Accidentally Yours

Christina tries to dial into an interview with Zoom. Instead, she crashes another company's review of their Powerpoint. She tears the deck to shreds. Then leaves the call. The interim CEO Jude tracks her down and hires her as a consultant.

Eventually their banter causes Jude to ask Christina out. It turns out they live in the same building in Chicago. They both have seen each other getting mail from the prompt mailman Larry. A bit unbelievable. But still a cute story.

Leave it up to Love

Lila got a book published. It was mid. Her publisher thinks she is taking away from their main author Elizabeth. Lila wants a contract for another book. Her published makes her become a ghost writer for Elizabeth.

The problem is not just writer's block. Elizabeth's husband died. And now she cannot even write a word. Her son Grady also is suffering. He no longer dates. Grady and Lila somehow team up to talk Elizabeth into trying the ghostwriter arrangement.

It works out well. Lila does the writing. Elizabeth gives guidance. Grady falls for Lila. Then he decides to back off, nominally because they need that book done. He then not only becomes Lila's agent, but also her lover.

Hot For Slayer

Ethel is an old vampire. She gets injured and is protected by a vampire slayer Lazlo. He just recently lost his memory. He keeps asking Ethel questions which she dodges. He knows she does not tell the truth about his profession and their relationship (he is supposed to kill her).

Ethel takes Lazlo home. They go out on the town and are attacked by an ancient vampire. They both get injured. At this point, Lazlo regains his memory. They default the ancient vampire. Ethel considers attacking Lazlo. However, he confesses his love for her.

Apparently, Lazlo has been in love with Ethel for a very long time. He now lives across the street from her, and has been spying on her for the duration of her living there. She drinks his blood, which he gives freely. We find that he has retired from the slayer profession. He killed all the hit men they sent after him. Ethel and Lazlo become a couple now. They travel the world. And sometimes they return back to Ethel's home.

Riding with Reagan

This book recounts the true story of secret service agent John Barletta. He was instrumental in protecting president Reagan, especially when the president went riding on horseback. The trouble was that no other secret service agents were very adept at horseback riding. John, on the other hand, was a natural. John did try to institute training for a select band of secret service agents so they could ride horses as well.

The majority of horseback riding happened at Reagan's ranch in California. There was a small 2-bedroom abode there. The president was very hands on. He had constructed a lot of the fencing on the ranch. He was also hands on with his horse. The secret service had to set up all kinds of security on the ranch. It was tough to even drive up the mountain to where the ranch was perched.

John tells stories of how the president used humor. Also, of how he was tight with Margaret Thatcher. Reagan loved jelly bellies. But his wife Nancy tried hard to shut down his access to them. Eventually the president succumbed to Alzheimer's. Nancy and a full-time nurse took care of him in his last years. Eventually John also got old, and the secret service is a young man's employer.

Year Book

This is Seth Rogan's own account of how he grew up to become a comedian. I did not even know he was a stand-up comic. I thought has was just a regular actor. Seth said he started as a very young comedian. Older ones gave him advice to talk about specific of being young.

Seth got a gig once to write jokes for a guy that performed circumcisions. He spent the weekend writing 10 jokes. The contracted price was $50 a joke. The dude only wanted to buy one. Seth insisted he buy all 10, since Seth thought they were good, and he spent so much time writing them. The guy relented. Seth's mom says the guy is still using them 40 years later all the time.

Seth had a beef with Jack Dorsey, who was the founder of Twitter. Seth saw that many antisemitic posters were verified Twitter users. Seth appealed to Jack to have them kicked off Twitter. Jack only responded that he would look into it. Nothing ever came about of it.

The book wrapped up talking about a Jewish camp hike. They were to walk through 29 miles of remote country. Half-way through, some girl hurt her ankle and passed out. A young counselor and a camper went for help. Seth and pals constructed a stretcher that was too heavy for them. Eventually 4 burly men showed up. They carried the injured girl to a nearby road. The counselor and camper can back with an ambulance. Eventually the fire department rescued the rest of the kids, keeping them overnight in the firehouse.

The Faces & Places of Oz

 

This book is a collection of locations in the movie Wicked. It starts with Munchkinland. Elphaba's father is the governor of Munckinland. The next location is Shiz University. Elphaba and her sister attend magic school there. So does Glinda. The final location is the Emerald City. This is a luxurious place that is the home to the wizard of Oz.

Savage Art

This book started out with a discussion of magazine covers during the early 1900s. Apparently authors and artists did not make much, if they even got paid. Publishers got rich. This discussion was kind of boring. They went over many authors, what they drew, and who they drew for.

The rest of the book are full page images from covers. This book has an 8x14 inch form factor. So, the images are big. A lot of times there are scantily clad women. Often they are tied up. There also seems to be dudes that look like detectives with guns. And there are also bad guys with guns.

This was a coffee table style book I purchased. The cover price was a reasonable $15. I think I got the book for $5 or $7 from a bargain books store online. Good times all around.