RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

NONFICTION NOVEMBER: Week 5

Most of the books I mentioned on my Nonfiction November posts were books I had already read, but the Third Week, we were asked to list several books that might make us “experts” on a given subject. The subject I chose was “Gratitude.” This is an account of my progress on adding nonfiction books to my TBR shelves.

This year finds me more a reader of nonfiction than ever before in my life. Nonfiction November and your posts have given me suggestions for more nonfiction books I want to read in 2022.

Let’s deal with the books on week 3 that I thought would teach me about “gratitude.”

I am asking for The Little Book of Gratitude for Christmas. Would somebody put a bug in My Better Half’s ear, please?

Kaplan’s Gratitude Diaries is coming on interlibrary loan from a library in Houston.

I am going to search TONIGHT for a library that has or can get for me: Thanks! How the Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier and Works of Gratitude: Mind, Body and Soul.

I asked for recommendations for books on gratitude on that 3rd week post, and my “Little Sister,” Deb Nance of Readerbuzz came through for me. She listed four books that are available in our Alvin library and a long list of other books from her study of Happiness that have gratitude as part of their titles. These are books she has already read and enjoyed–an invaluable resource.

I wish Deb and I looked as good as these two do as we discuss books at one of our houses.

I even printed out the two lists and will take them with me on my trips to the libraries I plan to make this coming week. I had hoped to do this gratitude reading during December, and it l looks like things are right on schedule.

What books have you added to your TBR this month? Hopefully some nonfiction to celebrate Nonfiction November. This has been a “growth experience” for me and has changed my attitude toward reading nonfiction altogether.

Thanks, Evin.
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2 responses to “NONFICTION NOVEMBER: Week 5”

  1. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Avatar
    Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    It makes me happy to think that you have had a growth experience with Nonfiction November and that it has changed your attitude toward nonfiction. I hope you are able to find several of the books about gratitude so that you can read them during December. I am eager to hear your takeaways from any that you are able to read.

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    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      You’lll have to come over for coffee and we will limit our conversation to the topics of what we’ve read on gratitude and happiness.

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