At a time when women’s rights are once again threatened, it’s worth looking back at what feminist authors warned us about decades ago. When Margaret Atwood published "The Handmaid’s Tale" in 1985, she was part of a powerful wave of women writing feminist dystopian science fiction, which we now call speculative fiction.

The late 20th ...Read more

Wendy B. Correa’s new memoir "My Pretty Baby: Seeking Truth and Finding Healing," details a fascinating life defined by resilience and accomplishment in the face of childhood trauma and a dysfunctional family environment. As Correa deftly shows in this writing debut, life is not so much about what happens to you as it is what you do with what ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell kicked off his campaign for governor inside of a restaurant in Inman, he brought out a table after his speech to sign a piece of paper.

It was the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge, which he signed after promising to create an office of parental rights if he were elected governor.

�...Read more

They say birds of a feather flock together and while that may be true most of the time, I have proof it is not true all the time. Our 12-year-old grandson and a jet-black Cayuga duck sitting beside him, with its long neck and head resting on the boy’s shoulder, have been flocking together for weeks.

The boy says it all began because the duck�...Read more

In "Danger, No Problem," author Cindy Fazzi has written an engaging mystery about one man’s continuous pursuit of the one he let get away. The story unfolds over 20 years, with chapters alternating between the past (1998, 2008) and the present, illustrating how Domingo’s relationship with his target, Monica Reed, evolved and ultimately led ...Read more

I am an accidental gardener. If anything I plant grows to maturity, and by some fluke of nature becomes edible, it is sheer accident.

If we had to survive on what I grow, we would both be very, very thin. Spaghetti thin. We are not spaghetti thin; we are more like rigatoni.

Several years ago, I dreamed of growing potatoes. I threw some ...Read more

There’s something about a small town that makes it the perfect setting for a thriller. On the surface, you’ve got quiet streets, neighbors who wave as they pass, kids riding their bikes without a care. But scratch just a little deeper and you’ll often find lies stacked as neatly as wood piles, secrets pressed down tightly, hidden well, ...Read more

It’s always a treat as a reader to find a book that delivers a powerful social message as well as tells a good story, and that’s exactly what we get in "Under Their Watch" — Charlie Ketchey’s compelling and moving novel about the challenges facing a pair of dedicated child-care workers.

Child-care caseworker Cameron Springer and John ...Read more

My husband is one of those people who can sleep anywhere, anytime.

He can sleep sprawled halfway on and halfway off the sofa, in a straight-back chair, with three grands crawling all over him styling his hair, and during cross-country flights with severe turbulence.

It’s a gift. The man is so gifted he can even fall asleep while I’m ...Read more

The art of the con is just as much a part of human nature as the need for food, shelter, water and clothing. People have been attempting to get something for nothing, or get by with something, for as long as humans have been contemplating the meaning of life.

In "Anatomy Of A Con Artist," author and podcaster Johnathan Walton, himself a victim ...Read more

With the new school year underway, you’ve likely heard new names — and requests to have friends over.

For elementary schoolers, typically that means getting the other parents’ contact information and setting up a playdate. However, things change for middle school and high school students.

Making your home a place where older kids and ...Read more

Why do we root for people we’d cross the street to avoid in real life? Fiction is crowded with liars, schemers, stalkers, even killers … and somehow, they have fan clubs. Whether it’s Tom Ripley’s suave cons, Amy Dunne’s razor-sharp vengeance, or Joe Goldberg’s murderous devotion, these characters inspire not just fascination but ...Read more

We just dropped some serious money on an air purifier thinking it might help with my allergies. I have seasonal allergies. They’re bad in fall, winter, spring and summer.

I do a lot of sniffing.

Some days I sniff, hack and cough so much that if you heard it from another room, you’d think an old ranch hand is choking on chewing tobacco and...Read more

Some memoirs invite you to sit quietly and listen. "Maya Blue" does the opposite.

Brenda Coffee’s story swings the door wide open and pulls you into a life that starts like a dream and veers, chapter by chapter, into places you don’t expect to go. It reads with the tension of a thriller, yet it’s rendered with the candor and empathy of a ...Read more

History’s darkest chapters are often best understood not through dates and battles, but through the intimate stories of those who lived them.

For readers drawn to the emotional weight of World War II fiction, these six novels balance sorrow with hope. Each powerfully reminds us: though war shatters worlds, the bonds of humanity endure.

The ...Read more

Some books whisper, while others hit like lightning … then there are the rare ones that do both. Those books tend to shift something deep inside you with their quiet insistence on truth. The following 7 books are shaped by memory and sharpened by resistance. They dig deep and unearth what we’re told to keep buried. Family dynamics. Cultural ...Read more

We used to tell our kids to act their age. Now they tell us to act our age. We try, but it’s not easy when you are 20-somethings trapped inside the bodies of seasoned citizens.

The husband spent five days last fall channeling Paul Bunyan, swinging an ax at the roots on a 60-year-old maple tree that a removal service had taken down. In ...Read more

In an era defined by shifting alliances, relentless technology races and deepening mistrust in institutions, these geopolitical thrillers feel ripped from tomorrow’s headlines. When the smallest spark can ignite global war, only the few — whether from the military or any number of alphabet agencies (or a well-trained rogue operative) — ...Read more

"Anchored by Love" by Marie-Claire Moriah Wright and David Saccoh Wright is a heartwarming multigenerational family saga. The book explores the lives of Asher and Charlotte Kingsley and their children as they grow through life’s milestones.

The story begins with Asher and Charlotte’s teenage years. Asher Kingsley, a confident and ...Read more