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.”

  • RELEASE DAY: HIDING CRACKED GLASS by Jay Cudney

    Book 2 in Perceptions of Glass series

    I could hardly wait for the sequel to Jay’s book, Watching Glass Shatter. I had followed the dysfunctional Glass family wondering about a strange letter the father had left behind. The new book, Hiding Cracked Glass also revolves around a letter, a threatening, blackmail letter. Unfortunately, the adresse’s name is blurred, so we are not sure whom the threat is toward. Olivia, the matriarch of the family, both my favorite and least favorite character in this series assumes the threat is made towards her; but is it? It could be made toward any member of the family, for this is a family that keeps secrets.

    The letter’s arrival happens right in the “middle of things,” where and when Cudney’s catastrophes usually occur–right at the worst possible moment. In the next eight hours, all hell breaks loose, complete with misassumptions and miscommunications galore. A few new characters are added to the mix of Olivia and her five sons. Cudney’s strongest skill is his outstanding characterization, something I use as a criteria for every novel I read, and Jay earns an A+ in this area for sure. What a page turner!

    Jay is offering a giveaway with this publication. See his blog, This Is My Truth Now for details. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/eSee1a9220/?

    The hardback, paperback, and Kindle versions are available today! Get your copy now and get reading!

  • Celebration of Color Challenge 2020: White

    This book is predominately white. The actual building in NYC, The NY Public Library is made of white marble.

    I chose this book because it is the latest by my favorite author, Fiona Davis. Like all her other novels, this one features and explores an iconic NYC building. Did you know there was once an apartment in the “innards” of the NY Public library where the superintendent and his family could live? Davis moves between 1913 and 1993, describing the building and telling the story of the “apartment” while creating a mystery with twists and turns.

    One critic describes this 2020 publication as a “love letter to literature, the NY Public Library, and the strength of women.” Davis introduces us to two women, decades apart: Laura Lyons, wife of the superintendent of the library, mother of two, and a writer herself, and Sadie, modern curator of the NY library who is Laura’s descendent, and determined to be given her due respect. Both women are trying to solve the mystery of a series of rare book thefts, then and now, and suffer the consequences of “poking their noses into business best left to men.”

    Laura back in 1913 becomes one of the first female students at the Columbia Journalism school, writing about the famous/infamous Heteradoxy Club in Greenwich Village during its days of Bohemia and nurturing of an all-female, radical group. Sadie must prove in 1993 that she herself did not steal the rare books and is not a “hysterical female,” whose job and responsibilities have become too much for her.

    This historical novel is Davis’ best yet, and that’s really saying something! I highly recommend this fascinating read and assign it 5 out of 5 stars.

  • MONDAY MUSINGS

    Rae Longest's avatarLiteracy and Me

    Today I’m thinking about poetry and the way it enters and enriches our lives. I don’t write poetry, but recently a former student shared her poetry with me, which was quite an honor. She has enough to compile a collection of poems, and wanted to know if the poems were “good enough.” And, oh my, were they ever! I was able to make one small suggestion about the order of the poems presented, but aside from that, I “wouldn’t change a thing.”

    Also, in the mail recently I received my first issue of The Journal of the Academy of American Poets.

    I have been waiting for a block of time to sit down and enjoy reading this wonderful publication. When I paged through it, I became distracted by the numerous workshops, programs, retreats, etc. offered for working poets. What a lovely thought–to go to the mountains or the seashore, or…

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  • SATURDAY REVIEW

    Rae Longest's avatarLiteracy and Me

    Saturday is as good a day as any for a review, but this review fits this particular “space” well because it is a review of a book of poems, musings, and thoughtful meditations. It is also my first release “into the wild” of a Book Crossing book.

    Back when I thought I was going to NYC on March 19th, 2020, I joined Book Crossing, planning to leave some books in New York and seeing how far they would “travel.” I received my labels, but when the trip was cancelled thanks to COVID, I lost interest in releasing books. Just this past week, I put a book into my Little Free Library , after providing it with a tracking sticker.

    Yes, I sometimes put Dollar Tree toys in there to capture the kids’ attentions.

    The label here does not show up well. It is a little book, walking for all he’s…

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  • Found Poem: Eau de Parfum

    Found Poem: Eau de Parfum

    I love the smell of wet ground and freshly cut greenery.

    Jen Payne's avatar

    a deconstructed garden
    the secondary scents
    or quieter facets of floristry
    often overlooked:

    freshly cut stems,
    crushed leaves,
    rich soil

    as beautiful and evocative as the flower itself

    what lingers

    green hyacinth and dewy muguet
    mandarin, hyacinth, freesia

    molecules
    radiance
    sensuality

    ©2020, Jen Payne. Taken from the website description of Malin + Goetz perfume.

