In case you thought BookExpo was about the books...

We're here to tell you that BookExpo America is really about the parties. Sure, there's plenty of talk from bookish types about being "on the floor" — the acres of space inside the Los Angeles Convention Center,  where publishers, authors and panelists are setting up shop. But the most animated conversations are about the social events, the dinner at Lucques or the party at the Chateau, or where, exactly, that "undisclosed location" for Prince's party actually is.

Here's the New York Observer on the topic:

On Friday there's Random House Trade cocktails at Sona with folks like Mr. Rushdie, Curtis Sittenfeld, David Ebershoff. Knopf cocktails are happening concurrently at Comme Ça, with a dinner across the street at Lucques to follow with Barbara Walters, Joseph O'Neil, Dexter Filkins, Arianna Huffington, Anne Rice, Art Spiegelman, and others.

Later on, Grand Central is throwing a party in honor of Ted Turner at Larry King's house in Beverly Hills, and Book Soup, a celebrated indy retailer, is hosting a party for the Ecco Press at Palihouse. Weinstein Books is hosting a big thing at Chateau Marmont that most people we asked were planning on attending, and Atria is having a party for Prince, whose multimedia book they are publishing, at "an undisclosed location."

Then there's the annual New York Review of Books party at the Bel-Air (Mark Danner will be there, also the philanthropist Max Palevsky), and The New Yorker party at Gordon Ramsay's London West Hollywood, which features David Sedaris, John Hodgman, Simon & Schuster publisher David Rosenthal, and Mr. Rushdie again. Also Henry Finder and Leo Carey, who oversee the magazine's books coverage.

Whew, I'm exhausted. And wondering what it'll take to get invited to all the soirees next time.

—Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Bob Carey / Los Angeles Times