In April I read 14 books to bring my total for the year to 69. They were:
56) The Glory of Their Times: The Stories of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played it by Lawerence S. Ritter - In the mid 60s Ritter interviewed ~30 players who played in the early days of baseball and tells their stories in their own words. Wonderful baseball book. 4.5/5
57) The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond by Jeff Silverman (Editor) - Some great writing that spans the length of baseball into the late 20th century (book was published in ‘04). There were a few stories that had me scratching my head wondering what definition of great was used to include them in the book. Overall though, very solid. 4/5
58) Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society That Shocked Depression-Era Detroit by Tom Stanton - In 1934 the Tigers list the World Series. The year that followed, the Lions, Red Wings and Tigers would all win their championships and Joe Louis was on his way to the heavyweight crown. At the same time the Black Legion, a Klan off-shot was gaining ground in Detroit. It mainly focuses on the Tigers and the Black Legion and there is no real connector between the stories, except that it was all taking place in Detroit. It was a good read on Depression era Detroit as a whole though. 4/5
59) Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone the First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League by Martha Ackmann - A good biography on Toni Stone and a nice read on barnstorming teams, independent teams and the Negro League of the 40s - 50s. 3.5/5
60) The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made It to the Big Leagues After 11 Years in the Minors by Chris Coste - I’ve had this in my bookshelf since it was published in ‘08, but just never got around to reason it. Nice look at Coste’s journey through the independent leagues and the minor leagues until finally achieving his dreams. 3.75/5
61) Rose by Li-Young Lee - Beautiful, emotional works. This was Lee’s first collection of poems. 4.5/5
62) The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan - A wide ranging collection of 200 poems from the 16th poet laureate. A nice collection 4.25/5
63) in the absence of the sun by Emily Curtis - For a first poetry collection from a high schooler that was good. 3.5/5
64) Calling A Wolf A Wolf by Kaveh Akbar - A terrific debut collection. 4.75/5
65) How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems: 1975 - 2001 by Joy Harjo - A great collection of Harjo’s poems. 4.25/5
66) Would You Like Magic with That: Working at Walt Disney World Guest Relations by Annie Salisbury - Memoir of a Disney cast member. Interesting behind the scenes read. 3.75/5
67) One Little Spark!: Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering by Martin Sklar - Sklar, one of the best known Imagineers and former president of the Imagineering Department, gives his leadership philosophy, along with plenty of anecdotes and memories of many Imagineers. 4/5
68) Disney Declassified by Aaron H. Goldberg - just a quick read in some of the stranger things that have happened at The various Disney parks. 3/5
69) DisneyWar by James B. Stewart - The rise and fall of Michael Eisner’s 20+ years at Disney. Published back in ‘05, about a month before Eisner official announced he would be resigning, the level of access Stewart was able to get while writing the book is pretty ridiculous. 4.25/5