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.”

  • MONDAY MORNING MUSINGS

    Most of you know I teach at the university level, juniors and seniors.  The course is called Advanced Writing, but it might surprise you (if you are not a teacher yourself) what has to be re-taught in order to receive a decent paper from these students.  Here is a list of things that bother teachers (and educated readers) the most:

    1.  A paper that does not have anything to say, that is just turned in for the sake of turning it in.

    2.    When there is overwhelming evidence that the paper has not been proofread.

    3.  Failure to avoid words, phrases, and expressions that are overused, lazy ways to explain or describe:

    “In today’s society”… Use instead “Today.”

    In this paper I will discuss/show … Just state the point; the reader will know it is “you” and “your” paper.

    Weak verbs, especially “go, going, gone/ get, got, gotten, getting”…The latter group shows up frequently in 7th grade writing. Take this as an insult; it is MEANT that way!

    The reason is/was because… Due to the fact that… This is especially repulsive and annoying, not to mention wordy.

    Overusing “you” , “your” or “you’re”. This is careless. It shows one cannot think of a way to address the audience except by using second-person “you”.

    Ambiguous pronoun references, especially “it” and “they”. This is simply not acceptable in argumentative writing.

    Cliches and the first phrase that you have heard so often, it immediately comes to mind. One example is ending your paper with “In conclusion…”

    Alot (aka a lot of) This is not even a real word but should be two words. “A lot” (or even more horrendous) “A lota” means so many different things to different people that it has no meaning.  Twenty-five pennies is a lot of money to a two-year-old, a fist full.  Give a young adult twenty-five pennies, and he/she will say,  “This isn’t even a quarter… besides they won’t even fit in a vending machine!”

    Using “where” incorrectly.  Do not use it to mean “that” (I read in the paper where they’re going to build a new office building downtown. This use sounds like you have  discovered the location of the building. )

    The following are often seen in print, but are not standard English usage and are not acceptable for formal writing aimed at an academic audience:

    Writers who use “that” referring to people, animals and things. My rule of thumb is to use “who” for people and “that” only for animals and things. “The student that wants to get ahead…” simply is WRONG!  The limb that broke my fall from the tree”… or the puppy that captured my heart”… both are correct.

    People who use the term “very unique” are not choosing their words well.  Conventionally, “unique” means “one of a kind”. something cannot be” very one of a kind”.  Choose a different phrase such as  “very original” or  “very special”.  Save “unique” for something that IS one of a kind, the only one in existence.

    Believe it or not (If you are a teacher you see it every day.) these errors turn up in every paper in every class.  I usually hand a list of these out the first day, titled PET PEEVES, and inform the students that if they want to please me, their target audience for their papers,  to avoid these pitfalls at all costs.  Even though I circle these errors over and over again each time I collect a set of papers,  I know I will still be circling them when grading final papers.  Sigh…

     

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    Finished:  The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant.  What a delicious, thought-provoking read!  Will probably review it here tomorrow. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, a wonderful graphic novel/memoir (reviewed here yesterday) and the Sunday Edition of The Houston Chronicle my Sunday afternoon “guilty pleasure.” A children’s book, Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris , illustrated by Vincent X Kirsch.  I will review this soon; it is special.

    Started: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (author of Rules of Civility).  I am only on page 109, the beginning of Book Two and am already asking, “What else has this author written? I want to read more of his stuff soon.”

    Looking at next: 25 reviews of chapters of Zinsser’s On Writing Well, which have to be graded by Wednesday.  Since the students had their pick of one of eight chapters, all eight chapters had to be read first (which was a delight). I have been wanting to “get this in” for several semesters now and finally was able to.  I am not complaining but looking forward to grading for a change!

    This was a busy week for us all.  Some “good” busy, some not so good.  The cat, Lena, is upset because she seldom has so many people in and out of her house.  A man’s home may be his castle, but so is a cat’s home, especially when the cat is fifteen years old (that’s 79 in human years–it is figured based on chronological  age and the weight of the cat.)

    Before I wax philosophical, I’m going to go start those papers.

     

  • THE BEST WE COULD DO: A graphic novel/memoir

    This unique piece of family history, a debut graphic novel/memoir written and illustrated by Thi Bui was an advance copy I borrowed from a friend’s LFL (Little Free Library).  She often receives books ahead of publication at book conventions and fairs. This book will be published in 2017, and I predict it will educate and inspire many readers.

