Episode 251 - Top Ten Reads of 2025 with Russell of Ink and Paper Blog

Episode 251 Show Notes

Please take the Listener Top Ten Books of 2025 poll by January 15th: http://bit.ly/ListenerTopTen2025

– Russell’s Top Ten –
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (audiobook)
The Savage Nobel Death of Babs Dionne – Ron Currie
A Truce That Is Not Peace – Miriam Toews (audiobook)
Run for the Hills – Kevin Wilson
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong
Some Bright Nowhere – Ann Packer (audiobook)
Minor Black Figures – Brandon Taylor
Flashlight – Susan Choi (audiobook)
Heart the Lover – Lily King
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans
Audition – Katie Kitamura

– Chris’s Top Ten –
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman
After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart – Megan Marshall
Listen to our conversation with Megan on Episode 227
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend – Rebecca Romney
Happy Land – Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Militia House – John Milas
The Award – Matthew Pearl
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fascist Icon – Sara Catterall
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them – Timothy Egan (audiobook)
Beth is Dead – Katie Bernet
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn Atwood
Old New York – Edith Wharton
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White

– Emily’s Top Ten –
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (audiobook)
Leaving – Roxana Robinson
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (audiobook)
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir – Tessa Hulls
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan (audiobook)
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine
Wreck – Catherine Newman
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck – Sophie Elmhirst
The Road to Tender Hearts – Annie Hartnett (audiobook)

– Favorite Biblio Adventures of 2025 –
Russell moved to Portland where he enjoys exploring all three locations of Powell’s Books.

Chris’s had a standout trip to Nebraska with Colleen where they visited the Eisenhower Museum and Library, went to the Willa Cather Conference, explored Red Cloud, and other fun sites.

Emily enjoyed two events hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers. A conversation with Virginia Evans, author of The Correspondent and another event with Dorie Greenspan in conversation with Casey Elsass about Dorie’s Anytime Cakes and What Can I Bring? Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life. Emily has spent a lot of time baking with Dorie’s Cookies.

Another favorite was everything Isabella Stewart Gardner: visiting the museum, reading Chasing Beauty, and featuring Natalie Dykstra in an Author Spotlight on Episode 248.

– Books We’re Looking Forward to in 2026 –
Kin – Tayari Jones release date 2/24/2026
All the World Can Hold – Jung Yun release date 3/10/2026
True Crime: A Memoir – Patricia Cornwell release date 5/5/2026
Man Overboard – Katherine Rooney release date 7/7/2026
Hunger and Thirst – Claire Fuller release date 6/2/2026

– Also Mentioned –
Remarkably Bright Creatures movie
Check out Megan Marshall’s full list of books
Georgia O’Keefe: A Life by Roxana Robinson
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Also by Miriam Toews: All My Puny Sorrows and Women Talking
Also by Geraldine Brooks: Horse and March
Also by Kevin Wilson: The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here
Also by Dolen Perkins-Valdez: Wench and Take My Hand
So Far Gone by Jess Walter, also a great audiobook
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Also by Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Author Elizabeth Strout
Euphoria by Lily King
Also by Katie Kitamura: A Separation and Intimacies
Also by Tayari Jones: Silver Sparrow and An American Marriage

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!
Purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.
Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
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Episode 250 - In podcasting years, we’re older than America250

Episode 250 Show Notes

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions. Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

** Reminder to email a picture of your Ghost Story Bingo Card by December 31st **

– 2025 Reading Intentions Recap –  
Emily
·       Explore becoming a completist: Anna Quindlen, Alice Hoffman, Erica Wood, Catherine Newman, and Jeanine Cummins.
·       Set Goodreads Reading Challenge to 52 books; have read 83 to date.
·       Contemplating an essay reading challenge or continuing the weekly short story project. Didn’t do this but did read from the The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (audiobook). 
·       Aim to post monthly on Ingredient One newsletter,
·       Focused Biblio Adventure: The Year of Isabella Stewart Gardner (Chasing Beauty and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum).
·       Consider starting a Book to Film Club.

Chris
·       Buddy Reads included in Search of Lost Time by Proust, A New Home Who’ll Follow by Mrs. Mary Clavers, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather.
·       Read more 19th century novels: Old New York by Edith Wharton, Silas Marner by George Eliot, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë.
·       Read Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388).
·       Focus on reading fewer books, more deeply, and writing about them. Check out Chris’s blog.

– Currently Reading –
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 3/17/2026
The Romance of Certain Old Clothes – Henry James (CW)
Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit – Erika Council (EF)
Beth Is Dead – Katy Bernet (CW) release date 1/6/2026
Good Things – Samin Nosrat (EF)

– Just Read –
The Award – Matthew Pearl (CW)
“A Small, Good Thing” from the collection Where I’m Calling From – Raymond Carver (EF)
Jurassic Girl: The Adventures of Mary Anning, Paleontologist and the First Female Fossil Hunter – Michele C. Hollow (CW)
The Last Witch – C.J. Cooke (EF)
“Street haunting:  a London adventure” – Virginia Woolf (CW)
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (CW)(EF)(audiobook)
Sapphira and the Slave Girl – Willa Cather (CW)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris watched part of the conversation on Crime Time via A Mighty Blaze between Hank Phillipi Ryan and Matthew Pearl about his new novel The Award. You can watch it here.

