Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes
RAE’S READS
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Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes
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Here’s a shout-out to Deb Nance at Readerbuzz, who each year participates in Paris in July. About once a year, she makes a trip to Paris, but in July of each year she does “French-ish” things. This year, Emma of Words and Peace is hosting the meme.
According to Emma, “Our goal in 2023 is to embrace and honor our French encounters by immersing ourselves in various activities like reading, watching, listing, observing, cooking, and indulging in all things French!
If you love all-things-Paris, hop over to Readerbuzz and Words and Peace to see what these two gals are up to.
RAE Saturday July 15th, 2023
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I AM POSTING ABOUT MY FIRST AUDIO BOOK FOR KIDS TODAY.
Because I am behind on my 2023 Audiobook Challenge, I chose an audiobook to begin reading/listening to Friday night for today’s book review for kids’ books. Here at Powerful Women Readers, we reserve Saturday Mornings For Kids, much like 50s and 60s TV programming did. Mom and Dad would sleep in, and the kids would make their breakfast of cold cereal (Tony the Tiger’s Frosted Flakes, most likely), sit in front of the TV (with no mom around to warn, “Don’t sit too close!”) and watch Looney Tunes, Micky Mouse, and other cartoons. Those were the “good old days.” LOL
The audiobook I chose was one whose cover appealed to me…
Since I just began last night, and I had other books to read as well, I only listened to the first three tracks, but what I heard was interesting enough to make me want to finish.
The story begins with Boomica, better known as Boomi, trying out for a ballet academy. Twelve-year-old Boomi has noticed changes in her body. Unlike Bee Bee Jacobs, Boomi’s best friend, she still has her paunch of baby fat and seems to have more trouble dancing “on point,” which even causes her to lose her balance and fall during the tryouts. When the “accepted ones” are posted on the list, Bee Bee’s name is on it; Boomie’s isn’t.
The story is set in 2021 at the height of the pandemic; everyone is masked, and Boomi’s father, who was already in poor health, caught Covid the year before and died.
Track four begins with Boomi seeing a “friend,” a man of the streets who often talked to himself on bad days, showing up in the alley behind Boomi’s house, wearing her Dad’s overcoat. When Boomi questions him, he tells her that her father gave him a boxful of his old clothes, and that he gave him something for Boomi too. Strangely enough, it is an old, beat-up boombox. That’s as far as I’ve come, but my interest is peaked. Why would Boomi’s dad give the man directions to give it to her? Perhaps, will Boomi’s dad contact her via the boombox? Is the boombox just an ancient piece of trash? I intend to tune in to the audiobook tomorrow to find out more!
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I met Ronald Miller recently through a mutual friend who sent him to Rae’s Reads, my bookstore. She knew I was looking for local writers in hopes of having them come speak at the bookstore. The man who showed up was the ultimate Southern Gentleman, who left me a copy of his sci-fi thriller to display and read. And what a read!
When this book is described as a “thriller,” they are not kidding!
I read the book in two sittings, staying up way past my bedtime to see how it came out. Bam! Pow! Wow! the action is riveting; and Oh My! the sci-fi details will knock you off your reading chair.
I really came to care for Yogi, Kennedy, Maria, and Danny, the main characters. Williams is a master of character development (what moves me as a reader) as well as master of fast-paced plot. Not only are the protagonists done well, but so are the out-of-this-world (literally) antagonists. In my head, I imagined the well-drawn “monsters” produced by Williams’ descriptive talent, and I had little hope for the puny humans who took them on. Armed with only human ingenuity and bravery beyond comprehension, our heroes face a seemingly un-defeatable foe.
As for Williams’ writing style, his “hold-your-breath-” descriptions of what is happening is spot-on. I can’t say too many times how much I enjoyed reading this novel. It definitely fits the category of a darned good read.
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Mitch Albom, popular inspirational writer, knows a good thing when he writes one. Have a Little Faith is remarkably similar to Tuesdays with Morrie ; both are inspiring true stories where Mitch visits and learns from a dying old man. Loaded with life lessons and quotable pithy statements from Morrie, or in this 2009 publication, Albom’s childhood Rabbi, both books cause the reader to contemplate the meaning of life.
