Colson Whitehead in Houston, a Small but Wet Tropical Storm, the Cybils Judges, an Acrobat who Installs Modems (Rant), and a Full Mailbox

I'm often horribly disappointed with sequels. The Handmaid's Tale is beloved, and I was very worried about The Testaments. Not to worry. My complete review is here.

I also read last week:

 Adventures with a Texas Naturalist by Roy Bedichek

Summer of '69 by Todd Strasser

The Wicked King by Holly Black

Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President by Carl Seferrazza Anthony

I'm back to reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

 Animal Skins by Mary Holland

The Forest in the Trees by Connie McLennan

Skulls by Blair Thornburgh illustrated by Scott Campbell

Fly by Mark Teague

The Revenge of Magic: The Last Dragon by James Riley

The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell

Oh Rats by Tor Seidler

The Key of Lost Things by Sean Easley
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o

Last Monday was the first night of the Inprint Margaret Root Brown Reading Series in Houston. Colson Whitehead was the first author of the season. What a wonderful night it was. I posted about it here.

The Classics Club is doing another spin. To join in, make a numbered list of twenty books you want to read from your Classics Club list. On Monday, the spin number will be announced. My list is here.

It's always difficult to choose judges for the Cybils, and this year was no exception. We had a flood of applicants this year for Fiction Picture Books / Board Books, my category, and the quality of applicants was high.We will announce the  2019 Cybils judges next week.

Tropical Storm Imelda formed quickly on Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and pushed ashore, with winds up to forty miles an hour, and dumping about twelve inches of rain on us here south of Houston. Sadly, my brother and my niece and their families all got water in their homes north of Houston. 

Whew. My sister chose the one of her favorite movies for our Movie Club Night last week, a movie I had never seen. She chose Schindler's List. Whew. It was a gut-wrenching movie. I'm still wondering about the cruelty of man toward man and how that can happen. Have you seen this movie? What do you think about it?

I'm up next for Movie Club Night. Do you have any recommendations for me? I think we might need something light after the movie and our discussion after the movie last week.

Rant time.

We have had Comcast Internet and cable in our house since 1985. That's a long time. But we finally decided that enough is enough. 

A couple of years ago, we had trouble with our cable and called and called and finally got someone to come out. The technician came to our house, but he couldn't figure out how to install a new modem. While we talked to him, we learned he was working for Comcast, but he was looking for a job as a circus acrobat! We finally helped him get the modem installed. I wonder if he ever got a gig with the circus or if he is still trying to work on cable equipment.

What really frustrated us wasn't just having acrobats working for our Internet provider, though. Last year, we decided to get rid of our home phone. We called Comcast to let them know we wanted to disconnect and they told us if we got rid of our home phone our bill would go up by forty dollars! What?! 

We disconnected everything last week, and we were asked to return our Comcast equipment. We could find no phone numbers for any of the service centers, and we were not sure what equipment to bring back. We finally brought in anything we could find with Comcast or Xfinity on it, including a box that had never been opened, to the service center. The woman checked in everything we brought in and then told us we needed to return an additional small piece of equipment. We told her we brought in everything we could find. Then she saw the box that hadn't been opened. Inside was the equipment she needed to check in. The circus performer had failed to install it two years ago. We have been paying $6.95 a month for rent on this piece of equipment that had never been out of the box. 

Thank you for letting me vent.

What was your week like?

Did you read some good books? We'd like to hear about them.

What other bookish things did you do? What else is going on in your life?

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