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.”

IT CAN’T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH FOR ME

(Thanks to my blogging friend The Starry Night Elf for this meme)

Fall can’t get here soon enough for me. I am wanting a new season, a new start, and a new me.

I just finished two books today, am nearing the end of another, and am soooo ready to put the pedal to the metal on a push to finish up my reading challenges for 2023.

Here’s an update:

On my Classics Club Challenge, I hoped to read six books, one classic book every other month. I have read four: It Couldn’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis; Jane Austin and Shelley In the Garden by Janet Todd, which deals with classic themes; Circe, also dealing with classic mythology; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; and I have not read a selection for September/October yet.

On Books from the Backlog, I planned to read twelve; so far I’ve read nine, one a month, putting me behind in reading my book for September. But then, September has sixteen more days.

I’ve read many wonderful books this year, 2023; some I’ve reviewed and some just digested and enjoyed. Although the bookstore, Rae’s Reads, takes up a good deal of my time, I am following the advice I always gave to my students–MAKE TIME FOR READING.

I am already thinking about challenges for 2024, and have written a fun challenge I will probably focus on in the new year along with a couple of favorites. Fall is a good time to re-evaluate and recompose, a better time than New Year’s in my opinion. I have been reading and reflecting on what I have read as well as simply reading for pleasure. It has been a good year.

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2 responses to “IT CAN’T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH FOR ME”

  1. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Avatar
    Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    I’m eagerly looking forward to cooler weather. I think autumn is a great time to take a look at one’s progress on challenges. I’m happy with how things are going, though I wish I’d read a few more of my classics. Maybe I will in the last months of the year. You are doing great!

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  2. Carole Avatar
    Carole

    It looks like you have been doing great with your challenges, Rae!

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