In Fatih, Album is asked by his 82-year-old-Rabbi, “Will you do my eulogy?” This request begins an eight year journey, which the author describes thusly: “I thought I was being asked a favor. Actually, I was being given one…” Because Albom wanted to get to know the Rabbi as a man, as a husband and father, and as a spiritual leader, he made regular visits to Detroit, Albom’s childhood home, to interview him.
Establishing a sub-plot, the author describes another friendship he forms during these visits. A reformed drug dealer and convict, now an evangelistic pastor, who “preaches in a decaying church with a hole in the roof” ministers to the poor and homeless ” becomes Albom’s new friend. “As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex man…”
At the end, Albom presents the eulogy he delivers for the Rbbi, which is truly moving. This is not only the story of the Rabbi, but of the author’s as he describes how he lost his faith and found it again.
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This wonderful book has helped me immensely as I started out in January 2023 as the owner of Rae’s Reads, a new and gently used bookstore (the only bookstore) in my hometown of Alvin, Texas (think halfway between Houston and Galveston).
The book is subtitled, “A Woman’s Guide for Making Money Doing What She Loves.” I knew immediately when I saw it was recommended by Dave Ramsey, who wrote the forward, that I would be getting good business advice. “Starting a business can be scary”–I can vouch for that. Wright describes “the current movement of women stepping into their God-given gifts to make money doing what they love.” Since most of my books are donations, I am able to sell hardbacks for a dollar and paperbacks for 50 cents. Friends and friends of friends have loved clearing out their bookshelves and houses as they move to be closer to loved ones, just want to rid their homes of “clutter-books” before their children have to do that for them after they die, and are downsizing for some other reason. MY GOAL IS TO ONE DAY COVER THE UTILITIES AND PERHAPS THE TAXES AND INSURANCE, but right now attaining that goal is a long way down the road. It is more of a hobby, a very expensive one. LOL My aim is to redistribute and circulate books. I have given away hundreds with FREEBIE weekends and a free book from anywhere in the building on one’s first visit. IT HAS BEEN FUN! We even serve coffee and homemade cookies paid for by the cash that comes in.
The author gives excellent advice on taxes and other practicalities that sometimes apply to my situation. Her chapters on ‘Making the Most of Your Resources” and “Planning Your Money, Time, Schedule, and Space was extremely helpful when starting out. The purpose of Business Boutique is to “create a plan to start a business,” and it accomplishes that purpose in a fine way.
I never turn down donations and I am kept busy spreading the wealth of books.
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Just as Saturday mornings’ TV programming was reserved for kids back in the 50s and 60s, PWR reserves Saturdays for reviewing kids’ books.
Today at my bookstore, I sold a second copy of Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. I was sad to see it go, for it was one of my favorite adult reads of a kids’ book. I reviewed it a while back on Powerful Women Readers, and you can read about it by searching the title in the search box. I hope the junior high boy will enjoy the book as much as I did.
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This is my heart’s request
Please bring the light through me
So that others may see
Their worthiness
©2023 Annette Rochelle Aben
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This book counted for two different 2023 challenges:
Although Miller’s Circe is not a classic, it deals with classic themes; therefore, I chose to read it for my Classic Club challenge. Circe was my choice for May/June. I had ordered it for my Kindle in 2020 when it was published, but I kept forgetting it was there and did little reading on it. When I opened Rae’s Reads, my bookstore, here in Alvin, Texas, someone donated a paperback copy. This enabled me to read at the bookstore during the days I held bookstore hours then read where I had left off on my Kindle at home.
I have always loved classic mythology and like most people, was introduced to it as a freshman in high school when we read The Odyssey. I vividly remembered Circe, the sorceress, changing Odysseus’/Ulysses’ men into swine. This is the story of Circe: her life, her power, her “place”. Circe was the daughter of Helios, the sun god. As a young girl, she discovers that she, although immortal, does not have her father’s might, nor does she have her mother’s beauty and feminine wiles, so she turns to witchcraft.
In this novel, on her isle of exile for offering water to quench Prometheus’ thirst after he is punished by her father, she encounters the Minotaur, Hermes, and Medea, and especially notable, Ulysses, plus many other mythological characters and creatures. Eventually, she must choose between gods and mortals.
Ann Patchett, the notable writer and Gynneth Paltrow, the actor both recommend the novel. Noting this, one could say the story appeals to everyone. Miller’s excellent writing and outstanding characterization make this one of my top five books for 2023.
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