I don’t watch television and stopped reading the news regularly years ago. (What news I do read, I usually find via the books and arts pages of magazines and culture websites, which suits me just fine.) So I was surprised to learn at church yesterday that a hurricane is headed for the East Coast. It looks like we’ll miss a direct hit here in Hampton Roads. Still, it’s good to be prepared. I spent the afternoon trying to find back-up batteries for the sump pump, filling empty bottles with water, and making a mental list of a few other supplies. I even bought a generator from a neighbor who stopped by to check on us. Why am I telling you this? No reason, I guess, though it did remind me of an article a few weeks ago about bookstores in Houston following Hurricane Harvey: “The neighborhood surrounding Houston’s Blue Willow Bookstore saw more than 600 homes flooded. Owner Valerie Kohler noted that her customers have largely returned, though she said that she lost several older and elderly customers who had been regulars. ‘I think they just gave up on the city and moved away to be with family elsewhere,’ she said. Cathy Berner, children’s/young adult specialist and events coordinator at the store, said that while ‘Harvey was certainly no fun, it brought out the best in many people and we remain grateful for that.’ Among the store’s heroes was children’s book author and illustrator Bob Shea, who when Hurricane Harvey hit last year offered a hand-drawn unicorn to people who donated money to rebuild flooded school and classroom libraries.” Bookstores are wonderful, aren’t they?

Dumb science: Three physicists did statistical research to prove what most literary scholars already knew: That The Odyssey contains characters based on real people.