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.”

  • METAPHOR

    When one approaches a poem, one should not just go message hunting.  Perhaps this is why Ciardi (Understanding Poetry) feels the pertinent question to ask is not WHAT does a poem mean, but HOW does a poem mean?  How does it build its form out of images, ideas, and rhythms? These elements help to intensify and become an inseparable part of the meaning.  Yeates writes, “O body swayed to music, O quickening glance,/ How shall I tell the dancer from the dance?”  Even Whitman’s seemingly non-selective catalogs in Leaves of Grass become a part of an overall meaning in a grand cosmic sense.

    Imagery, specifically metaphor, is a vehicle for carrying the reader into the poetry. If the reader brings to the element of the comparison a flexible mind, a willingness to see likenesses, to share, to make analogies, the poet will attempt  to give him an experience of the other element which is being compared.  Added to this is the pleasurable interplay of the two things.

    The poet addresses both sides of the metaphor at once, but to assume that because two statements could be placed in the same category they are the same thing or mean the same thing is to ignore connotative differences.  For example, the carpe diem theme is expressed in both statements, but it is a far cry from “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” to “Make hay while the sun shines.”

    The use of metaphor is saying one thing in terms of something else.  Cardi says, “The poet pretends to be talking about one thing, and all the while he is talking about many others.” It is speaking of the unknown in terms of the known; it is pegging an unknown experience to a similar known experience.  When Burns writes, “My luve is like a red, red rose,” the reader knows what a red, red rose is, but he doesn’t know what Burns feels about “my luve”.  However, in linking Burns’ love to the known feelings stimulated by a rose, the reader finds a sense of how Burns feels about his love.  Figurative language with illogically linked terms forces the reader to notice the connection.  He must think in terms of personal definitions rather than connotations.

     

     

  • SMALL ADMISSIONS: REVIEW OF A NOVEL

    This debut novel by Amy Poeppel, published in 2016, is the funniest thing I’ve read since The Rosie Project. It started at such a fast pace with such catastrophic events that I had to catch my breath by the end of the second chapter. It is F-U-N-N-Y!  We meet Kate, a grad student, after her horrendous breakup with Robert, Chloe’s Parisian cousin, as Kate accepts a job as an admissions counselor at a prestigious Manhattan prep school. It is the height of the admissions season, and the craziness abounds.  Soon we meet Angela, Kate’s older, Miss-Always-Perfect, a “told-you-so” sister.  What happens to her during the story, which spans a year, is humorous as well. The “Trio,”of friends, Kate, Vicki and Chloe, round out the cast of main characters.

    Kate’s jaw-droppingly-funny interview lands her the job, and the frantic pace is on.  The story runs from August through the following July, with all the ins and outs of the school year: legacy parents, well-to-do parents, desperate parents. There is a good story line throughout, although it jumps around as to  whose point of view each chapter is from, but keep reading… the speaker will reveal herself, and the read is worth it! Part of the plot is divulged through Kate’s interview notes, letters from parents and/or students and Kate’s replies, and there is enough variety to keep the reader interested. The middle school aged children are “…suitable, wildly unsuitable, charming, loathsome, spoiled beyond all measure.” Their lives are the ones up for grabs, although the adults in the story are the ones who have mishaps, misunderstandings, and generally conduct themselves like middle school students.

    Since Poeppel once worked in the admissions office of a “prestigious, independent

    school, “she must know whereof she speaks, and the result is a funny, funny read.

  • Monday Morning Musings

    Today’s thoughts are on books.  Books, Books, and more Books. Here are a few quotes I’ve collected over the years about books:

    “A little library, growing every [day]/year, is an honorable part of a man’s history.  It is a man’s duty to have books.”    Henry Ward Beecher

    “I cannot live without books.”    Thomas Jefferson

    “Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”    Henry Ward Beecher

    “When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” Erasmus

    “If you cannot read all your books…peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from them the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are.  Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances.”    Winston Churchill

    “It is a good plan to have a book with you at all times.  If you are presently without [one], hurry to the nearest bookstore, and buy one of mine.”    O. Wendell Holmes

    “Books are not dead things, but do preserve, as in a vial, the present extraction of that living intellect that bred them.”    John Milton

    “Books have an extraordinary power to take you out of yourself and into someone else’s mindset, so that for a while least, you look at the world from different eyes.  That can be an uncomfortable experience.  But it can also be really enlightening.”    Ann Morgan, from ” My Year of Reading a Book From Every Country in the World.” (Ted Talk)

    “One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”    Cassandra Clare, from The Infernal Devices

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    “Pur Spellrs of the World Unyte!”  This might have well have been written by students in my Kid’s Class (Reading Improvement) this past week as we finished the course “except for the shouting” (as my Grandmother used to say when it was all over… ).This week’s session will be an hour only, with every activity a race, a tournament, or a competition, with plenty of prizes for all.  We will crank up the course again March 9th for a seven week run (taking the week of Spring Break off) before public school ends. So many kids today are shipped off to relatives or to “the other” parent for the summer, that I’m not sure any of the graduates from either RI I session could attend a RI II session during the summer. Summer plans will just have to wait for that–summer!

