobdell
Ms. Dani Shapiro

Yes I like faith memoirs. Even though, upon investigating these writers, it seems they've LOST their faith. Once again, I haven't read any of them. But I really really want to read Faith Interrupted: A Spiritual Journey by Eric Lax. And I have Dani Shapiro's Devotion in the TBR pile, as well as William Lobdell's Losing my Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America--and found Unexpected Peace. So maybe I'll get through one of those.

On Sunday, it gets trickier, but here's what I'm thinking:

John Green & David Levithan in Conversation with Denise Hamilton
Interviewer: Ms. Denise Hamilton
Mr. John Green
Mr. David Levithan

This is where I'm hoping to get my YA fix. I will do everything possible to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson prior to this. But I'm ashamed to say again I haven't read these two, even though I know how many of you LOVE John Green. I have met David Levithan a couple of times and thought he was pretty cool. So I promise to try to quickly become a big fan girl in time so I'm not taking up space.

My next interest is this one:
Fiction: Lives in Transition
Moderator: Ms. Erika Schickel
Ms. Gayle Brandeis
Mr. Allison Burnett
Ms. Heidi Durrow

Uh yeah. Haven't read any of them, again. But I have Heidi Durrow's The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. I've put off reading it because someone told me it was like Nella Larson's Quicksand and that book sort of ruined me for a couple of days.

There are two I want to go to at 3:00 on Sunday, but I'm pretty much thinking this one right now:
Young Adult Fiction: Teens and Turmoil
Moderator: Ms. Sonya Sones
Ms. Gayle Forman
Ms. Cynthia Kadohata
Ms. Jandy Nelson

I have actually read a book by one of these authors!!!! I've read If I Stay by Gayle Foreman! And if I get a ticket to this one, I'll read Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere in time for this.

I am so excited for the festival! This is my favorite time of year with the festival in April and BEA in May! It's SO MUCH bookish goodness I can barely stand it! Can I get all these books plus my commitments read in time? Well I've decided to participate in some of the 24 hour Read-a-thon this weekend in hopes, that YES I CAN!

How about you? Do you enjoy seeing authors even if you haven't read any books by them? (for the record, I really really do) Will you be at the festival of books? If so, be sure to let me know--we'll be trying to get all the bloggers together.