Please Like Me

This is another tiny e-book by Mindy Kaling. She recounts her 4th grade birthday party. She was worried her classmates would find her house weird, with all the Indian stuff in there. Then her mom went and bought burgers with Swiss cheese. She tried to inform her mom that burgers must have orange cheese to no avail.

Mindy moved to LA. She found she did not have any friends. Once she went to a party and found some women in the back smoking a joint and having fun. She tried to befriend these people. They were aspiring actresses. They did not eat burgers. And they only had safe talk. Eventually, she ghosted them.

Mindy tells of her best friend BJ, who hosted her 40th birthday party. Mindy, in turn, was asked to bring cakes to BJ's birthday party. And she was asked by BJ to give a speech at the party. While she is giving the speech, Wade Boggs steals the mic and never gives it back.

Once Upon a Time in Silver Lake

This was a tiny e-book by Mindy Kaling. This was back when she was very pregnant with child. The weather was terribly hot. Her friend BJ was taking her out to get food. They parked and were approached by a homeless guy. The homeless dude said he recognized her from the office.

Mindy and friend were disappointed to find their restaurant closed down. They went back to his car, only to find the homeless guy inside. He had taken a laptop out of the friend's bag and was doing something. Mindy goes to the driver's side and pins the door shut. Her friend jumps in the passenger side and screams at the dude.

Mindy's friend checks that nothing is missing from the car. Then they let the thief go. Apparently Mindy's friend has a keyless FOB that allows anybody to open the car door when the FOB is near. Mindy and friend contemplated calling the police. But they thought it would do no good.

Bad Date

Fay is a former movie star. Her career has gone down hill. She hosts a podcast with her assistant and friend Poppy. Fay moved to Hollywood when she fell in love with a man. That produced a son, Wolf, who is now a teenager. Fay and her husband divorced. Fay moved back to London.

Fay has been secretly dating different men. However, they all seem to die mysterious deaths. All evidence points to her son Wolf, who is overprotective and wants Fay to get back with his dad. Fay goes out on a date with Ollie. We find out that he is a stalker. Fay and Poppy know about this.

Fay steals Ollie's house key on the first day. Poppy goes and plants incriminating evidence in his house. Fay finally invites Ollie over to her house. He is early. He is let in by Wolf, who tries to kill him. Fay comes home and tells Wolf to accompany her in the panic room.

Fay calls the police. She and Poppy have set Ollie up. Fay instructs Wolf to tell the cops he has never seen Ollie before. Ollie is going to say he is Fay's boyfriend. But Fay has been careful. There is no proof. And Ollie certainly looks nothing like the caliber of men Fay can attract.

The Chemistry Test

Penny is disabled and confined to a wheelchair. She has other medical problems. But she wants to push past her limits and attend college. Luckily, she is very smart. So, she is fine academically. She meets Cam during her first semester there. At first, he is mysterious.

It turns out that Penny runs an online help site. Unbeknownst to them, they had been talking online at Penny's site for a while. Cam is still getting over the death of his grandmother. He was very close to her. She helped him get into the movie business. Cam is on a terribly famous series.

As an aside, Penny gets involved in public speaking. Cam reacts badly and ghosts Penny for a while. Then some other guy in the public speaking team appears to move in on Penny romantically. Cam finally gets up the nerve and shares his feelings with Penny. Penny shuts him down, thinking her disability would hold her back.

Of course these two get together in the end. She had promised to attend a public release of the latest season of his show. At this red carpet even, Cam is able to pin Penny down and address her reservations at them dating.

More Joel on Software

This is a book about running an independent software vendor company. The author is Joel Spolsky. He is co-founder of Fog Creek Software. They make boring bug tracking software. Joel is big on running the company in a way he would want to work there.

Joel's writing comes mostly from his blog, Joel on Software. The posts are 20 to 25 years old. However, they have aged well. This book is a sequel to Joel on software, which followed the same format. Ten years ago, Joel handed over the running of the company to somebody else. He then went on to lead Stack Overflow.

The Idea Factory

Subtitle of the this book is "Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation". The book covers many decades and scientists. These include famous people such as Shannon and Shockley who worked there. Most of the story happens in New Jersey.

Bell Labs worked on serious phone company future plans. They wanted to communicate overseas. The proposal was laying cable under the sea. They needed to build in repeaters to keep up the signal. They also researched ways to use satellites.

There was research on how to transmit signal over what would become fiber optic. Some research was not necessarily specific to the phone industry. To replace vacuum tubes, they invented the transistor.

The book covered government attempts to break up the monopoly. This somehow included AT&T. Eventually some parts would be in a merger of Alcatel and Lucent.

A Girl of the Limberlost

Elnora wants to go to high school. But it is expensive. Her mom is worried about the high cost of taxes for the property she owns. Even when Elnora somehow is able to get past school tuition, things like books costs a fortune.

Elnora starts looking for paid work. There is a Bird Woman who pays handsomely for specimens from the woods. Or in this case, from the wetlands know as the Limberlost. Elnora sells things such as rare moths to the Bird Woman. She can afford books and clothes and more.

When Elnora graduates, she finds her funds have dwindled to nothing. She wants to go to college. But the costs are even higher. She is trying to finish putting together a collection of moths. She finally has the most rare one. But her mom thinks it is some predatory animal and destroys it.

Elnora's aunt finds out what happened. She then goes to Elnora's mom and tells her about the details of Elnora's father's death. Apparently he was cheating on his wife. This is why he took a dangerous route through the wetlands and dies. Eventually her mom understands everything, and reconciles with Elnora.

Elnora decided to take a year off from school. She meets Phil, a handsome Harvard grad. Phil is on rest at his uncle doctor's advice. He needs some time outdoors in the south. Phil knows a lot about moths. He assists Elnora in her collecting for a whole summer as he is recuperating from his illness. He has a fiance back home in Chicago.

Before leaving to go back home, Phil seems to express romantic in Elnora. She shuts it down. Back home, Phil breaks up with his girlfriend. He returns to the Limberlost to marry Elnora. However, Elnora is not convinced as he has been engaged for most of his life. She needs to speak with his ex-fiance.