    In the meantime…

    What I have finished this past week: A delightful, oftentimes hilarious, fast-paced novel, Small Admissions,which was originally a play, and was my “just for fun” reading for the week. I will review it soon; and Lab Girl (reviewed yesterday) a read I would recommend to anyone who appreciates a good story, excellent writing and an outstanding memoir.

    I am continuing to read: Racing in the Rain, which I had to put aside to read library books that were due and The Lowland, a story of India which I am also eager to get back to.

    I have also begun Girl in Translation, a coming-to-America story, which I started because the two books mentioned above were in the other room, and I was too lazy (and feet hurt too bad) to walk in there and get one of them.

    This week in my Advanced Writing class we begin discussing argumentative writing: What makes an argument? What are credible sources? How does plagiarism happen? How do I prevent procrastination when it comes to starting the argumentative researched paper that is due after Spring Break? Hopefully many will begin their final papers over Spring Break and not leave their tasks until the push after mid-term, for the paper will be written outside of class, and several other written assignments (not counting their blog postings) will have to be done simultaneously with the final paper. Learning time management is something these natural multi-takers must take on. One can hope…Never give up hope!

    In light of beginning to talk about argument I hope to pass on these “jewels” to my students: Please argue in a way that will NOT cause me to say, “Don’t make any more points; I’ve made up my mind already.” It is good to SEE both sides of an issue, it’s good to see merits in both sides, but an good essay will TAKE a side and argue it, explaining why the “other side” is just WRONG. I have actually received argument papers that gave both sides and ended with, “What do YOU think?” Also, be receptive to constructive criticism.  Don’t tell me, “I like criticism ; just keep it positive and flattering.”  Finally, if you face failure on the rough draft, don’t take the childish attitude, “If at first you don’t succeed…go play!” Instead, look in the wastebasket, salvage what’s usable and try, try again–maybe from scratch.

    It promises to be an interesting week, and I will probably have the need for some “escape reading.”

  • LAB GIRL by Hope Jahren: A Review

    The Amazon review that made me want to read this 2016 memoir read like this, “I’m a mathematician and don’t always appreciate good writing, but this [writing] was amazing!” And, indeed, it is, both in the sensitive, poetic descriptions of the life of trees, plants and other botanical organisms and in the narrative of the story. The relationship between Hope and her more-than-assistant, Bill, was one that had me “rooting for them” to get together, but Alas, it was not to be.

    Many themes are explored in this book, including struggles with mental illness, women of science, botany, friendship, motherhood, and many more–enough to keep the reader turning the pages to see what is next. It is funny in places, downright scary in other places, and touching and warm in between.

    This book makes scientific facts fascinating!

  • JUST LIKE JESUS by Max Lucado: A Review

    This book, published in 1991 came from my church library and was a very inspirational read from my favorite inspirational author.  The premise is, “God loves you the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way.  He wants you to be…Just Like Jesus.”  Sounds impossible?  I thought so too.  However, Lucado gives examples of people learning to be like Jesus in some hard relationship situations and offers encouragements and strategies to act/think/be more like Jesus in those situations.  Lucado helps us develop a heart like Jesus’: a forgiving heart, a compassionate heart, a listening heart, a God-intoxicated heart, a worship-hungry heart, a focused heart, an honest heart, a pure heart, a hope-filled heart, a rejoicing heart, an enduring heart…(chapter titles) and he tells us the way to do this is to focus on Jesus, to “fix your eyes upon Him.”

    There is also an excellent study guide in the back for those who wish to read and study the book in groups. As always, Lucado’s writing is almost lyrical.  Here is an example: “‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ (John 1:38) Pretty bold request.  They didn’t ask Jesus to give them a minute or a message or a miracle.  They asked for his address. They asked to hang out with Him.  They wanted to know Him.  They wanted to know what caused His head to turn and His heart to burn and His soul to yearn [use of rhythm and rhyme].  They wanted to study His eyes and follow His steps…They wanted to know what made Him laugh and if He ever got tired.”   This kind of excellent writing, keeps the reader turning the pages and allows the author’s “message” to sink in without deliberately  “preaching-at” the reader.

    I got a lot out of this book and can say I enjoyed every minute of reading it.  You will too.

  • Just One Damned Thing After Another: A Review

    The title comes from the quote (source unknown) “Love is just one damned thing after another,” and Jodi Taylor, the author adapts the quote at the front to, “History is just one damned thing after another” in her first book in the “Chronicles of St. Mary’s” series dealing with romance and time travel. My first note I wrote about this novel is “I want to read the sequel”, which I knew had been published summer of 2016.

