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.”

  • SUNDAY (EVENING) POST

    This has been an “off week”, and I took advantage of it by making it a reading week. Tuesday through today (Sunday) my main activity has been reading.

    I have finished:

    Who Is the Human? by Gary Pegoda — Reviewed recently on this blog.  Good sci-fi action.

    The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald–Reviewed recently on this blog.

    Setting Free the Kites by Alex George–a recent library impulse selection chosen because it was large print and thoroughly enjoyed.  To be reviewed on this blog soon.

    The Devil’s Highway by Alberto Urrea–Reviewed recently on this blog.

    Continuing to Read:

    Set aside temporarily, Garth Stein’s A Sudden Light

    My non-fiction attempt to expand my genre preferences, bell hooks’s Feminism is For Everybody: Passionate Politics  I have barely begun, but I feel I should read bel hooks.

    A book recommended by a fellow blogger at Brainfluff, The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
    A Kindle Purchase written by a blogging friend Notes from a Small Dog by Ani

    Watched:

    The rest of the TV series, “Genius”, the story of Albert Einstein’s life and work

    Rick Steves’ Europe on PBS, Went to Germany, twice; Scotland; parts of England.  I never get tired of him as a tour guide nor his show.  We often watch during meals since they are only thirty minutes long.

    Movie, “The  Magdalene Sisters–brutal! A true story from Ireland.

    Next week brings doctor’s visits and a few fun things as well, and of course, LOTS of reading!

     

  • Bookish Delights – 13 Memes…

    Bookish Delights – 13 Memes…

  • Who Is the Human? Sam, Fred, Dylax: A Review of a Sci-Fi Novel

    Gary Pegoda’s novel begins with a question posed on the title page: “If computers were human in every way, would it be human? How would you know?” In this day of messing around with IA, it is a question to be considered. The first character we meet is Sam, “I am Sam, the Star Bright Machine…” a computer activated in 2020 who is, in its/his own words, “intelligent,” and “conscious” although he/it is a quantum computer in reality. The second character we meet is Fred, who is escaping from Sam, in a series of fast-paced, action-filled escapes and near-escapes as Fred tries to decide whether he, Fred, is a human or a figment of Sam’s creation and imagination. When Dylax, who speaks strangely and is a bit hard to follow until one gets used to her disjointed, out-of-syntax speech, comes on the scene, she is the love-match for Fred, and the sex is out-of-this-world (pun intended).

    Although the story is puzzling at times (I believe that is the author’s intention), the twists and turns keep readers turning the pages to see what happens next.  Oftentimes it is another beating, another capture, another operation to implant or take out implants on poor Fred.

    Fortunately, the novel has a very satisfying ending, leaving it open for a sequel, which I hope the author will write.  I for one will follow these fascinating characters and their lives/existences.

  • TUESDAY TEASER

    This meme hosted by The Purple Booker asks readers to take the book they’re currently reading, open it at random, and copy a couple of sentences that might tease other readers into reading the same book.

    I love books about books, reading, and people who love books. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald is just such a book.  It is her first book, her debut novel, which tells the story of Sarah who comes to visit the US from Sweden to see her elderly Book Buddy, Amy, only to find a surprise.  While spending her time in Broken Wheel, almost a ghost town, Sarah re-opens Amy’s small shop as a book shop, using Amy’s vast collection of books as her merchandise. Here is an excerpt from near the beginning of the book:

    As she enters the local cafe, Sarah meets Grace, the toughest, shotgun-toting woman in town who owns the place.  Grace speaks: “You must be the tourist,” she said.  The smoke from her cigarette hit Sarah in the face.”

    “I’m Sarah.  Do you know where Amy Harris lives?”

    “The woman nodded,  “One hell of a day”, a lump of ash from her cigarette landed on the counter…” “She leaned over the counter. Amy’s dead, she said.”

