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.”

  • Tuesday Teaser

    Tuesday Teaser is a meme I first heard about on sjhigbee’s blog Brainfluff.  I’m not sure if she started it or got involved through someone else’s blog, but it’s lots of fun, and I have adapted it here for PWR members and their friends.

    Take a book you’re currently reading and randomly copy a couple of sentences or a paragraph, being sure not to include any spoilers. The idea is to tempt us to read the same book you’re reading, so do not forget to list the title and author as well.

    Here is mine for this Tuesday from One Damned Thing After Another, the first book in a time  travel series, “The Chronicles of St. Mary’s”, recommended by the aforementioned sjhigbee in her blog:

    “She stepped outside, and I closed the door behind her.  Alone now, the familiar pod smell wrapped itself around me, the electrics, wet carpet, the toilet, the incinerator, a faint whiff of cabbage; awakening memories as painful as lemon juice in a paper cut.  Eau de pod; the most evocative smell in the world.

    I eased myself into the seat and checked the console.  Everything seemed OK.

    ‘Initiate jump.’ And the world went white.”

    Scroll all the way down, past the bio information, until you see “Leave a Reply” Click there and type in the box.

  • Monday Musings

    Today’s musings are on the sound of poetry.  It was brought about when a new friend shared some of her “trivial” (her words) poetry which has definite appeal because of her mastery of using sound(s) to create poetic images and fun.

    Taking a “sound check” of a poem may be a valuable exercise when evaluating poetry. A poem’s meaning is often conveyed by the sound of the words, simply as sounds, which eventually imbues and enhances the lines and phrases with meaning. For example, words that begin with the “bl” sound, swollen and bloated: blimp, blurb, blubber,  balloon.  Words that begin with “sn” have a certain sneakiness to them: snide, sneer, snake, snarl.  Certain vowel sounds convey brightness, where others are “dark.” Some consonants are harsh, where others seem “tender.” Onomatopoetic words  are words that carry meaning through sound like “buzz”, “whizz”, “bam!” In addition to these words and sounds that convey meaning directly through sound, others suggest meanings by association.

    “Content is grey/And sleepiness too./They wear grey suede gloves/When touching you…”The phrase ” “grey suede gloves” sounds like the tactile experience one would have if grey suede glove-covered fingers were to touch or stroke his/her skin.  In the lines, “The sound of black is/Boom! Boom! Boom!/Echoing in/An empty room,” the repeated Booms! have an echo-like quality that is expressed through the repetition of the double o sound and is easy to imagine in a darkened, empty room.  It has a hollowness and eeriness that one would experience in such a setting. These lines are from a children’s book of poetry titled Hailstones and Halibut Bones, one which has inspired every group of poets I’ve ever worked with, regardless of their age.

    Sometimes jump rope rhymes and chanting games are so much fun simply because they sound like fun. Sometimes the beauty of poetry and the conveyance of a poem’s meaning has its origin in the sounds of words and phrases. I will be happy to tell my new friend that her poetry is not trivial at all, but conveys her emotion and meaning through the use of sounds.

  • SUNDAY (EVENING) POST

    I can’t believe it’s Sunday again! And January is almost gone as well.  My how time does fly.

    What I finished this past week: The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke (reviewed in post preceding this one) and Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, described as “not exactly a memoir”(will be reviewed this week)

    Continuing to read:  Freeks by Amanda Hocking

    Peeked into and read a chapter or two: Just One Damned Thing After Another, the first book in the “Chronicles of St. Mary’s” series by Jodi Taylor, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahri, and Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, all of which I want to finish, for sure.

    What I watched: One episode of “Bull,” Two new season episodes of “This is Us” and a couple of “To Tell the Truths”.

    School is well underway and clicking right along. The Reading Improvement class for kids will be at it’s midway point this coming Wednesday, and I will have to decide whether to offer it again in March and April or to wait and offer it this summer, which I’m sure will happen.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

    PWR (Powerful Women Readers, our on-line book group) meets here  a week from today, and we will discuss the three assigned books (Members are asked to read one of the three.), Fannie Flagg’s The Whole Town’s Talking, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or local writer, Leon Hale’s Paper Hero.  I have read two of the three and am hoping someone will bring a copy of Fannie Flagg to loan Sunday. There will be a door prize from a local boutique. Contact Rae if you can help with the refreshments.

