Demeter was thought to have power over agriculture, and her daughter, Persephone, was thought to bring warm weather in her wake when she returned every May from wintering in Hades. To this day, the ...

Someday, when I open a bookstore and the big bucks roll in, I’ll display titles in narrow categories, ensuring no one finds anything and has to wander. This summer survey will be my trial run.

“My mother’s lived through the shock of having her house hit by a car twice,” her daughter, Denise Dumont, said. “And this time was way, way worse.” The home, with its mortgage paid off ...