Emily watched season five of Slow Horses based on the novel London Rules by Mick Herron.

Chris had a coffee date in New Haven with a friend at Book Trader Cafe, she also took a browse at Atticus Bookstore Cafe.  

Emily watched the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light about poet Andrea Gibson.

Emily spent the week in New York City where she visited the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, Café Con Libros in Crown Heights, and Bibliotheque NYC in Soho.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 28th from 6-7 pm (MT) Emily has a virtual season pass to Aspen Winter Words, the first in the three-part series is Susan Orlean and her memoir Joyride.

January 24th Chris registered for Biographer’s International Organization Biography Lab 2026, a daylong forum with keynote David Denby, a staff writer with The New Yorker.  His most recent book is Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer.

– Upcoming Reads –
Postmortem – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman (EF)(audiobook)
A Backward Glance – Edith Wharton (CW)
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (EF)
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (EF)
Menu of Happiness – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (EF)

– Announcing the 2026 Readalong Theme –
Books that have been made into film adaptations!

The 2026 first quarter readalong is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

– Also Mentioned –
Land by Maggie O’ Farrell
Author Agatha Christie
Trial by Ambush by Marcia Clark
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
“Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo
The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl
Christmas Carol film adaptations: Spirited and The Muppet Christmas Carol
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Beloved by Toni Morrison

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Episode 249 - It’s Our Ninth Anniversary!

Episode 249 Show Notes

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates: Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars. Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions. Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

** Reminder: email a picture of your Ghost Story Bingo Card by December 31st **

– Currently Reading –
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable – John Steele Gordon (CW)
The Last Witch – C.J. Cooke (EF)
The Award – Matthew Pearl (CW)
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace – Tamar Adler (EF)
Tamar’s Substack: The Kitchen Shrink is In

– Just Read –
The Chicken Sisters – KJ Dell’Antonia (EF) (audiobook)
Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America – Stephanie Gorton (CW)
Dream State – Eric Puchner (EF) (audiobook)
Fiend – Alma Katsu
What Can I Bring: Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life – Casey Elsass (EF)
More Than Enough – Anna Quindlen (EF) release date 2/24/2026
“Afterward” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
Our favorite short stories from the collection:
“What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien
“The Cold Embrace” by Mary E. Braddon
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
“The Jolly Corner” by Henry James
“The Wind in the Rose-Bush” by Mary Wilkins Freeman
“The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce
“The Old Nurses Story” by Elizabeth Gaskell

– Episode Sponsor –
Let the Willows Weep by Sherry Parnell
Learn more about Sherry.

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the first episode in The Chicken Sisters serialized television show based on the novel.

Chris and Emily watched the 1992 film adaptation of Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Emily enjoyed a conversation between Casey Elsass and Dorie Greenspan about her new cookbook Dorie’s Anytime Cakes; the book is illustrated by Nancy Pappas. Casey’s book is What Can I Bring: Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to the Harvard Bookstore to see Hanna Halperin in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new novel Cursed Daughters. While in Boston they visited the Houghton Library, Bob Slate Stationer, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, and the Harvard Art Museum where Chris purchased a copy of Pencil by Carol Beggy. They also made it to Flour Bakery + Cafe, which has been on Emily’s bucket list.  

Chris went on a road trip throughout Rhode Island and Cape Cod, MA searching for lighthouses and trolls created by Thomas Dambo. They passed by Inkfish Books in Warren, MA, browsed Tim’s Used Books in Provincetown, MA where she looked for a copy of Clover Adams by Natalie Dykstra, stopped in at the Wellfleet Marketplace where she saw a copy of Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman, and stopped at Highland Lighthouse in North Truro, MA memorialized by a plaque regarding a visit by “tourist” Henry David Thoreau. 

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily has purchased a virtual season pass to Aspen Winter Words. The three-part series includes authors Susan Orlean (Joyride), Lily King (Heart the Lover), and Tara Roberts (Written in the Waters).

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, December 28th. Our topic will be our favorite books of the year. Come prepared to talk about two books, but feel free to bring along your top ten so you can share more if time allows. 

– Upcoming Reads –
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
Beth is Dead – Katy Bernet (CW) release date 1/6/2026
Her Life in Ink – Sharon Harris (CW) release date 2/10/2026
Man Overboard! – Kathleen Rooney (CW) release date 7/7/2026
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 3/17/2026
Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit – Erika Council (EF)
Some Bright Nowhere – Ann Packer (EF)

– Announcing the 2026 Readalong Theme –
Books that have been made into film adaptations!
The 2026 first quarter readalong is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

– Also Mentioned –
The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl
Author Hank Phillipi Ryan
Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day by Tamar Adler
Author Laurie Colwin
Author M.F.K. Fisher
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson
Titcomb’s Bookshop
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Chris loved the audiobook)
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Swim Back to Me by Ann Packer
To Catch a Thief by David Dodge
The Birds and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier 

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Episode 248 - Author Spotlight with Natalie Dykstra

Episode 248 Show Notes

–Author Spotlight with Natalie Dykstra–Natalie is the author of Clover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life and Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Learn more about Natalie and her writing here.

