Well, it's huge and there is more to see than your brain can digest, but the focus is on business, so I'm never sure what people who don't work in the industry get out of it. I only go there to meet editors: it's nice to put faces to the names (though I'm faceblind so in my case that doesn't stick) and it is surprisingly more effective to discuss a project face-to-face than on the phone.

I wouldn't travel that far just to browse books, and I haven't had a book fandom in ages so I'm not so interested in the signings or stuff like that. There are scheduled panels, a lot of them quite political. It all feels a lot more serious than the comic cons I've been to.

But anyway, the fair gets super crowded on the weekend when it opens to the public, so there seems to be something for everybody. This year I loved the read-and-relax area they set up in the open space between the halls, where you could grab a book and hang out on a beanbag chair or a hammock. And the international sections are fascinating; I think you'd love them.