#Read26Indy discussion

What is everyone reading this April?

I am about to start Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman which are books 21 and 22 for me.

I liked OCEAN very much. The author takes chances and thereby creates an unusual story that stands apart from the run-of-the-mill novel.

Working on books 9 & 10 - one's a snoozer but it's for work so that's to be expected. The other one - Fallen Beauty by Erika Robuck is difficult to put down.

#14. Agatha Christy: After the Funeral. This is the book I am giving away for World Book Night on April 23.

After the Funeral

I finished NIGHT FILM and BOTTOM OF THE 33rd (my 39th and 40th) today. The first is a readable horror/suspense//mystery that seems 100 pages too long while the second book tells the story of the longest game in professional baseball history, including snapshots of the lives of the men who played in that game.

Along with the other books I'm reading, I'm going to add THE DINNER and, maybe, THE IOWA BASEBALL CONFEDERACY

What are your favorite baseball books? Are there any titles that might not be well known? .

My new book, Spanking CIty Hall just came out two weeks ago. It's a true story about Indianapolis. Critics praised the book, readers on Amazon rate almost 5 stars, and all library copies have holds with wait lists.

The book is available at Indy at IndyReads or Bookmama's. If you are in the Broad Ripple area, I'd meet up to give you an author-graphed hard back. There is also a Kindle version.

IBJ Books (arm of Indianapolis Business Journal) is the publisher.

Supporting photo galleries, press archive, plus the first chapter is available on my website -- http://www.spankingcityhall.com

I finished I HATE TO WRITE, my 41st.

And Jukebox America, 42.

Herman Koch's THE DINNER makes 43.

Finished book 11 tonight, John Grisham's Sycamore Row.

Book 12 = finished. breaking up with God by Sarah Sentilles.

Finally finishing the Dark Tower series. Just finished Hawkeye vol 2 Little Hits.

Finished The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham

Finished The Girl Who Played With Fire (Stieg Larsson). Starting A Guide to the Birds of East Africa (Nicholas Drayson).

#14 for the year is finished: Ex Heroes by Peter Clines.

I finished my 44th book, ZONE ONE by Colson Whitehead.

Finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I thought I would enjoy it - I didn't really!

JL Kato's SHADOWS SET IN CONCRETE is my 45th.

And Josh Wilker's CARDBOARD GODS is 46.

THE IOWA BASEBALL CONFEDERACY by W. P. Kinsella makes 47.

My 48th is THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein.

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Just finished up a couple of books this month. Tommy' Tale and The Red Book. Hopefully I can pick up the pace that I was at again.

ALL MOVIES LOVE THE MOON by Gregory Robinson is. #49.

Alice Hoffman The Museum of Extraordinary Things I saw an ad for this book in the New Yorker and it was just odd enough to make me look it up. When I did I realized I had seen the book come up several times in my amazon browsing, and such. I decided to take the hint and read it!

What do you think of the Huffman book?

A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA makes my 50th. I highly recommend this book about friendship, love, betrayal and disappearances.

15. Steve Berry: The Columbus Affair. Competent thriller
16. Dean Koontz: The Door to December. Spooky murder mystery that veers into the supernatural and horror. Cleaning out some old books I found this, read the first page and had to finish it. Koontz is good at keeping you reading, though the ending was rather abrupt and not really well thought out.

Michael wrote: "What do you think of the Huffman book?"

I had hoped it would be a cross between Miss Peregrine... and Water for Elephants and it was!

I'll have to put it on my to-read list. I liked WATER and MISS PEREGRINE has been on my radar. Thanks, Jennifer.

Finsihing the month with You Only Live Twice and Breaking Point

I also read Ex-Heroes by Clines this month. My #7. I can't say I liked it all that much. Thin characterization hurt a neat premise.

My April reads were:
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Torch by Cheryl Strayed
12 of 26 read and almost got 13 done but it will have to fall in the May reads.

Still working on #9, but just finished #11 & 12 - The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski and Summer by Edith Wharton. Summer - so surprisingly modern and candid for being published in 1917.