    And, as Porky Pig always said, “That’s All Folks!”

  • THE JEALOUS KIND: A Review

    “There was a time in my life when I woke every morning with fear and anxiety and didn’t know why.  For me, fear was a given I factored into the events of the day, like a pebble that never leaves your shoe.  In retrospect, an adult might call that a form of courage. If so, it wasn’t much fun.”

    These are the opening lines of James Lee Burke’s novel, the second in the Holland Family Series (The first was Wayfaring Stranger, set in and just after WWII).  The Jealous Kind was published in 2016.  It is a great read, a bit gritty and graphic at times (Someone is always getting beat up or worse, often caused by nothing more than teen angst, miscommunication, or deliberate misunderstanding, just for the hell of it.) but worth investing your reading time in.

    We’ve got the good guys, Aaron and Valerie (and sometimes Saber, Aaron’s best friend) pitted against the bad guys; Grant, well-to-do, but not living up to his father’s expectations and psychopathic Vince, son of the Mafia-connected Atlas family.

    Don’t think for a moment this is a Young Adult novel, for the parents and all their problems and prejudices which formed them as they lived through in the war years from the previous novel are present and are “visited upon” the next generation.

    As main characters, and the Romeo and Juliet of this novel, Aaron and Valerie are well drawn as they try to figure out the complexities of life in the fifties. Saber is at the same time the most likable and most frustrating character Burke develops, and Aaron’s loyalty to him borders on heroic.

    To keep the twists and turns coming, Aaron’s Uncle (on his father’s side) has his own mob contacts  which gives Aaron some leverage against Vince and his family.  Aaron’s father, befuddled but totally immersed in true integrity, always does and encourages Aaron to ” do the right thing.” He still believes good will win over evil, but there are times when Aaron has his doubts about that.  The relationships between the teenagers and their respective parents is well-drawn, believable, and explores the love hate relationship between children and parents. The cops, who represent the Law of the fifties are well-drawn as well.  There are the clean cops, who might not always have been clean, but want to make up for it now, and the dirty cops who will never want to be clean–all make appearances.  Learning who to trust and who is untrustworthy is a lesson Aaron has to learn.  Fortunately,like his dad, he has a shrewd ability to judge a man’s character.

    All of this is accompanied by plot twists and turns, and  kept this reader turning the pages, leaving  her waiting for the next book in Burke’s planned trilogy.

  • TUESDAY TEASER

    You, too, can participate. Simply open a book you’re currently reading, copy a couple of sentences from a random page, and we’ll see if we’re tempted to add the book to our TBR (To Be Read) list.  Be sure to give us the title and author, and please avoid spoilers.

    Here’s mine from Freeks by Amanda Hocking:

    “Since we’d gotten to Caudry, I’d had these weird flashes of cold, especially in my chest, but that was all.  There I was , mere feet away from this super-powerful water, and everybody else’s senses were going wacko.” (The characters are called “freeks” because they have super-powers.) “That was all the proof I needed that I didn’t have the same ‘gift’ as my mother.”

  • HOW SWEET THE SOUND: A REVIEW

    I messed up and missed the Monday Morning Musings post (again) so how about a review of a book I finished up late last night instead?

    It is a Christian fiction book from my church library by Amy Sorrell published in 2014.  My librarian recommended it and said several women in the church had “loved it.”  I don’t usually read Christian fiction.  I sometimes feel it lacking in depth and overeager to present the “message” which is important but many times just “preaching to the choir.”

    In order to give a fair review, I’m going to answer some prescribed questions I found on a website for reviewers:

    What was the setting?  This novel was set in the deep South on a pecan farmer’s “spread”, which I found stereotyped and dated.  I like pecans and the descriptions of the orchards were lovely, but the “pecans” were sugared and didn’t make believable reading.

    How was the plot? “tricky?” intricate? sweeping?       In a word, “predictable.”

    Who was your favorite character?  Vaughn, the grandfather of Anniston, the main character.  He was the savior of Pricilla, his wife, the “fair one” when it came to parenting his children, and the “wise one”when it came to teenage angst.

    How were the relationships in the book?  The author set up some relationships that were interesting and promising, but the working out of the same was, again, “predictable.”