    This is one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud-books I’ve ever read, and it makes me want to go an see what Sarah brought about in Broken Wheel, just through the introduction of books into people’s lives.

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    Because I read several books at a time, I often finish several near the same time as well. During the past two weeks, I finished the following books:

    The Devil’s Highway by Luis Urrea, a story of the US Border Patrol and its policies toward illegal immigrants–This book was one that although non-fiction, read like a novel, and I polished it off in two days.

    Sophie’s World took much longer because it was full of philosophy and required thinking about while one followed the plot of an-about-to-be-fifteen year old girl.  It was educational as well as entertaining.

    Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Divakaruni, a Houston writer I had read before took only a day and an evening, for it was so good that I stayed up late to finish it.

    Gary Pegoda’s sci-fi novel,Who Is Human? also took more time because I had it on my Kindle app and was adjusting to the first novel read in that format, because it was very thought-provoking, and because I often found myself slowing down to admire the excellent writing.

    For the time being, I had put aside Garth Stein’s (author of Racing in the Rain, a heartbreaking but engaging novel, told from a dog’s point of view) A Sudden Light in order to return Divakaruni’s novel to the library on time.  I hope to return to it this coming week.

    I have just begun the large print version of Katarina Bivald’s The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, also borrowed from the library, which has me laughing out loud and totally delighted by page 355 in just two days.

    I did manage to work in the Sunday edition of The Houston Chronicle as my guilty pleasure for a Sunday afternoon, something I reward myself with when I’ve worked hard on various things all week.

    I have had out-of-state company all week, and although we have had a lovely time and wonderful visit, I will be glad to have some peace and quiet (they have an 8 year old and a ten year old, brilliant and sweet kids, but exhausting to an old woman like me LOL) before starting teaching summer school at the local college in July. I am sure once the family is out the door I will be missing the happy laughter from the many games of Uno played on the living room floor and the delicious authentic Chinese meals the father of the family has made for us.  I feel like it has been Mother’s Day (week) instead of Father’s Day because of the royal treatment I have been receiving.

    I have plans to get some reading done before I get caught up in lesson plans and grading, perhaps I’ll start right now…

  • THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY: A Good Non-Fiction Read

    Non-fiction is not my first love, not my favorite genre in which to read. However, Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway kept me turning pages like any good novel.  It is excellent investigative reporting on the US border policy.  The readability is probably what made this book a Pulitzer Prize finalist. It deals with illegal immigration, specifically from Mexico and South America into Arizona, California, and Texas.

    The author tells the story of a 2001 crossing of the desert which contains the area known as “The Devil’s Highway.”  The author expresses his own “outrage tempered with concern.” As one critic explained, Urrea writes with “tragic and beautiful intimacy.” Dealing with hyperthermia and how people die in the desert, the author traces a group walking across and down the Devil’s Highway seeking a better life in America. It is at times, “artful, powerful, and shocking.” It is a border story written by a self-proclaimed border son, a fronteriza.

    The lasting impression this book will have on you is that it will haunt you.

  • Hunger games..?

    Sue Vincent's avatarSue Vincent's Daily Echo

    Tonight, I feast! That was the plan,
    The cupboard, though, was bare.
    The little ice-box and the fridge?
    No, there was nothing there…

    I fancied something full of taste
    I dish that I could savour,
    With only mouldy bread in stock
    I sought another flavour.

    The dog, of course, is well supplied,
    With treat and meat and biscuit,
    And though her dinner smelled quite good
    I thought I shouldn’t risk it.

    The small dog isn’t small at all,
    She eats whatever’s going
    (And probably some other stuff
    I have no way of knowing.)

    She eats my food and all her own
    With laughing eyes and cheek.
    She’s plump and healthy, glossy coat…
    In fact, she looks quite sleek….

    I took a long look at the dog
    But know I couldn’t roast her…*
    I’ll cut the green bits off the bread
    And shove it in the toaster.

