This weekend I read Willy Vlautin's latest novel 'The Horse.' It is a sorrowful yet inspiring homage to the pain that often precedes truly great song lyrics.

Adam VoigtsIowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation board memberAs a new school year begins, you and your middle or high school student might be thinking about what happens after high school.

Anastasia Allen is a fierce, dedicated, and competitive figure skater at UCMH, determined to make it into the Olympics. Every day, every meal, every practice session, is carefully planned with precision.

You know that a few weeks ago I read 'Before We Were Yours' by Lisa Wingate, and I learned that many of you had read it as well! I needed to know more about the victims and adoption scandals.

I really enjoy watching documentaries and I stumbled upon 'Six Schizophrenic Brothers.' The title caught my attention, and I watched all 3 episodes in one sitting.

What a strange, wicked, and bizarre gem! I waited almost three months on the Libby app for Ottessa Moshfegh's 'Eileen' and was not disappointed! If you fancy thrillers that are also female character studies tackling heady topics such as body dysmorphia, alcoholism, and familial abuse, then this one is for you.

This weekend I finished 'Sandwich' by Catherine Newman, and within the first couple of chapters I laughed so hard I spit out my coffee; then the laughter turned to tears, and back again to laughter.

Halloween is Coming! We have several books just for the coming 'spooky season'! If you and your family aren't into stumbling around in the dark, while wearing an ill-fitting mask, and trying to navigate by flashlight, why not have a Halloween play? Felicia Bond explains how one classroom did it in 'The Halloween Play.

Fans of Gillian Flynn will certainly enjoy the thriller 'The Kind Worth Killing' by Peter Swanson (#1 in the series), for there is just something wildly entertaining about strangers meeting in an airport bar and then plotting a murder over martinis! Lily Kintner is the kind of dark horse character I enjoy reading about: she exacts revenge when revenge is needed (beginning as a child) but deludes herself into believing she has a moral compass somehow.

Iowa communities could lose billions of dollars in assets over the next decade, according to “Transfer of Wealth Opportunity State of Iowa,” a recent study commissioned by the Iowa Council of Foundations (ICoF).