November 27, 2023
Garrison Keillor advocates adopting a positive outlook on life in his new book, Cheerfulness.
Now 80 and relocated from Minnesota to Manhattan, veteran writer and radio host Keillor reflects on his life through autobiographical anecdotes interspersed with limericks. He is nostalgic but intends “to be a cheerful old man and show the young that such […]
November 21, 2023
M. Susan Grogan presents a convincing case for adjusting school curriculum for dyslexic learners in this compilation of research on such students.
A common, much misunderstood learning disability, dyslexia presents as “a problem with getting to the basic sounds of language, processing speed, and sometimes working memory.” However, traditional assessments of academic progress for dyslexics, […]
November 7, 2023
Brenda Stanley’s The Still Small Voice is a riveting mystery centering on a dying man’s final wish.
Shunned by her family for rejecting the tenets of the Mormon Church, Madison left home intending to never come back. However, after years away, she reluctantly returns at the request of her dying father. He has a confession […]
October 31, 2023
In this useful volume, a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher offers her SNAP! system: two actions and three mental processes done in sequence that can quell anxiety, confront grief, and avert a parenting crisis, among other common, recurring stresses.
SNAP! stands for “soothing touch,” “name the emotion,” “act,” and “praise.” The author posits that if you’re […]
October 24, 2023
The pseudonymous X. Ho Yen’s impressively dense debut novel is a grand-scale science fiction thriller, seamlessly blending elements of diverse concepts from alien first contact to planetary collapse to post-humanism.
X. Ho Yen, a self-described autistic, instantly creates a memorable narrative by featuring a main character – Laurence Levesque, “a high-functioning autistic child” from Québec […]
October 17, 2023
Paul M. Katz, the founder and CEO of social impact agency Entertain Impact, considers himself a cultural change agent, meaning that he builds marketing and awareness campaigns for charities and social justice needs using popular culture. In this clear, step-by-step guide, he lays out the strategies and guidelines around harnessing the power of influencers to […]
October 4, 2023
Tim Susman’s shelf-bending secondary-world fantasy—about a disgraced thief’s epic adventures while attempting to restore his reputation—is nothing short of a stand-up-and-applaud storytelling tour de force.
Nivvy is a down-on-his-luck thief currently lashed to a spinning wheel and being pelted with rotten vegetables by townspeople after being caught trying to steal a woman’s jewels. With his […]
October 3, 2023
The latest installment in Kaylin McFarren’s Gehenna series offers readers plenty of epic narrative threads and no shortage of action.
Dragons, demons, archangels, Lucifer, and all-out war between the forces of heaven and hell figure into McFarren’s ambitious tale. Within the first dozen pages the author sets a dizzying narrative pace, no doubt stemming in […]
August 23, 2023
In his fantasy novel Beginning of Arrogance, Bryan Cole offers a standard mix of familiar elements—from fantastical creatures to epic quests to mystical settings—yet weaves them all together in dynamic ways.
Krell is a young paladin who is embued with special powers by ReckNor, the god of sea and sky. He joins a band of […]
August 22, 2023
In this volume, Daniel B. Brubaker examines the Republican Party from a psychosocial viewpoint, noting what he sees as its many disorders.
Brubaker, who calls himself “one of the only truly progressive Republicans,” posits that the Republican Party has lost its way. His chapter titles—including “Psychology of Represented Personality Disorder Associated with Republicans” and “Fascism […]