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.”

  • SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS

    Just as Saturday mornings were reserved for kids’ cartoons back in the 50s and 60s, PWR reserves Saturday mornings for recommendations of kids’ books.

    This week, 10/7, the book I have chosen to review was donated to my bookstore, Rae’s Reads. It had no cover, and I began reading it to see what kind of book it was. Since it is over 360 pages long, I recommend it to older readers, perhaps grades 5 and up, or to be enjoyed as a “read-a-chapter-before-bed” ritual each night by a parent or grandparent.

    The boy on the cover in the rowboat is Oscar, a boy from an earlier time who wrote The Book of Story Beginnings only to find that his stories have come true. The house in the background is the house of his sister, Lavonne, who grew up telling everyone she saw Oscar disappear rowing on a sea around the land-locked house of their childhood.

    The other main character, Lucy, is a modern day girl whose father inherits said house from his aunt, Lavonne. Magic and changing people into cats and fathers into birds are but a few of the strange occurrences that happen in this fantasy story that has all the appeal and humor of Harry Potter plus the mystery and problem solving of a Nancy Drew mystery. We meet such fanciful characters as the King who loved cats and his Queen who loved birds, who were estranged when one of the King’s cats ate one of the Queen’s birds. It doesn’t help that Lucy’s father experiments with Aunt Lavonne’s notebooks full of spells and potions and is changed into a crow who flies to the magical island of the King and Queen. How Lucy and Oscar recreate the magical sea, are aided by pirates, a female captain and her many children which constitute her crew, and Oscar’s story beginnings play out, changing the narrative and outcome of their adventure provide many exciting, page-turning-adventures.

    As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it as a fanciful “darned good read.”

  • A DARNED GOOD READ

    ONE OF MY TOP TEN FAVORITE READS OF 2023–SO FAR

  • SUNDAY REVIEW

    The word “Sunday” written in white 3D letters on a colorful background concept and theme.

    There’s an hour left of this Sunday, October 1st before it becomes Monday, so I guess there’s enough time to do a Sunday Review here on PWR.

    Today’s recommendation was a favorite for me because it is two things I love best: a debut novel and an immigrant story.

    Published in 2019, this novel discusses the plight of Arab women and the controlled and closed world they live in, even after emigrating to the US. At the age of seventeen, Isra, the protagonist is married off to an American Arab, Arabs (Adam) by her money-hungry father. The year is 1990, and Isra finds the United States much stranger and more frightening than she expected. Disappointed in her marriage as well, she gives birth to a daughter, Deyna, much to her shame and humiliation. This birth is quickly followed by three more daughters, a circumstance which greatly angers and embarrasses her mother-in-law, Fareeda, the least liked character in this story of three generations of women.

    The narrative carries the reader along in a captivating manner, alternating chapters from the three women’s lives, covering from Fareeda’s wedding until 2008 when Deyna is in high school, being raised with her sisters by their grandparents. The question in the reader’s mind is, “What happened to Isra? Why is the backward Fareeda fighting with Deyna, whom she is trying to marry off despite Dean’s desire to go to college? Who is the mysterious woman who contacts Deyna, asking her to meet at the bookstore? As the mysteries unfold, the modern reader marvels at how women of another time and culture can believe assumptions as to a husband’s superiority and rights, and her duty to subject her own wishes and dreams to those of her family.

    Overall, this is an amazing book, a page-turner, and a darned good read.

    RAE 9/11/23 11:30 pm

  • WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS WEDNESDAY?

    (Thanks, blogging friends for the use of this meme.)

    Many of my blogging friends do a WWW Wednesdays post. Back in 2016 when I first began this blog, I did too, but it has been a Loooong time since I’ve done one. Here goes…

    WHAT HAVE YOU FINISHED?

    This was a great, light read–just what I needed. I will review it soon on PWR.

    WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW?

    This one has been sitting on my TBR shelf for years–literally!

    I am re-reading this special book, which I plan to read every winter, starting in September, when the book begins. I re-read favorite marked passages in the chapters from the September chapter daily. I am looking forward to October and the October chapters.

    A wonderful series I’ve just begun…definitely pleasure reading for a writing teacher.

    ONE LAST READING NOW…

    A book donated to the bookstore, The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup . (I failed to secure a picture.)

    WHAT WILL I READ NEXT?

    Who knows? Suggestions?

    This was fun. I may do it again!

  • TUESDAY TEASER

    Text on wooden frame laying on green grass. Good morning happy Tuesday

    GOOOD MORNING! The motive behind the Tuesday Teaser, hosted by several different blogs, is to “tease” someone into reading the same book you are currently reading. Here are the directions: Open your current read where you left off and copy a few lines. Post these on your blog (or in the comment/reply box below). Don’t forget to include the title and author somewhere.

