“You seem to be a rather rare combination of the best of both…About a new version of the Special Operations Executive. The answer is yes. In fact, it already exists. Would you be interested in joining?’ ‘I would.’ Bond said without hesitation. ‘Though I should like to ask: What exactly does it do?’ The Admiral thought for a moment, as if polishing burrs off his reply. ‘Our mission,’ he said, ‘is simple. we protect the Realm…by any means necessary.”
A colleague lent me a copy of this book, though I hesitate to give it that distinction. Author Sean Whalen gives us around a hundred pages in bold, large font to help us “make more money. Get in better shape. Create epic relationships. Control your life.” 
His method is “CORE 4” and has four prongs; Power, Passion, Purpose, and Production. That is how his book reads…bold and big. This may be inspirational to some…not for me though.
The life of Samuel Hunter seems to be falling apart when the very successful insurance salesman encounters a strange Indian (American). His past comes crashing back while he meets an astounding young woman, becomes an assault suspect, and becomes the target of his fellow condo members. While he is down, his “friends” do the usual friend thing and try to take advantage of his bad luck…or is it bad luck.
“Now, maybe he told himself, they could move out into the country the way Betty wanted to. Maybe he could spend his evenings tramping land that belonged to him. A place with a stream. Definitely it had to have a stream he could stock with trout. He made a mental note to go up into the attic and check his fly equipment.”
Clifford Simak’s novel, City, 
In the sequel to Wired by author Douglas E. Richards, we find Kira Miller and David Desh the focus of a vicious manhunt by powerful forces bent on their destruction. They have been set up as working with terrorists to destroy the civilized world. In AMPED 
This series is a boxed set of twelve Christmas-themed mysteries. Interestingly enough, I cannot find the books in Amazon any more (the book photo is from the companion recipe book). There were many times when I considered dumping the book as the first few “novels” were not to my liking. Part way through, that changed for me…or maybe I changed? Whatever. The stories became more interesting to read for me. I guess that I’d characterize these as the Hallmark Movie version of a mystery novel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
When you have someone close to you who is suffering from and addiction or disorder you soo want to help them that you’d do anything…often becoming an enabler or a co-dependent. The Language of Letting Go 
“The reader may find in this account a tendency to emphasize the bizarre and absurd. For better or worse many characteristics of Bureau life – which some people took very seriously – fell into these categories.”
I didn’t judge this book by its cover or title. Actually I did and I expected a funny look at my culture. What I got in Stuff White People Like 
“If there was no order in the universe, then why should it be out of order to be sitting on the beach talking to an Arab dwarf who claimed to be king of the Djinn, whatever the hell that was? Strangely enough, Brine took comfort in the fact that this experience was invalidating every assumption he had ever made about the nature of the world. He had tapped into the Zen of ignorance, the enlightenment of absurdity.”
