The Odds

This is another book from my new favorite author Stewart O'Nan. It features Art and Marion. They are a couple that are headed for divorce. Their house is going to be foreclosed on. They decided to make one last trip back to Niagara Falls. And their plan is to bet what little money they have left for a chance to salvage their finances, and in turn, their marriage.

Art apparently had cheated with Wendy. Marion also cheated with another woman. One of their kids is getting married imminently. They have not told anybody about them losing their house or their plans for divorce. Art wants to rekindle the love they had when they previously went to Niagara. Marion is not so sure about the whole thing.

The couple find it crowded. They went to Niagara at Valentines Day. Art was mad that some exhibits are total rip offs. He also gets miffed when they give away the table he reserved at a big restaurant. Art has a technique to keep doubling down on losses at roulette. He tried it successfully online. He finds Marion is luckier that him at first.

Their goal is to double their money. Then they can put off the foreclosure. Art gets sick when they are at their last day. He still tries to keep betting. Eventually Marion fills in while he tries to go to the bathroom. Art returns and takes back over as Marion's nerves are shot. They make a big bet, and are capped by a new house maximum.

It all came down to this last spin. Turns out they won. Stewart O'Nan declares that they already won.

in The Walled City

This is another book by my new favorite author Stewart O'Nan. This is a collection of short stories. The stories are all over the place. They seem to be fiction. "In the Walled City" was one of the stories. That phrase was just a non-important line of dialog.

The final story is one about Willie T. He works at a factory and is getting older. He has been there for 25 years. He sees a van for sale. It has been rear ended. Willie knows a guy that could repair the van for a few hundred dollars.

Willie finds out the van is being sold for $2000. Willie dreams of retiring from the factory, then using the newly purchased van to transport people and/or goods for a living while retired. He does end up retiring and buying the van.

He has responded to an ad in the newspaper requiring transportation. He did not bother to ask who he would be transporting. It turned out that a group of 6 would need an hour's drive to and from some remote facility. At first, all seemed well until Willie figured out all the people were dying of cancer.

Willie went from a gig to a full time employee to do the transport. He thought about quitting. It was hard to deal with the impending death. His boss and one of the transports told Willie to get it together for the sake of the patients. It was especially hard when this one patient who told him to buck up died himself.

The Magnolia Story

This book is the biography of Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are the stars of Fixer Upper on HGTV. This follows both of their lives from the beginning. Chip started out as an avid baseball player. He got a sports scholarship to a junior college. He majored in Entrepreneurship. During college he got a job with a man who had the contract to cut the grass on his campus.

Joanna went to college hoping to be on TV. She did a stint in NYC. But it turns out she did not quite like it. She ended up working for her dad's franchise selling tires. That is where she met Chip, who as a customer needed new tires on his truck. Joanna states that Chip was around 2 hours late to their first date. It was almost a no go.

One business Chip was doing when the two got married was flipping small houses near college. They both moved into one of his project houses. They got it all fixed up. But after the house was ready, Chip made them move out so they could rent the house. Joanna found this pattern repeating many times. It was quite chaotic. After a while they scaled up their business creating new homes. But they were maxes out on loans when the housing crisis hit. They were saved by a small private investor.

The Good Wife

Patty's husband Tommy and his accomplice Gary break into an old woman's home to steal money. They end up killing her and torching the place. As the escape outside the house, they are caught by the police. Gary turns on Tommy and accuses him of the murder. Tommy gets a 25 to life sentence. Patty is pregnant with Tommy's baby.

Patty initially moves in with her sister. But once her son Casey is born, she moves in with her mom. Mom takes care of the baby. Casey asks Tommy's old coworker Russ to get her a job. They work on road upkeep. This involves plowing snow, patching holes, and such. It is tough work but the pay is good. Patty gets into good shape due to the physical demands of work.

Initially Patty visits Tommy in a jail that is a few hours away. She usually brought her son. Then Tommy gets moved to an upstate facility that is 12 hours away. She needs to take a bus to get there. Patty rotates through assorted jobs at places like Montgomery Wards, Ruby Tuesdays, and eventually a nursing home. She needs to sell her Dodge car. Eventually Tommy's pickup truck breaks down beyond repair.

Patty toys with the idea of being with a local NASCAR up and coming star. However he seems to have a beauty pageant girlfriend. She ends up remaining loyal to Tommy. Tommy gets denied parole a couple times. Eventually when he gets out, she arranges for a job for him at her work. He hates it and switches to Best Buy.

Casey is grown up, a college grad, and moved out West to work before his dad is released from prison.

Gamer Army

Rogan is a 12 year old gamer in the virtual reality world. He is a bit distant from his parents. His dad plays other games in VR. His mom is a VR rights advocate. Rogan has trouble paying his monthly rent for his VR apartment. He is a pretty decent gamer in one of the VR games.

Rogan gets an invite from the pioneer of VR, who is conducting a championship tournament to identify the best gamer in the VR game he plays in. He is up against 4 other gamers. He actually knows one of them online.

Little by little, the other gamers get eliminated. But there is something suspicious going on with the VR founder. Rogan gets down to the last two in the gaming contest. He gets alerted that the contest games are him actually controlling real world avatars to do the dirty work of the founder.

We Are The Nerds

This book tells the story of the co-founders of the Internet site Reddit. There is Steve Huffman, who was the programmer. Then there was Alexis OHanian. These guys had initially pitched the idea of a kiosk for gas station food offerings. They wanted to join startup incubator Y Combinator. There were initially denied.

Later the head of Y Combinator offered to let both guys in the cohort if they changed their company idea to the original Reddit. They agreed and the rest was history. Both guys seemed to exit once the company got some money. They both became millionaires.

Both guys returned to the company. Huffman eventually became CEO. And Ohanian became a sales man of sort. As an aside, this book track Ohanian meeting and eventually marrying tennis star Serena Williams. This book is the first one by author Christine Lagorio-Chafkin.

She's Gone

This is author David Bell's first foray into young adult fiction. Hunter finds himself in a hospital. He was in a car crash. Some unknown person brought him to the hospital. He can't remember much about the accident. All we know is that his girlfriend Chloe was with him. And now she is missing.

The cops think Hunter is the culprit. Chloe's mom has publicly declared Hunter to be a murderer. Hunter thinks that Chloe's ex-boyfriend may be involved. Hunter starts posting videos to the internet, trying to get any info on Chloe. The lawyer his dad hires wants him to stop.

Hunter later hears from some people that he was angry with Chloe right before he drove off with her and got into an accident. Hunter's little sister Olivia wants to help. She beats up a guy who trash talks her brother. Hunter has a prior friend who is working on a movie about Chloe and Hunter. Turns out this friend gets murdered and his movie materials are stolen. Hunter is the last person who saw him alive.