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.”

  • NONFICTION NOVEMBER: Week Three

    This Week’s instructions gave me a chance to explore a topic I want to read more about: Gratitude.

    I am hoping to become an expert on Gratitude by reading several non-fiction books on the subject. Just googling the term “gratitude,” brought these results:

    The Little Book of Gratitude Evidently this is a group of quotes and short pieces on gratitude, a gift book.

    Gratitude Diaries by Kaplan

    A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life by John Krolik

    Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Emmons and Sacks

    Everyday Gratitude: Inspiration for Living Life as a Gift This one is evidently book of quotes.

    Works of Gratitude: Mind, Body and Soul by Hill and Emmons

    What books concerning the topic of Gratitude can you recommend I read?

    I may set myself a challenge to read books about gratitude sometime in December. Your input would be very helpful. Thanks!

    RAE

  • NATIONAL I LOVE TO WRITE DAY

    Today, Monday, November 15th, is National I Love to Write Day.

    I plan to celebrate today by writing.

    This celebration of the love of writing was begun in 2002 by author, John Riddle. His goal was to “have people of all ages spend time writing. He suggests that on this day you write: a poem, a love letter, a greeting card, an essay a short story ,start or work on a novel. (Perfect for NaNo projects) Schools, libraries, bookstores will all participate. Today would be a great day to sign up for a writing class or to offer to read a friend’s written work. Do something that involves writing TODAY.

    It was a dark and stormy night…
    WRITE ON!

    Rae

  • NONFICTION NOVEMBER: Week II, Part 3

    This second week of nonfiction celebrated in November asks the blogger, once again, to pair books.

    The third pairing of books I shall do this second week of November is to assure you, my reader, that if you like book x, you will surely enjoy book y. The books that will be paired are both inspirational and both from the category of self-help. Also, they both deal with the theme of trying to be perfect and learning to accept one’s imperfections.

    A very helpful book I purchased on line.

    The first of the pair, Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection, was reviewed earlier here on PWR. My takeaway from it was that being uncool is ok. Brown published this book back in 2010, but I just got around to reading it this year.

    Pairing Gifts with this next book by Shauna Niequist, one might wonder if the author had read Brown’s book before she published her own in 2016, for she subtitles it, “Leaving Behind Frantic for a More Soulful Way of Living. “

    I am reading this now.It was donated to my LFL (Little Free Library).

    More memoir, and filled with many anecdotes, more so than Gifts, this second book is both helpful and subtle, as Niequist allows the reader to make her own conclusions and acquire her own life lessons as she reads. Like Niequest in this respect, Brown also tends to “teach” through gentle, thoughtful “conversations” with her readers rather than relating as many stories from her past.

    Both books are darned good reads, and thus, make a likely pair to select for related reading objectives.

    Life’s a puzzle, and a good self-help/inspiring book can help one sort it out.

    READ A NONFICTION THAT MAKES YOU THINK TODAY!

    Rae

  • NONFICTION NOVEMBER: Week II, Part 2

    Bloggers are asked to pair books in several different ways.

    Yesterday I paired two nonfiction books that were very alike. Today I am pairing a fiction and nonfiction book which cover the same time frame–the London Blitz.

    A wonderful story set in a bookstore.

    The adventures of a young woman who comes to London to seek her fortune only to be caught up in a war and eventually the notorious London Blitz is not only a page turner but an ode to books, bookstores, and booksellers. I reviewed this Book about Books at some point this year, and it you would like to read more about it (perhaps to add it to your TBR pile), type the title into the search box on PWR’s home page.

    My favorite nonfiction history writer

    If you want a factual account of The Blitz from Number 10 Downing Street and Churchill’s country family hideaway, this book is for you. It is accurately researched and even publishes passages from journals and newspaper accounts of the Blitz, yet it reads like a novel. Larson is the master of this technique. This is NOT historical fiction, but pure fact, yet it is a page-turner you can’t put down. Again, I reviewed this book as a book club selection this past year. Just insert the title into the search box for an unbiased review.

    These two books are a second kind of pairing this week. Stay “tuned” for at least one more kind of pairing to come.

    My thanks to blogging friend “D” for her border design.

    Challenge: Read a fiction and nonfiction book set in the same time period and compare or pair a fiction and nonfiction book in some other way on your blog. What? No blog? Do so briefly in the reply/comment box below.

    Thanks, Evin.

  • Rae Longest's avatarLiteracy and Me

    Children’s Book Week is celebrated two times a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.

    May 3-9 was Children’s Book Week last spring, and it has rolled around for its fall appearance this week,

    November 8-14, 2021, focuses on young people, their reading habits, reading preferences and children’s books. Its purpose is to “celebrate the joy of reading.” Begun in 1919, many activities and events planned by schools and public libraries occur.

    What can you do to celebrate this special week?

    Plan a family trip to the library.

    Make bookmarks for family members. This might be done in fairly large families by drawing names and designing a special bookmark for the person whose name you drew.

    Play charades acting out book titles.

    Build and maintain a Little Free Library in your yard or community. This would make a great family project everyone could participate in.

    Here’s my…

    View original post 85 more words

  • NOVEMBER NONFICTION: Week Two

    This book, which was donated to my Little Free Library has been very helpful. I am using a chapter or two a day as a lead in to a morning “thought-time.”