    Here’s my TUESDAY TEASER for Tuesday, September 26th:

    “Writers don’t usually fit in; there’s no denying that…they came and they watched and they ached and they cultivated their loneliness and they hated their loneliness too.”

    The book deals with the impulse to write and how writers feel about writing in general. It is part of a series: Why Read?, Why Teach?, etc.by the same author. I plan to read the others after this one, which I’m really enjoying.

    RAE 9/26/2023

  • SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS

    Just as Saturday Mornings on TV programming back in the 50s and 60s was dedicated to its younger viewers, showing cartoons from 6:30 am until 9:30 am, so PWR dedicates its Saturday Morning post to its younger readers.

    Nadia the Willful by Sue Alexander, illustrated by Lloyd Bloom is a quiet little book dealing with anger, grief, and loss. Nadia is the daughter of Bedouin sheik, Tarik. Even as a young child, she is angry and acts out to get attention. Only her eldest brother, Hamid, could calm her. When Hamid travels out into the desert and does not return, Nadia and her father go into a deep depression. Tarik decrees that no one shall ever again mention Hamid’s name or speak of him, thinking the hurt is too great to be reminded of his son.

    Nadia not only ignores her father’s decree, she spoke to everyone of his deeds and his personality, flaunting her father’s wishes. How she finally breaks through her father’s grief and restores Hamid’s memory to her family is the story enacted by a brave, willful girl. The life lessons in the story are profound and important for all who are experiencing or have experienced loss and death of a loved one. A lovely book for sharing a conversation with a grieving child, Alexander’s pensive book is a must-read for grandparents or parents to read to their little ones.

    A paperback signed copy of this book will be given away to a name drawn from those who comments on this review. Limited to the US. Expiration date October 6th, 2023. Please include an address or email address in your comment/reply so that if your name is drawn, I can mail the book to you.

    Rae 9/22/2023

  • SUNDAY REVIEW

    Yesterday I finished Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor.

    This 2006 publication was donated to my bookstore by a frequent customer, and I read it before putting it on the shelf. The author presents reflections on 20 years in the priesthood of the Episcopal church. Here are a couple of excerpts that demonstrate the lovely writing and profound thoughts Taylor demonstrates.

    “Like every believer I know, my search for real life has led me through three seasons of faith…finding life, losing life, and finding life again.” Her descriptions of how she entered the priesthood, her years serving her parishes, and her decision to leave the priesthood, only to find a stronger, more authentic faith are amazing reading. It guides anyone seeking his/her faith to the “real thing.”

    “…my losses have been chiefly in the area of faith, and specifically, in the area of being certain who God is, what God wants of me, and what it means to be a Christian in a world where religion often seems to do more harm than good”–something all of us are seeking answers to.

    Serving in “a small historical parish in north Georgia,” Taylor finds that “…finding my life might involve losing it–or that loss, in the end might be cause for praise.

    This book is full of wonderful writing, beautiful descriptions, and lovely use of figurative language. It is an inspiring book and a darned good read.

  • IT CAN’T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH FOR ME

    (Thanks to my blogging friend The Starry Night Elf for this meme)

    Fall can’t get here soon enough for me. I am wanting a new season, a new start, and a new me.

    I just finished two books today, am nearing the end of another, and am soooo ready to put the pedal to the metal on a push to finish up my reading challenges for 2023.

    Here’s an update:

    On my Classics Club Challenge, I hoped to read six books, one classic book every other month. I have read four: It Couldn’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis; Jane Austin and Shelley In the Garden by Janet Todd, which deals with classic themes; Circe, also dealing with classic mythology; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; and I have not read a selection for September/October yet.

    On Books from the Backlog, I planned to read twelve; so far I’ve read nine, one a month, putting me behind in reading my book for September. But then, September has sixteen more days.

    I’ve read many wonderful books this year, 2023; some I’ve reviewed and some just digested and enjoyed. Although the bookstore, Rae’s Reads, takes up a good deal of my time, I am following the advice I always gave to my students–MAKE TIME FOR READING.

    I am already thinking about challenges for 2024, and have written a fun challenge I will probably focus on in the new year along with a couple of favorites. Fall is a good time to re-evaluate and recompose, a better time than New Year’s in my opinion. I have been reading and reflecting on what I have read as well as simply reading for pleasure. It has been a good year.

  • MY THOUGHTS AND READING TODAY

    TUESDAY TEASER
  • A Transformation 🦋