    It tells one family’s story  of its journey from war torn Vietnam to a new home in America.  Bui describes herself in the book’s Preface as “…a product of war.” The writing of the memoir itself is the author’s “…journey of understanding” as she nears the birth of her first child and seeks to understand her mother’s same journey so many times in Vietnam.  In the Preface, she states, “I realized the book was all about parents and children, and it [the title] became The Best We Could Do.”

    The illustrative sketches themselves must be commented upon.  When the author is dealing with facts and/or history, the panels are crisp, detailed and strongly drawn.  When she is dealing with memories or perceived, personal history, the drawings are mere sketches, fuzzy-lined, hazy backgrounds.

    As the author begins to take on the roles as parent and child simultaneously, her emotions about her new born son intermingle with feelings about the new grandmother, her mother, as well.

    It is a touching, fascinating look at a period in history, both ours and Vietnam’s, that is enlightening and moving at the same time, and we agree that Thi Bui’s family did indeed do the best they could do.

  • Tuesday Teaser//Attn. PWR

    Books with a Beat offers a Tuesday Teaser each Tuesday to tempt others to read the book participants are reading.  The instructions are to randomly open a book to a page, run a finger down the page and copy a couple  of sentences from where you are reading, being careful of spoiler alerts.  The reader must also give the title and author, and sometimes I include whether the book is from the library, a book I own (and might be willing to loan out when I finish) etc.

    If you write a blog, please include the address of your blog for us to find your Tuesday Teaser on.  THIS IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU (PWR on-line member , friend, first time commenter) PARTICIPATE IN.  Just scroll down until you see the open comment box or click on comments on the left hand side, read others’ comments, and scroll down until you find an open comment/reply box that you can type in.  After you have copied your /Tuesday Teaser into the box, hit post comment. And, voila! You are either there, published or awaiting me to moderate which I will do asap, so your Teaser will be published for all to see.  Perhaps someone will be tempted to read your book! Who will be first to put down her/his Tuesday Teaser.

    Here is my Tuesday Teaser from The Thoughtful Dresser  by Linda Grant.

    “There are nostalgic items I do not want but do not want to throw away, and there are things that don’t fit, and things that don’t suit me , and things that were always a mistake, and things I meant to wear but didn’t, and the workhorses of my collection…”  Then she gives some examples of these.  Has she been peeking into my closet?  Who knew there was a book about clothes and shopping for them?  It is at the Alvin Library (after me, please, I’m only half way through.

    I have a wonderful idea PWR members! Let’s have a clothes exchange like the book exchange we do every so often when we get together. Anybody interested?

  • Monday Morning Musings

    Ok, ok, so it’s afternoon.  We all get a bit behind sometimes, and besides I just fixed the best spicy chicken, black beans, corn , onions, and green chilies tortilla roll-ups for lunch, using up leftover vegetables and giving us an early, well-deserved, healthy lunch.

    What I’m musing about today is the fun I have stolen time for to spend on catching up on e-mails and mailings from the blogging world–especially all things bookish and Halloween. The trick or treaters coming tonight are always one of my favorite things of the year.  I love to see the little ones’ costumes with sometimes also dressed up mom and dad taking them into the neighborhood before it is even dark out.  We try to be one of the “good stops” with miniature candy bars, “Yes of course you should take two!” and Skittles, which are always crowd pleasers.  I even enjoy the junior highers who put blood (lots of blood) sweat, tears, and thought into their costumes.  Some will even sweet talk this old grandma-type into giving them more by saying, “Oh, lady you seem so nice; you remind me of my grandma!” Little manipulators!  They are so much fun and that age, and I remember teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth graders for the first twenty of my almost-fifty years of teaching.  I think of them  as my first loves.

    Looking forward to reading:  Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.  I’ve read such diverse reviews.  I have it on hold at the library.  The Best We Could Do, a graphic memoir by Thi But, which I borrowed from a friend’s Little Free Library to read tonight. The morning Houston Chronicle, and several back issues from The New Yorker.  Except for the fiction stories each month, I’ve just about caught up with October’s issues and hope to get a start on November’s. I have the bad habit of wanting to read everything because I seem to get interested in everything.  And, after all…if it’s good enough to be published by The New Yorker…

    Checked out from the library:  The Thoughtful Dresser, which I’m enjoying immensely and The Gentleman from Moscow, which I’ve admired the cover of and read ABOUT. It promises to be a very good read.

    If I know what’s good for me, I’ll stop musing, clean up the kitchen, and unpack the candy for tonight.

