Parenting secrets and pop culture gems you didn't know you needed

A novel about questioning tradition lands in paperback just in time for Mother's Day. But maybe don't gift it to Mom—it might hit too close to home for both of you. The story follows a woman raising kids exactly opposite to how she was raised, a journey that‘s as messy as it sounds. Meanwhile, a six-year-old discovered the hidden gem "Nimona, " a Netflix movie celebrating queer love while packing fight scenes with literal rhinos. Some writers simply refuse to leave your bookshelf once they arrive. Lauren Groff falls into that category. This writer crafts stories where time twists your perception until the last page. Her most famous opening line—about a French teenager riding through cold drizzle—proves Groff understands the power of a perfect first sentence. Even authors need inspiration, and Groff found hers in unexpected places: struggling through a museum visit with aching legs and overpriced pastries. Her solution? Turning art galleries into mobile offices between croissant breaks.

A middle school talent show may not sound groundbreaking, but when your child is the silent partner in a magic act (mysteriously losing her voice), suddenly it’s the most exciting night of the year. The mother in the audience will definitely lose hers watching. Elsewhere, a new HBO show follows a crime writer teaching college—not because he knows teaching, but because his daughter needs someone to rescue her from a terrible marriage. The series plays like a warm hug for anyone who‘s ever felt painfully out of place. Technology today watches you more than your parents ever did. New AI can track your facial expressions during meetings and rate your emotions—"positive and active" apparently being the good report card you didn’t know you needed. But should software really be grading human feelings? It’s one thing to analyze emojis in text messages; it’s quite another to let algorithms judge whether you’re annoyed or delighted in real life. Then there’s the simple joy of rediscovering old photos you’d completely forgotten, like stumbling upon digital time capsules that remind you your face ballooned during pregnancy. Scrolling "memories" on your phone feels more human than Instagram ever could—raw, unpredictable, and appropriately bittersweet.

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