    *For a start, she…

    View original post 6 more words

  • MONDAY MUSINGS SOPHIE’S WORLD by Jostein Gaarder: A Review

    The paperback edition I read was a 20th anniversary edition and was advertised as being about “life, the universe, and everything” which made me think of Douglas Adams.  However, two books could not be more unalike.  Sophie, the fourteen year old protagonist who is about to turn fifteen and is just beginning to be aware of herself, her surroundings, and her life in general, begins to receive strange postcards and letters addressed to another fourteen year old girl halfway around the world named Hilde.  The letters seem to be from Hilde’s father who is making plans to return to her on her fifteenth birthday, but strangely enough they are sent in care of Sophie and addressed correctly to Sophie’s address.

    The plot alone is enough to keep the reader interested, but the book turns out to be a study in philosophy from Plato and Socrates to Marx and Sartre. Sophie in Philosophy World takes twists and turns similar to Alice in Wonderland.  The book, as one critic said, is an “easily grasped way of thinking about difficult ideas. If nothing else, the book is highly original.

    Published first in 1995, the paperback edition of this YA “classic” is available as of 2015, thus the 20th anniversary of its publication.

    At times this is a hard read, but it is good review of the study of philosophers with examples given that are fairly easy to comprehend and apply.  This book will answer many questions, but it will keep you coming up with questions of your own.

  • TAGGED: I’M IT AGAIN

    My blogging friend, James Cudney at This is My Truth Now has started a tag/game where he has posed several questions about one’s reading, looking back over what one has read since January of this year. I am responding to some/most of the prompts he has given.

    1. The best book you have read so far in 2017–That would have to be The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.  It not only made me think; it changed my thinking.
    2. Your favorite sequel this year–Many Waters by Madeline L’Engle a YA novel by children’s author I discovered while teaching sixth graders.
    3. A new release that you haven’t read but really want to–Just about every book reviewed in the Sunday editions of The Houston Chronicle.
    4. Your Biggest Disappointment– The Education of Dixie Dupree.  I’m not sure if I can come up with a reason why.
    5. The Biggest Surprise of the Year–Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  I found I put everything aside and finished it in two days.  It was that good of a “read.”
    6. I’m going to skip on the questions What is your new fictional crush? (I’m too old to have crushes.) and Who is your new favorite character? (I have met many outstanding characters this year!)
    7. A book that made you cry–Who Said I Was Up for Adoption by Colin Chappell–When I thought Ray (the dog) wasn’t going to make it, I thought, Oh no, another sad-ending dog story.  Thank goodness the book has a happy ending!                                                                      Thank goodness I’ve answered the questions “to the best of my ability,” especially since these are off the top of my head without consulting my reading log which is in the other room and I am too lazy to get up and get. Now–Tag, you’re it!

  • BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: A REVIEW

    This 2016 publication particularly appealed to me because I had read Divakaruni’s One Amazing Thing and because I knew she was a professor of Creative Writing at The University of Houston, not only my alma mater, but also one of the five campuses in the system that employs me. She has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, so I was aware of her writing prowess going in to this novel. It deals with four generations of women and the ins and outs of mother daughter relationships.

    The setting ranges from Bengal, India to Houston, Texas, another selling point for me. Basically it is the story of Sabritri, daughter of the village sweets maker, Durga; Sabritri’s daughter Bella; and her daughter Tara. The novel explores many different forms and kinds of love, love that reaches across generations. All of the women are strong female characters, all finely developed and drawn. The novel opens with a letter which Sabritri is writing at Bela’s request to her granddaughter, Tara. The letter and its significance surfaces at the end of the novel where all is revealed, all suppressed emotions let out, all misconceptions straightened out, all family mysteries solved.  All in all it is a most satisfactory ending. The plot moves us through estrangements and reconciliations as it twists and turns, masterfully allowing us to feel what the characters are feeling.

    This author is a supreme storyteller, a fine characterization master, and a very readable author.  This is one I stayed up late to finish.