    Would you follow the characters in another book?  Definitely not.  I formed no attachments to them.

    Did you stay up late to finish?  No, I  used the book to put me to sleep when I was tired.

  • SUNDAY (EVENING) POST

    Here’s what I finished last week:  NOTHING.  I think I have four books going and one, How Sweet the Sound,  so close to the end.  Will probably finish it tonight and review it tomorrow or Tuesday.

    What I did instead: Prepared for and held First Class Day of the new semester in my Advanced Writing (argumentative writing aimed at an academic audience) class at the university and prepared for and held the second class of my “Kid’s Class,” Reading Improvement, aimed at struggling fourth and fifth grade readers, which I do for fun and to stay busy. My Advanced Writing is shaping up as the best yet (in 27 years of teaching the course).  I have graded two-thirds of the first day Writing Sample (which doesn’t count for a grade but let’s me see what they are capable of and who’s struggling), and so far I have identified one struggler (who is repeating the class), one possible struggler (who may  just need more time), and all the rest are excellent, some outstanding, writers.  This bodes well for an interesting and relatively easy semester.  The kiddie class has reminded me in two weeks something I had forgotten after teaching adults, or at least young adults, for thirty years–kids have LOTS of energy.  My reaction the past two weeks at the end of each class has been–“Whew!”  The kids will either keep me young or kill me.

    What I started: Lab Girl,which my friends kept telling me was such a great book, but would I listen? Noooo.  Now, as I have read the first few chapters, I am swept away by the writing and entering a whole new, more scientific, world which I am unfamiliar but enchanted with.

    What I watched on TV:  An episode of “Scorpion,” which never fails to keep me on the edge of my seat and two episodes of “Bull,” a fascinating story which has great relationships as sub-plots.

    What I am looking forward to reading this evening:  The paper edition of  The Houston Chronicle.

    Happy reading.  I have my “work” cut out for me!

  • COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI: A Review of a Classic

    Coming of Age in Mississippi, written in 1968, still has a relevant message today:  Don’t forget the past. It is the “autobiography of growing up poor and black in the rural South.” The author, Anne Moody grew up in Mississippi during the forties, fifties and early sixties.  The book ends around 1963 or so, after the Kennedy assassination.  The book is divided into sections: Part I Childhood, Part II High School, Part III College, Part IV The Movement (which is, of course the Civil Rights Movement).  I would be “hard put” to pick the part I liked best, if “like” is even the appropriate word.  It is an unforgettable personal story and a coming of age story, taking Ms. Moody  from a young girl to a responsible, aware adult.

    I enjoy reading about people who overcame great obstacles, and this is definitely such a story.  From an innocent, accepting child to a militant, questioning, mature young woman, Anne emerges as a witness to times we whites may have lived through but never understood both “sides” of. Her voice is true and powerful without condemning except where it is well deserved.

    With books like The Help we get a picture of Mississippi in the early sixties, but with Moody’s  factual help, we learn what it was like to live through those times.  It is a book that is not outdated and well worth your reading time.

  • Tuesday Teaser

    Grab a book you’re currently reading, turn to a random page and type two or so sentences.  Try to avoid spoilers. The idea is we will be tempted to add what you are reading to our TBR list/stack. Be sure to include the title and author.

    Here’s mine for today: “Behind me the branches and trees crunched and snapped as the creature tore through them. I didn’t scream–there was no one who could come to help me, nothing that could stop the monster that lurched behind me.  The only thing I could do was run faster.”

    This is from Freeks by Amanda Hocking–and this is just the Prologue!

  • Monday (Afternoon) Musings

    Here I sit, running late once again, but with a good excuse.  I just finished the classic, Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, and I am filled with things I would like to say to the young protagonist of this memoir.  Because of this feeling of a need/desire to communicate with a character in something I’ve read, I would like to provide the venue for you to do the same.

    Post here by typing in the reply box a letter, e-mail, or simply address the protagonist of the book you are currently reading.  I am going to set a deadline of January 20th for posting your communication here. If you cannot maneuver the necessities for posting yourself, click on “contact me” and type in your letter/note there, which I will copy and attach to this post.

    I am looking forward to you thinking about what you would say to your book’s character in writing.