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

    I have not been faithful to my promise last Sunday to MAKE time to read because many things got in the way, but I did get a little reading done.

    What I Finished:  The Bone People  As I said, it was dragging in the middle after the traumatic events just before, but once I caught up again with the three main characters, things went so fast, I kept putting the book down because I didn’t want it to be over.  I did finish it today, and unlikely as it was, the novel had a very satisfying ending.  I will review it here mid-week.  Max the Mighty, a YA novel that was checked out of my LFL within a day of putting it out there in spite of rainy weather , and All Black Cats Are Not Alike, which my husband enjoyed as much as I did, and the book went home with a family of cat lovers who visited Saturday.

    Still Reading: Jealous Heart by James Lee Burke, Coming of Age in Mississippi, and How Sweet the Sound, the last checked out from my church library.

    Started: Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse Guys and You Guys Talk  loaned by the friend who visited Saturday

    Looking Forward to Starting: Freeks by Amanda Hocking, recently reviewed on a friend’s blog.

    Watched:  No time for TV either, but I did tune in to the first two episodes of”Emerald City” on NBC, which is already great, and the latest episode of “To Tell the Truth.”

    School begins this coming week, and I have a doctor’s appointment one day, so my time will be taken in other directions than reading.  But, where there are books…there is always hope!

  • THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST: A NOVEL: A Review

    To tell you what a good read this book was, keep in mind that I read it in a day and a half in a week I didn’t have any time to read in.  It was a fast read; it was an engaging read–I couldn’t wait to get back to it; and it was an informative, actually educational ,read.  And, all this in a novel!

    This 2016 publication by Ann Hood includes everything I enjoy in a novel: It was about a book club; it was about a middle age woman whose husband was a cad; it was about friendship and was character driven.  The characters, both major and minor are vividly depicted, and the reader cares about each one. The relationships dissected were mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and friends and lovers–which all make good reading.

    To quote one critic, the novel is a “celebration of all that books awaken within us: joy, love, wisdom, loss, and solace.” There are enough twists and turns to satisfy even this reader who demands them, and Hood is a natural storyteller. It is a book for book clubs, specifically and book lovers, generally.

    A bonus in the novel is the description of  year’s worth of the book club’s discussions on the selections of the year’s theme, “The book that matters most to me”, some of which I had not read.  The books discussed (linked to the characters who chose them) are: Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Anna Karrenina, One Hundred Years of Solitude, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Slaughterhouse Five.   The mystery and revelation involved in the protagonist’s choice is a wonderful “touch,” leaving a twist for the last few pages.

    This is an exceptionally satisfying read, stuffed full of the “good stuff” that makes us choose novels as well as a book you will enjoy on many levels.

      

  • Tuesday Teaser

    Open the book you are currently reading and copy two or so sentences along with the title and  author .  The idea is to tease the reader into adding your book to her/his TBR list.

    Mine today is from Amy Sorrell’s How Sweet the Sound, which starts (literally) with a bang and goes on to include this on page 113 where the main character is having her hair French braided by her grandmother’s servant:

    “‘Oui, child I can braid anything long enough to hold between my fingers.’All the girls in my class coveted Ernestine’s plaits–even those who never talked to me otherwise.  But Ernestine, she saved the braiding for me, smiling and humming “Jacob’s Ladder” as she pulled the strands tight.  Said that’s her favorite song because of the reaching and climbing she’s done to come up out of her miry life.”

    This promises to be more than your usual coming of age story.

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    What I finished this past week: Since I was working on my kid’s class most of my waking hours this past week, I did not read as much as usual, but I did start and finish (in two days) The Book That Matters Most: A Novel by Ann Hood.  I will review it here soon.

    What I Am Continuing to Read: Coming of Age in Mississippi (The protagonist has come as far as college and the  Jim Crow South is feeling stirrings of discontent.), The Bone People (The person who told me about this book warned that it “dragged a bit towards the middle; well, I have hit the middle.), Max the Mighty (A YA book that I am anxious to finish and put out in my Little Free Library).

    What I Have Started: A wonderful picture book for adults, All Black Cats Are Not Alike, by Amy Goldwasser and Peter Arkle .

    What I Watched: “Timeless” (the episode about Benedict Arnold which ends with the main heroine captured by the bad (?) guy), two episodes of “Speechless” (always enjoyable), the latest episode of “The Big Bang Theory”, and the season opener of “To Tell the Truth.”

    I know that next week I won’t have, or even find, more time to read, but I resolve to MAKE time.

  • Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman: A Review

    This book is one checked out from my church library, primarily because it was recommended on the cover by Max Lucado, my favorite inspirational author. The question it poses concerning Jesus is, are you a fan or a follower?  The author says soundly, “I am not a fan of Jesus Christ.” He is trying instead to be a follower.

    By definition, a fan is “an enthusiastic admirer” whom Idleman says, “wants to be close enough to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires sacrifice.” According to the author, Jesus is looking for followers, not fans, and the writer poses the question, What does it mean to call yourself a Christian?

    The book is very convicting, but it does not stop there. It gives an honest look at following Christ in three parts.  Part One deals with an honest diagnosis, explaining the DNR talk (Defining the Relationship) one must have with himself/herself, much like one does when dating begins to “get serious.” Part  Two gives and honest invitation to follow, not to just sit on the sidelines and cheer (fan), but to “get into the game” and “play your heart out”(follower). Part Three explains what it means to follow Jesus “whenever, wherever, whatever,” in other words, following sacrificially and giving everything one has.

    This is a good book to read in January to begin the new year, especially if one’s resolution is to “do better.”