     

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    What I am reading:   Not much.  This week has been filled with grading papers, leaving very little time for reading.  I am continuing to read The Thoughtful Dresser: The Art of Adornment, The Pleasures of Shopping and Why Clothes Matter by Linda Grant.  I am taking my time reading one chapter here, another there, making this the perfect pick up and put down book. If I had to make up a title, it would be The Philosophy of Fashions and Shopping for Clothes.

    What I am watching:  No time for TV or movies–busy week.

    What I want to read soon:  The Trouble With Lexie, a novel by Jessica Anya Blau, The Best We Could Do an illustrated memoir by The Bui (like a graphic novel), and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which I have checked out from the local library.

    I still have a lesson plan to finish for Wednesday and two latest issues of The New Yorker to catch up on, so I will wish you Happy Reading and Goodnight. 

  • More Serious Reading #2: Another Review

    The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas by Anad Giridhardas is the true story I took on as an “assignment”, but it ended up as a good investment of my valuable reading time.  This (2014 published) book was required reading for a friend’s Texas History class, and after visiting the class, I was intrigued with the idea/theme of the book and borrowed his  copy (marked and annotated in the margins).

    It is non-fiction and deals with the themes of forgiveness, immigrants in America, and some US citizens’ (over) reactions to the events of 9/11.  There is the story of Raisuddin “Rais” Bhuiyan, the  convenience store clerk from Bangladesh and Mark Stroman, a US citizen of the “redneck” mentality who shot and nearly killed Rais for no reason except that Rais was a Muslim.

    The psychology behind the actions of the two men is unique in every respect.  the author gives insights into how Rais proceeded from helpless anger to forgiveness and his desire to teach forgiveness and brotherly love and into how Mark’s background and upbringing probably caused him to react to 9/11 by randomly shooting another human being. The author somehow manages to plant empathy for both men in the hearts of his readers.  He, towards the end, chronicles his own involvement with Rais’s desire to spread his message of forgiveness and Mark’s supporters’ appeals (including those of Rais and death penalty critics) for a stay of execution.  Here’s where the suspense clicks in as the minutes click down to Mark’s execution.

    It was a New York Times bestseller, and its reviewer described the book as “seek[ing] less to uplift as to illuminate…” To me it was a rewarding read on several levels, very thought- provoking and opinion-forming.

    I would recommend this book to individuals, book clubs, and college classes.

  • MORE SERIOUS READING (Yes, I do some): A Review

    The Train to Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell was the Gulf Coast Read for this year.  Several counties on the Gulf Coast all read the same book, discussions and book club meetings are held about that book, and individuals participate in an “everyone has-read-that- book”  atmosphere.  Our Third Tuesday Book Club at the local library selected it as the “assignment” for October as well.

    I did not think I wanted to read the book.  In the past, I have always been a reader of novels, especially specializing in debut novels, but as a self-improvement project, I was glad to read this book.

    It is the true story of “FDR’s secret prisoner exchange program and America’s only family (italics mine) internment camp during WWII.”  It brings to light the hysteria of Americans against the Germans and Japanese living “among us” in those days, not necessarily a proud time in American history. It also describes the behind-the-scenes, political maneuvering of FDR as he used tactics presumably to rescue high-profile POWs in Germany and Japan.

    The book tells, in anecdotal form, the stories of two teenage girls, one born to German parents, and one born to Japanese parents, both born here in the United States. It chronicles their eventual exchange and return to war devastated Germany and Japan, respectively, and the toll it had on their adult lives–all stemming from decisions made by their fathers, who had struggles of loyalties and allegiance  to their native countries, Germany and Japan, in spite of their offsprings’ pleas to remain in the only home they had ever known, the US.

    The Star Tribune, Minneapolis, describes the book as “…compelling, thought-provoking, and impossible to put down.”  I found this a spot-on description as I read. It is a fine read for book clubs and individuals alike ,and history students will have an eye-opening peek into one of our fairly unknown periods of US history.  Because the camp was located in Crystal City, Texas, its descriptions and information will be of special interest to Texans.

    It took me a renewal of the book to finish, and I barely finished by book club meeting day, but I am glad I read The Train to Crystal City.