    The cover of One Damned Thing …describes it as “A carnival ride through laughter and tears, with a bit of time travel thrown in for spice” (Publishers Weekly), an accurate description. St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research has an unassuming exterior, but inside, the researchers, historians, and technicians don’t time travel but “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.”

    Max, Madeline Maxwell, PhD is the main character, best described as “a disaster magnet.”and her team go here and there in time, first on training missions, then back to the time of the dinosaurs, where the action really gets hairy as the team encounters other time travelers, not all of them good guys.   All of the characters are well drawn, and the twists of plot satisfy even this reader who is so fond of them. There is plenty of action as witnessed in this quote from the book describing a raptor attack on some time travelers:

    “I watched as the first two (raptors) leaped in a pincer movement… and it’s true, they don’t wait until their prey  is dead before eating.  I watched them rip and tear…I watched them snarl and growl and gobble.” This is the most violent and most graphic scene, I have read, fully worthy of any Jurassic Park movie.

    The book series, “St. Mary’s,” would make a great TV series.

  • Monday Musings

    Still thinking about poetry after a couple of sessions with an old poetry anthology, skipping here and there to “old favorites,” noting the comments scribbled in the margins of the poems.

    I wrote about the sound and then the structure of poetry; today I want to put the two together to discuss meaning. Poems are not merely lyrical expressions of ecstasy that sound good. They must deal with the relationship of the poet to the world.  Indeed, poetry is something that connects the world and man, “trap[ping] Heaven and Earth in a cage of form.” (LuChi) Form refers to meaningful shape or structure, a shape to which our emotions respond.

    In order for poetry to be a “means to a meaning, “(Ezra Pound), it must have an appropriate form.  Good poetry takes ordinary words and places them in the poem in an arrangement that signifies something “more.” Pound also writes that every word is “charged with meaning.” Placed within the form of the poem, the same ordinary words will strike differently, but directly at the reader’s emotions. If the poet changes the sound or structure of the poem, he changes the meaning.  The meanings and emotions of love are enhanced by both the sound and structure traditional to the sonnet.

    Blending sound and form (or structure) are two of the poet’s tools which he uses to enhance both meaning and draw out emotion. Taking a “sound check” of a poem and deciphering its structure can only enhance one’s enjoyment of a poem.

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    Sunday afternoon brought a meeting of the Powerful Women Readers book group to Rae’s for white chili and a lovely afternoon. Eleven women were present, and the book discussion was perhaps the best we have had so far.  Nancy was the only one who had read Fannie Flagg’s The Whole Town is Talking which became a lot more appealing when she informed us the townspeople were talking in the town’s cemetery, reminiscent of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.  Several Women were interested in ordering the book from the library. Rae discussed Leon Hale’s Paper Hero with Janet’s help.  Both had read the book as a selection for the library’s Third Tuesday Book Club. Ann finished the discussion with a lecture on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, including general comments on 1984 by George Orwell and other books that warned what could happen in the future–which is now! Several women had read the book and agreed that the story was basically a tragedy, one which we, as the “future” inhabitants of this planet had better heed. Ann and several of us, however, who have grandchildren or are around young people, pointed out that today’s youth transmit a ray of hope for the future, for they are entering today’s  Brave New World with confidence and compassion.

    Finished this past week:  One Damned Thing After Another and Just Like Jesus, which I’ll review soon.

    Continuing to Read: Racing in the Rain (I’ve laid this aside for a while and want to get back to it.)

    Started: Small Admissions which is a light, very amusing read.

    Today will be clean up and catch up day. Later this afternoon, I’ll post Monday Musings instead of Monday Morning Musings.  That first cup of coffee is calling me.

  • TEXTBOOK by Amy Krause Rosenthal: A Review

    This unusual (for lack of a better name) book is, as the front cover says, “not exactly a memoir”, but “a book about…being alive.”  Published in 2016 ten years after Rosenthal’s Ordinary Life, it is a mix of the author’s thoughts, musings, and feelings on “things” and life in general. The “text” in Textbook, the title, has multiple meanings.  The reader can actually send a text to the author, it is a textbook divided into nine different disciplines from “Geography to ” “Language Arts,” and it often has pictures of texts the author has received.  Sometimes there is only one sentence on a page; sometimes the page is blank, presumably to allow the reader to pause and think about what was just shown or written.  Sometimes the text is a record of thoughts that struck Rosenthal on a facsimile/picture as follows:

    In curator style, the author has aligned on the page,

    “Existential Napkin

    ink printed on a disposable napkin

    dispensed at a local restaurant, 1999”

    A picture of the napkin where Rosenthal has written follows,

    “Aren’t we just trying to leave one, good, lasting thing behind?”

     

    And hasn’t the author written one, unique textbook here?