Then Again, Maybe I Won't

Tony is 12 years old. He lives in Jersey with his mom, dad, grandmother, brother, and sister in law. Grandma cannot speak. But she cooks all meals. Tony's brother gets his wife pregnant. The family is worried about money. Tony's dad invents some electrical device. He sells it to some big wig, then gets hired to head up the plant that will manufacture them. They get rich due to this arrangement.

Tony and his immediate family move to Long Island. His brother and sister in law also move to New York. They now have a nice house. They hire a maid who takes over cooking, to grandma's dismay. There is a rich kid who lives next door. He is a thief. It causes Tony pain when the kid steals from stores. Lisa also lives next door. She is the big sister. Tony spies on her at night in her bedroom.

There is a tall skinny girl nicknamed Corky at school that has the hots for Tony. But he thinks he is in love with Lisa. Eventually the boy next door gets caught stealing by store security. They have him on tape. By then, Tony has had sessions with a shrink who helps him cope with troubling situations. Two years later, the thief kid is sent away to a military boarding school. And Tony think about warming up to Corky, seemingly giving up on his dreams about Lisa.

This book is by Judy Blume. It was published back in 1971. I must have read it before. I only recognized a scene when Tony and his pals hide a tip for a diner waitress in a milk jugs. The waitress screams at them that the tip pays for her loaf of bread. They stop sitting at her tables in the diner.

Damned, Volume 1, Three Days Dead

This is a graphic novel. Eddie is a man who worked for a demon. Apparently he was dead for three days. But he awoke. He was summoned by his demon boss. The boss and another clan were trying to broker a peace deal. The mediator went missing. The boss sent Eddie to investigate.

Eddie is searching for his ex-girlfriend's brother, who is in hiding. Eddie runs into assorted members of the gangs. He eventually finds out that there is something going down bigger than some gang truce. A book has been found that has an accounting of deals humans made with demons. And it lists demon names. Those names can be used to obtain power over those demons.

Eddie confronts the mastermind behind trying to translate the demon names from the books. He has a gun to this human's head. But then his ex-girlfriend shoots Eddie from behind. Luckily Eddie has the power to come back from the dead. The mastermind is apprehended. Eddie takes back the book. His demon boss gives Eddie a club to run. Eddie hands the book over to his boss.

Eddie creates a new rule for the club. No demons. During the ruckus he learns his ex-girlfriend also made a deal with the devil. He does not use his new found luck and power to save her.

Be a Work in Progress

This is a book by WWE wrestling star John Cena. It is actually a collection of quotes. These seem to be from his Twitter. Here are some example sayings:

• Do things for the reward of doing them
• Crisis can breed opportunity
• Be who you say you are