Parenting Advice with a Side of Anxiety

Courtesy Sentient Publications

by Kelly Bryan Smith
May 9, 2012

"Parenting for Peace: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers" by Dr. Marcy Axness (Sentient Publications, 2012, $18.95) offers a fascinating look into new research ranging from brain chemistry to human growth and development. Axness' book provides theoretical and practical…

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It’s Not Too Late to Plant

File Photo

by Jim PathFinder Ewing
May 2, 2012

For those who have been thinking "I'd like to start an organic garden this year," it's not too late. Lots of folks plant during the first week in May.

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[Don’t Miss It!] Coming Home

by Donna Ladd
April 11, 2012

"Alligator Lake" (NAL Trade, 2002, $15) is another in a string of roughly historic race novels by white people that claims to be another "The Help." I wasn't prepared to like Colorado nursing professor Lynne Bryant's novel about another white…

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Running for Their Lives

Courtesy AmazonEncore

by Sam Hall
April 4, 2012

With his first book, Mississippian Bobby Cole delivers a fast-paced thriller that pits a man and his daughter against a group of truly sadistic thugs in a night-long wilderness chase.

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What’s on My Nightstand?

Courtesy Scribner

By Sam Hall
April 4, 2012

"11-22-63" by Stephen King (Scribner, 2011, $35). Stephen King is far more than a "horror writer." He's an excellent author who can tell a brilliant story. I loved "Under the Dome," and "11-22-63" has been just as captivating.

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The Magic of Jade

Courtesy Swarthmore College

by Ronni Mott
March 21, 2012

When I met Gerard Helferich last fall, he handed me a piece of jade. The dark green disk, carved in the shape of an ear, was about an inch and a half high. As we spoke about his book, "Stone…

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Grace and Humor

Health Communications

by Ronni Mott
March 14, 2012

In my over-50 yoga class, I frequently see people frustrated by their inability to get a pose "right." I gently remind them that they're not 20-somethings any more and, usually, they laugh at themselves for trying so hard and relax…

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‘I Was There’

Courtesy Scholastic

by Valerie Wells
February 29, 2012

Turning 12 is hard enough for a girl. Old friends start acting weird, especially the slightly older ones starting high school. You can try to hold on to the magic of childhood during a carefree summer, but reality might have…

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Nine out of Ten Experts Agree

Courtesy Seal Press

by Tom Head
February 22, 2012

For me, the pivotal scene in Kerry Cohen's "Seeing Ezra: A Mother's Story of Autism, Unconditional Love, and the Meaning of Normal" (Seal Press, 2011, $25) is her session with Shannon, a professional Tarot card reader. Cohen asks Shannon whether…

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The Truthniks

Courtesy William Morrow Paperbacks

by Sam Hall
February 15, 2012

When it comes to political memoirs, most are either too safe to be interesting or too salacious to be taken seriously. With political thrillers, the plots are often either too thin to be enthralling or too complicated to be enjoyable. read more »

Smart? Not Really

Courtesy David McRaney

by Hannah Jones
February 8, 2012

Growing up with eager readers, Sumrall native David McRaney flocked to the art of storytelling. McRaney, 34, works by day as director of new media at WDAM, but in his spare time is an avid blogger and published author.

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Sequel Prequels?

Courtesy Farrar, Straus and Giroux

By Pamela Hosey
January 11, 2012

As soon as I began reading Bill Loeh­felm's third book, "The Devil She Knows" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011, $26), I developed motherly concern for the book's protagonist, Maureen Coughlin, a Staten Island waitress who feels as if her life…

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‘Grunge was an Adjective’

Crown Archetype

by Jessica Mizell
January 4, 2012

"Grunge" is a term that reminds some folks of youth and the first tastes of music considered "alternative." Maybe flannel comes to mind, that infamous Mudhoney EP cover or the first time you ever saw Chris Cornell. It takes me…

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Green Gold

Courtesy Lyons Press

by Ronni Mott
January 4, 2012

Yazoo City author Gerard Helferich has written an engrossing adventure about a little-known subject: jade in the Americas. Once the most prized stone of Olmec and Mayan rulers in Central and South America, the stone fell out of favor in…

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Making a Place

Courtesy New American Library

by Casey Purvis
December 14, 2011

Author Lalita Tademy describes Mississippian Lynne Bryant's debut novel "Catfish Alley" (New American Library, 2011, $14) as being "In the tradition of 'The Help,'" by Kathryn Stockett. True, both Mississippi authors have white women as central characters and black women…

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