ArcaMax

We’ve all read a mystery featuring the dreaded curtain-twitcher, a beady eye sweeping the street, the busybody, the local gossip, the old lady asking too many pertinent questions for comfort. The nosy neighbor is instantly recognizable and integral to the mystery yet is often an overlooked character. They’re frequently the catalyst to the ...Read more

Author Erin Van Der Meer gained insider perspective and in-depth experience as a journalist, which served her well in writing the bitingly satirical debut novel, "The Scoop."

It’s an irresistible, stay-up-late, guilty reading pleasure about protagonist Frankie Miller, a recently unemployed journalist weighed down by multiple rejections from ...Read more

'MUTINY'

Rated R for strong/bloody violence, and language.

What it’s about: It's "Die Hard" on a container ship! Jason Statham seeks vengeance and justice on the high seas.

The kid attractor factor: This is a bloody action film — not much appeal for kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Never let Jason Statham stowaway on your human ...Read more

Q: I told my ex's new wife that I was saving up to take my daughter to a concert that I knew she wanted to go to. The tickets were very expensive, but I had been saving for six months because I wanted to surprise her. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. She came home from her dad's house with a ticket to the concert. Evidently, her dad and his...Read more

George Washington is literally in the “pages of history.” A book on the coffee table has money hanging out of it — not play money, real money, as in a $1 bill.

I know in an instant the book belongs to a 12-year-old granddaughter.

The girl is an avid reader. She won the “Reader Award” in her class three times last year which ...Read more

There’s a moment early in "Icefall" where an Alaska state trooper pulls open the door of a stranded Amazon delivery van and finds the driver catatonic, frozen in place with Sinatra still playing softly on the radio. It’s a small, eerie image, and it tells you everything about what this book does well: take something mundane, drop it into the...Read more

Girl begins to hate job.

Girl quits job.

Girl goes to college for the experience and degree she never had.

Girl matches wits with professor.

Girl and professor… might… like… each other?

Though this is an extremely simplified summary of "Extracurricular" by Rachel Lynn Solomon, if you’re interested in forbidden romance and age-gap ...Read more

'THE END OF OAK STREET'

Rated PG-13 for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material.

What it’s about: A suburban town is time warped to the Paleolithic era and has to fight off dinosaurs to survive.

The kid attractor factor: This is a family action survival film, teens might be drawn to the genre...Read more

If you aren’t among the millions of pickleball players, the fastest growing sport in America, watch “The Dink” on Apple TV to get a glimpse of what you’re missing.

Jake Johnson plays Dusty, a former tennis prodigy whose career was thwarted early when he broke his wrist during a match with the for-real tennis star Andy Roddick. Now he ...Read more

Our nightly dinner routine goes like this: I cook dinner and the husband sets the table. Last night we had Panera napkins, the night before we had Subway napkins. We have a drawer full of cloth napkins, but he prefers to save those until we’ve used all the extras that fast food places stuff in the bag with our order.

Sometimes he goes to the ...Read more

Q: My co-parent and I just had a custody evaluation done. He has a very complicated mental health diagnosis that includes autism and narcissistic personality disorder. I knew he was difficult to communicate with, but now I see why. How do I co-parent with someone with this serious diagnosis?

A: Learning that your co-parent has a mental health ...Read more

When I set out to write "Wayward Girls," I was pulled into the Vietnam era. My childhood memories centered around the nightly news with Walter Cronkite. I wasn’t really focused on the texture of daily life during that seismic decade: the music, the grief, the quality of American restlessness and the way ordinary people were affected by the ...Read more

Decades ago, there was a story in Time magazine (Page 98, 1965) about a family who survived getting lost in the desert by drinking water from the car radiator and eating crayons. When that issue arrived at our house, my parents must have talked about the broken-down car, the 124-degree temperatures, and the way the kids buried themselves in the ...Read more

The start of the school year brings a familiar list of responsibilities for parents: buying school supplies, keeping track of forms, coordinating transportation and responding to a steady stream of emails from teachers and administrators.

Although many families strive to share these responsibilities, research has consistently found that mothers...Read more

Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep child-care centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies.

From Los Angeles to Solano counties, nonprofit day-care operators see underused facilities already centered on children — spacious ...Read more