  • Monday Morning Musings

    In my reading of other blogger’s posts and visiting I did during my feeble attempt at the Dewey’s 24 Hour Marathon this past weekend, I came across one blogger’s meme/item called, “Where Did You Leave Your Bookmark?” (Apologies to the blogger for not writing down her blog address and giving her a “plug” here…)

    Reading those words led me to think, “Where is my bookmark, LITERALLY?”  I am constantly losing them, passing them along to someone, bending them in half and making them unattractive and pretty unusable.  So that said, here are some things I frequently use as bookmarks:

    • library date due slips
    • receipts (hopefully only those for cash purposes, for my husband requires charged receipts to use to justify charges on our monthly bill.  He once found a $300 charge at a Sears store in Florida (We live in Texas and have not travelled to Florida) that took months to “straighten out”, but straighten out it did, and we got our $300 credit.
    • recipes (mostly clipped from newspapers conveniently close to where my library book lies)
    • gift book marks  (always welcome)
    • fronts of cards and notes received in the mail with cute kittens, lovely flowers or other pictures that make me smile, both at the picture and remembering the kind friend who sent the card/note

    What, friend, are you using for a bookmark?  Do not be like an elderly friend I once had, who after her death, her executor was throwing out old, musty books from her enclosed back porch.  A younger friend of the woman stopped him and said, “Wait, we’d better rifle through the pages first.”  They did, and there was a $2 bill or several of them, a $1 here and there, and even a  few fivers that the dear, older friend had marked her place with!

  • Sunday (Evening) Post

    Here we are again at Sunday evening?  Where did the time get to? I was so busy this week, I met myself coming and going, but did MAKE some time for books and things “bookish.”

    What I finished reading this week:  The Train to Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell.  This was “due” for my Third Tuesday Book Club at the local library, and I finished it just in time–literally (in the original sense of the word).  As I baked a cake for our wonderful head librarian’s retirement party at the book club meeting, I read the last couple of chapters of the book Tues. morning. (That’s cutting it too close!) Also I finished a cozy mystery which I reviewed here last post–a most refreshing “escape” read. I finished the first two chapters of Acts in time for this morning’s job of subbing for our Sunday School teacher.  It took a lot of digging and thinking and reading commentaries and comments from the writer of our student quarterly, so quite a bit of reading was involved. ( Another “close one.” I finished the “finishing touches” (pun intended) on the lesson last night around 9:30 pm.)

    What I am reading now: I am still reading on The True American by Anad Giridharadas, which is really a good read, but “something” ( a library book due, a TV show, a movie on  the computer that was just too tempting,…) keeps popping up, and I know I can keep this one until Thanksgiving or later if necessary (It is on loan from a friend).I am also reading or am reading and looking at two articles in Image, a local (Brazoria County) magazine by a woman who was once my eighth grade student and is now a free lance writer.  Both are on local museums (both in small towns).  She also took the pictures for the articles which are as well done as the articles themselves.As usual, I am reading the Sunday edition of The Houston Chronicle, my usual Sunday afternoon pastime.  Ok, so today I’ve only gotten as far as the comics! I’ve been cooking for the coming week.

    What I am starting right now: Three library books, including The Thoughtful Dresser,and The Little Prince,which is the November book club “assignment.”  I have seen the film and read the book ages ago, but the prospect of a discussion prompts a re-read.

    What I am watching:  The Big Bang (caught up to date) and the 9:00 hour of the Today Show on NBC which is called “Trending Today” and I tape faithfully so I won’t “miss anything.” (caught up to date). What I have given up on: The Good Life.  I feel I gave it a fair try but found myself “doing other things” while supposedly watching.

    Two movies: Into the Woods, which was a “happy accident” and a great movie with a marvelous cast, wonderful songs and superb acting.  The movie I intended to see, A Walk in the Woods, with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte (and Emma Thompson!) I finished today after lunch.  It did not follow the book by Bill Bryson, but in all fairness, it did say, “adapted from the book” and Bryson was in on the planning of the film.  It was good, but I kept reminding myself, “That was a Hollywood touch.”  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the film as a stand alone.

    What I intended:  I intended to participate in the Dewey’s 24 Hour Marathon, but life caught up with me and overwhelmed me instead.  I did visit Debbie Nance’s hosting hour yesterday from 2-3 and eavesdropped on blogging friends who have become as close as really flesh and blood friends because of their clever comments and kind commitment to follow my blog.

    Thank you, all of you, who have stopped in this evening (even if you are stopping in Tues. or later! Ha!) Please continue to stay in touch, and thanks for all the hours of “happy reading time” well invested in reading your posts, reviews, pass-alongs, and musings.

    Rae