Prairie Fox Reads

  Family Unfriendly : How Modern Culture Makes Parenting Harder Than It Needs to Be Title: Family Unfriendly: A Critical Examination of Overparenting and Its Consequences Author: Timothy P. Carney Genres: Parenting / sociology / culture / politics / nonfiction Publication year: 2024 Length: 363 pages Spoiler note: Spoiler-free Personal rating:  4.5 stars Parenting has never been easy. Children require time, money, patience, sacrifice, and an almost endless capacity to tolerate uncertainty. Yet Timothy P. Carney argues that something distinctive has changed in modern American family life. Parents now face not only the ordinary difficulties of raising children, but also a culture that expects them to supervise, entertain, educate, protect, and optimize their children at nearly every moment. In Family Unfriendly , Carney examines why parenting appears more exhausting even as families have become smaller and children, by many measures, are safer. His answer is not simply tha...

  Book Review: Murder Road by Simone St. James In “Murder Road,” Simone St. James returns with a compelling supernatural thriller that seamlessly intertwines elements of suspense, nostalgia, and local folklore. Set against the backdrop of a summer honeymoon gone awry, the novel immerses readers in a world where the past haunts the present, and the search for truth can blur the lines between innocence and guilt. For long-time fans of St. James, this literary offering is a testament to her mastery in crafting atmospheric narratives that grip the reader from the very first page. The story follows Eddie and April, a newlywed couple embarking on a romantic getaway to a secluded cabin in July 1995. Their plans quickly derail when they take a wrong turn onto the infamous Atticus Line—a road notorious for the unsolved deaths of hitchhikers. This fateful detour leads them to a harrowing encounter with a bleeding woman named Rhonda Jean, whom they attempt to save, only to find themselves thr...