    Week Two of Nonfiction November asks the blogger to pair up books. I will attempt to do this at least two times this week, starting right now. I would pair up the book posted above to one by Anne Lamott:

    A story about Lamott’s becoming a grandmother when her son became a father

    The books are alike because both are books of introspection and encouragement while offering lovely anecdotes in the memoir category. Both were engaging and thought-provoking nonfiction reads that often required me to close the book and ponder the words I had read. Both had some humorous moments as well as warm, moving scenes from the authors’ lives that made me tear up.

    Both are darned good reads and make me dream about my own past.

    Dreams prompted by books can reflect on one’s past as well as help her look ahead.

    KEEP DREAMING AND KEEP READING!

    Rae

  • Two novels this weekend plus several Cybils nominees

    I had the opportunity to read quite a bit this weekend, as I was not feeling up to par and didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything much. When not sleeping the extra hours from feeling bad or the additional hours gained from going to bed extra early Saturday night, and then another hour from the end of Daylight Savings Time, I did nothing but read. Here are the results:

    This novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, by Jan-Philipp Sandker is interesting. It presents protagonist, Julia Winn, whose father disappears without explanation. She travels to Burma and learns of his early life before he was her father and of his return to Burma shortly before his death in search of his one true love. Julia learns what real, pure love is as she learns of her dad’s love for Mimi. The book is filled with family mysteries and is a “magical and uplifting tale of hardship and resilience and the unyielding power of love.” It is a darned good read.

    Cleverly written, this one is for older high schoolers.

    Described as a “frank tale of teenage girlhood,” this novel tells the story of Jemimina, a complex character who is fighting the male patriarchy with all she’s got. In her school, she is chosen as part of the Triumvirate who “rules” the school, and with Jemima’s strong desire to “make things different,” changes the ways things are done at this posh private school. It is also a story of first love, “the first time,” and first impressions. It is frank, relevant, and challenging to YA readers.

    Appealing to the questions of teenagers about the usual things of teenage-hood like sex and “first times,” The Feminist Agenda of Jemima Kinkaid listens to the needs of its YA readers.

    I finished four Cybils nominees this weekend, one of which made my shortlist. I understand that a panelist for the first round in poetry (mostly novels in verse) should list 5-7 candidates for the award. I believe the one I added makes 5. I still have many to read, so I will have to do some “adjusting” to my list.

    I HOPE YOU HAD A PRODUCTIVE READING EXPERIENCE THIS WEEKEND TOO!

    Rae

  • SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS

    Just as Saturday morning TV programming was reserved for kids’ cartoons, PWR reserves Saturday mornings for recommendations of kids’ books.

    Today’s recommendation is a collection of poems for kids. No, it is not a Cybils nominee; this one was published in 2018. The book had such a joyous cover by illustrator, Raul Colon, that I picked it up at my local library.

    Pat Mora, the author of the poems, a beloved children’s poet, has written about things “bookish”–literary for the most part–and has included a few poems about kids themselves for good measure.

    Here are a few of Raul Colon’s marvelous illustrations:

    This back cover image expresses well the joy books can bring. It certainly brought joy to my heart!
    HAPPY READING EVERYONE
  • Thanks to Reading Is My Superpower for the cool meme.

    The idea of First Line Friday is to copy the first line or so of your current read, attempting to convince readers that they, too, would like to read that book. Here is my Friday Firstliner for 11/5/2021:

    One of the Cybils nominees I’m reading for the poetry division, a novel in verse.

    “Mary/Detroit, Michigan/1934

    Grief

    consumes

    like a brush fire.

    It begins with a glowing cinder.”

    This novel in verse is a double story, one about Mary, a young Greek girl growing up in Detroit. The other story is about Komina, a girl living in Central Greece during 1915. Mary finds letters concerning Komina in the basement of her house in Detroit. It is a riveting story on both ends and promises to be a darned good read.

    design above from Pinterest

    RAE

  • I have just this week begun a modified version of Nonfiction November. As you can see from the meme, the first week, November 1-5 deals with a look back at one’s year of nonfiction reads. Several questions were proposed to deal with in this first post, but I chose to give a statistic first instead. Browsing over my nonfiction reads in 2021 (not counting Saturday Mornings for Kids or any children’s books), I found I’d read 38 nonfiction books so far this year. For someone who previously read only novels and literary fiction, this is not bad. I owe this change in taste and the inclusion of nonfiction into my reading habits to blogging friend, Deb Nance. She encouraged our Third Tuesday book club to read Lab Girl, a book I never dreamed I would enjoy. I was captivated by the book and decided at that point to become a reader of non-fiction.

    There’s even more to learn than life lessons and cautionary tales from novels.

    Later, her Happiness Project on her blog provided recommendations steering me to several books on that topic, which I enjoyed as much as any novel I’d ever read. Perhaps my favorite nonfiction read of the year so far is Your Turn: How to be an Adult. It would make a perfect textbook for a course in Adulting 101, and revealed to me several areas in which I could act more like a responsible adult!

    I have definitely been attracted to books that help a reader grow, live a meaningful life, and maintain a better Christian walk. I have recommended Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile, a book club selection over and over again to friends, students, and family members. Like so many of my “bookish” friends, when I find a book that “speaks” to me, my first thought is to share it with those I love.

    I am hoping to deepen my appreciation and enjoyment of nonfiction by participating in Nonfiction November. Won’t you join me? Go to http://www.What’sNonFiction.com for details.

    HAPPY NONFICTION READING!

    Rae