  • A BOOK BY A FRIEND: BRITTNEY McWILLIAMS

    Recently a friend asked me to edit her neice’s book.  Without asking the title or any other details, I agreed; after all she is a friend, and what are friends for?  This second experience in editing turned out to be a really positive experience.

    Brittany’s book, Not That Girl , turned out to be a real  page turner, a memoir that every young woman of any ethnic background needs to read and heed.  Brittany, who is now a single mom, a sometimes- reality-TV actress, holder of two “day jobs” is currently struggling to get ahead and “be somebody” in Atlanta, Georgia. This book, quite frankly was an effort to earn some money, but it turned out to have a real message and to be a whole lot more.

    Brittney’s voice is a young voice, a black voice that hopefully will prevent other young women from devaluing themselves because they are in love and want to keep their man.  This is a story of perseverance, self-improvement, and courage. The book cover has a gorgeous picture of Brittany and describes the book as a “tell-all memoir” of a “small- town girl who conquered her past of abuse, heartache, and fear on her journey to stardom.”

    The book is a quick, engaging read and will leave you thinking, “This girl can be a star, and so can I.”

  • THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin: A Review

    This is an engrossing novel based on a true relationship, that of Truman Capote and the matrons of New York society during the 50s and 60s.  It deals with Capote’s greatest scandal among the “beautiful people” who adopted him as their “pet”, protege, and latest fad. Capote brought glitz and glamor wherever he went, as did the fifth avenue circle, his “Swans.”  When Truman courted these glamorous women, specifically Babe Paley, a unique fashionista and trend setter ,the wife of CBS magnate, Bill Paley, he was the talk of the town. He was constantly found among this group of friends, inspiring them to confide their most private secrets to him. Although their relationship was purely platonic, Babe considered Truman her “True Heart” and Truman received the unconditional love and praise he had been refused by his mother and had never found from another person.

    It was said about Capote, however, “…once a storyteller, always a storyteller–even when the stories aren’t his to tell,” and since the fame and praise from writing In Cold Blood dried up and the well of sources for stories ran dry,  he wrote a scandalous “tell all” story which betrayed all his “Swans” had confided in him. Truman’s fall from “sought after” to “shunned” is chronicled in this novel, and his life’s end was as sordid and sad as it had been beautiful and happy when he was the favorite of his “Swans.”

    This book, a 2016 publication was a New York Times bestseller and was not only popular in New York where the names were known and the settings familiar, but with all of us readers who wanted a peek at the lives of the rich and famous.

  • TUESDAY TEASER

    Today was so busy that I almost forgot the Tuesday Teaser for PWR members and followers of this blog. It’s not too late (even if you’re reading this Wed. or Thurs.) to tease us into reading the same book you are reading and enjoying.  Beware of copying sentences that will spoil the plot for someone else.  Here’s mine from The Bone People a strangely wonderful and wonderfully strange book by Keri Hulme:
    “The boy goes on shaking his head, so his hair falls, screening his face. The way it flows out with each turn of his head reminds her of dancing dervishes as they spin to ecstasy. Exceedingly nutty child.”  This strange child with his secrets, his “father”with his, and the secrets of Kerewin the enigmatic protagonist are the focus of this unusual, but beautifully written (often bordering on poetic) novel.

  • Monday Morning Musings

    It’s 11:30 am, so technically, it’s still morning.  Because New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday, a day off anyway, many businesses etc. are taking today off as their New Year’s holiday.  Public school is waiting until tomorrow, and the post office was dark when I went by earlier, so I guess there’s no mail delivery either.  The Tournament of Roses Parade is on TV as I type (There is some kind of “rule” that will not allow them to hold it on a Sunday.), so today is a quasi-holiday of sorts.

    Today is a good day to reflect on the year past and plan for the year ahead. Going to that “hermitage inside you” as one blogger phrased it to “take stock” is my intention.  Miriam Webster’s defines “hermitage” as “a secluded residence,” a “private retreat”, a “hideaway.” In this New Year, it is good to go there and take stock, make resolutions, resolve and promise oneself to “do better,” be kinder, be more grateful. For myself, I am going to pick a random person and plan some small act of kindness.  There is no way I could ever repay or even acknowledge the acts of kindness friends (and sometimes total strangers) have done for me, so I dedicate this random act of kindness to a random person, to all of them.

    May the New Year be a new start and the beginning of a new attitude in me.

  • SUNDAY (EVENING) POST

    Happy New Year!  No resolutions, no regrets, no promises to keep, just a recap of the week’s reading and viewing:

    What I finished this past week: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, reviewed in the post immediately preceding this one and Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin–two books tied for second place on my “Best Books Published in 2016 That I Read” List.  First place went to Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  Look for a review of Swans soon.

    Currently Reading: Coming of Age in Mississippi, The Jealous Heart, The Bone People, all novels; and.The Sunday Edition of the Houston Chronicle.

    Just Started: Max the Mighty, a YA novel that promises to be a quick but interesting read.

    Watched:    Film: The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) a DVD, Christmas present from my brother.

    TV: The “Scorpion” Thanksgiving episode (suspenseful as usual); “Poldark” season finale on PBS; “Masterpiece Classic” on PBS, three episodes of this season’s “Indian Summer;” “Gray’s Anatomy” season finale (finished up, was interrupted the previous week), what a cliffhanger!

    Accomplished:  All Christmas decorations taken down and packed away for another year and caught up on my correspondence.

    I am looking forward to 2017 as a good year optimistic that things, if they change, will change for the better. I hope that you readers will continue to stop by or consider following this blog in the coming year.