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  • To Reconnect with Nature is Certain Cure

    To Reconnect with Nature is Certain Cure

    My blogging friend’s book.

    Jen Payne's avatar

    LOOK UP! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness

    75 ESSAYS & POEMS by
    Branford, Connecticut Writer Jen Payne
    Nature – Balance – Spirituality – Connection

    100 ORIGINAL COLOR PHOTOS
    of the Woods & Shoreline of Connecticut

    QUOTATIONS by Philosophers, Poets
    Naturalists, and Treasured Writers

    PREVIEW LOOK UP! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness NOW and discover one woman’s reconnection with Nature, told through essays and poems by writer Jennifer Payne, and illustrated by 100 stunning, full-color photographs of the woods and shoreline of Connecticut.

    LOOK UP! narrates Jen’s personal journey from running her own business 24/7 to the rediscovery of the joys she knew as a child playing outdoors and a new connection with the world around her. Follow along on this journey, season by season, through journaled reflections about nature, life, breath, mindfulness, balance, spirit.

    Woven in between, you’ll meet kindred spirits like Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, and…

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  • SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS

    Like TV programming in the 60s, Saturday mornings on this blog are reserved for kids. Today’s recommendation is for kids eight and up, as well as a few husbands who could learn a few things. LOL

    Practical advice for anyone who wants to function like a grownup in order to be trusted and treated like one.

    As the author says in her introduction. “We swear we’re not trying to turn you into a premature adult! We don’t want you trudging around in a small suit with a briefcase…” but what Newman IS trying to do is help kids get the respect they deserve by earning it.

    Character building things like “How to Bring a Little Sunshine to Older Folks” and “How to Be a Welcome Guest” are interspersed with practical things like the following:

    My Better Half could take a lesson here.
    Hmmmm, the diagrams here would hep My Better Half too! LOL

    Even wrapping a package for mailing or gift giving and sewing on a button are covered.

    The end result of this book is a better human being, a better person who can handle what life throws at him/her!

  • CELEBRATING DEAR DIARY DAY WINNERS: JOURNALS

    There were five comments on this giveaway, people. One, Carla from Carla Loves Books said she had a nice journal that was given to her, that she hadn’t even used yet. LOL She was eliminated.

    Amy, a young blogger at Beloved Amy said how much she liked journaling and later replied to say her current journal was just about used up. (I read into that “hint, hint,” and award her one of the journals. Chloe of Capable Chloe/Chloe’s Thoughts , another young blogger friend expressed a love of journals as well, so the second goes to her.

    Jee Wan of Hooked on Books says she keeps a book journal, and judging from the rapidity of which she reviews books, she can always use another one, so the third goes to her.

    That leaves my good friend and adopted little sister, Deb Nance of Readerbuzz, as the fifth commenter. Because I have seen what she has done with journals/notebooks/diaries, and because I happen to have a fourth journal, I will give one to her as well. Since we live in the same town, I will hand-deliver hers.

    The other three winners–please send me your mailing address to raelongest300@msn.com, so I can get that journal/diary out to you asap.

    Congratulations winners–and thanks, Carla for being such a good sport. I love you all!

    Rae

  • Unsaid | Asmita Rajiv | Book Review

    Unsaid | Asmita Rajiv | Book Review

    Khyati Gautam's avatarBookish Fame

    • Author: Asmita Rajiv
    • Paperback: 194 pages
    • Publisher: Independently Published (14 September 2020)
    • Language: English

    Book Review (3)

    We, humans, are a mess, and our heads a bundle of things – good and evil. Thoughts are not limited, with no boundaries set upon them; rather, they’d be out there in the wild. Can you control their flow? If only you could!

    Unsaid by Asmita Rajiv is a collection of raw thoughts – beautiful and relatable – of raw conversations she had inside her head. She lays them out without asserting any self-importance, without saying that she’d be right, without noting that she’s perfect. She just wrote what she felt, and I believe no gates must be put on anyone’s expression. Ever! She didn’t put it on herself, and I totally loved it.

    There are poems, quotes, and short essays on ideas that we might have inside us, but we do not acknowledge them…

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  • Castellan the Black and his Wise Draconic Tips on a Mid-Life Crisis #BrainfluffCastellanthe Black #WiseDragonicTipsonaMid-LifeCrisis #PickyEaters

    sjhigbee's avatarBrainfluff

    Fixes for a draconic mid-life crisis #2 – Challenge that unbearably cocky lord to a game of Who Can Dive Longest Without Opening His Wings. Ensure there is a lake or thick forest at the foot of the cliff just in case…

    Castellan the Black, mighty dragon warrior, features in my short story Picky Eaters, written to provide a humorous escape from all the stuff that isn’t happening on Wyvern Peak… All proceeds for the duration of its publishing life are donated to mental health charities.

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