Consider visiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum.

– Episode Sponsor –
Closing Costs by Jani Steele

– Upcoming Reads –
“Afterward” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– Also Mentioned –
Houghton Library

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 247 - 2025 Holiday Gift Ideas & Q4 Readalong (How to Sell A Haunted House)

Episode 247 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America – Stephanie Gorton (CW)
The Chicken Sisters – KJ Dell’Antonia (EF) (audiobook) 
Dracula – Bram Stoker (CW) (audiobook narrated by Mark Gatiss) 

– Just Read –
The Bone Thief – Vanessa Lillie (EF) (audiobook)
Chris DNF’d two books:
Camp Damascus – Chuck Tingle
Hell House – Richard Matheson
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay (EF)
Watch our conversation with the Jungle Red Writers.
Anne Brontë Night Walker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Resonant Blue and Other Stories by Mary Vensel White

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a browse at the Barnes and Noble in Milford, CT.

Emily went to  Bank Square Books in Mystic, to hear Luanne Rice in conversation with Vanessa Lillie about her novel The Bone Thief. Follow Vanessa on her website and Instagram.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
November 20 at Harvard Bookstore, Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Boston to see Hanna Halperin in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new novel Cursed Daughters.

Chris and Emily plan to watch the 1992 film adaptation of Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppolla.

Chris registered for a virtual event via the North Haven Public Library, “Unlock the Secret Language of Connection with Supercommunicator Charles Duhigg,” at 2:00 pm (ET) on November 15. You can register here.  

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, November 23rd. Our topic will be books that have a food-related focus or theme.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald – John U Bacon (CW)
Black Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Book Store – Char Adams (CW)
Typhoid Mary – Anthony Bourdain (EF)
Flights literary magazine of Sinclair Community College – edited by (EF)
“Afterward” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– 2025 Holiday Gift Recommendations –

1. Subscription to a literary magazine, for example Ploughshares.

2. Yoto audio players for kids.

3. Pigeon foldable stationery.

4. The pStyle personal urination device.

5. MoKo E-reader hand strap.

6. The American Renaissance Tarot Deck from Schiffer Publishing.

7. Cretacolor MegaColor Pencils with the sharpener.

8. Support a small independent press, for example Rose Metal Press.

9. Diamine Inkvent 2025 Advent Calendar.

10. Fabulously Flat Paper Pens.

11. Make a handmade book.

12. Go on a Biblio Adventure!

 – Also Mentioned –
Gathering Volumes bookstore in Perrysburg, OH
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
The Twisted Spine bookstore in Brooklyn, NY
New England Archivists
The Art of Ectoplasm: Encounters with Winnipeg's Ghost Photographs by Serena Keshavjee
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams with illustrations by William Nicholson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Good House by Tananarive Due
The Upstairs House by Julia Fine

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 246 - A Flock of Words

Episode 246 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Anne Brontë Night Walker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (CW)
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me – Patrick Bringley (EF)
Check out the tours available via Patrick’s website.
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon – Sara Catterall (CW)
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke (EF)
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
Read “The Secret Meaning of Ghost Stories” by Hephzibah Anderson.
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck – Sophie Elmhirst (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Epic and Lovely by Mo Daviau

– Episode Sponsor –
Paper Roses by Debby Show

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a browse at Grey Matter Books in New Haven where she picked up a copy of Willa Cather and the Culture of Belief: A Collection of Essays edited by John J. Murphy.

Emily watched the 2018 adaptation of A Star is Born co-written by Bradley Cooper. She was surprised to learn that Dorothy Parker co-wrote the 1954 screenplay starring Judy Garland, and Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne did the same for the 1976 version starring Barbara Streisand.

Chris spent a day in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library archives at the Butler Library on Columbia University’s campus where she came across an Edgar Allan Poe exhibit that included a Daguerreotype portrait and the mantelpiece in which he wrote the poem, “The Raven.”  There was also an interesting book arts exhibit where an artist made balls out of strips of books with the balls representing the size of the books; Moby Dick was quite large!

Emily went to the Country Day School for a conversation between Mel Rosenthal and Virginia Evans about her debut novel The Correspondent.

Chris and Emily both watched The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on the short story “The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier.

Chris watched an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw starring Michelle Dockery and Dan Stephens.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
November 4 at Bank Square Books in Mystic, Luanne Rice in conversation with Vanessa Lillie about her novel The Bone Thief.

November 13 at Country Day School via RJ Julia’s Booksellers, Casey Elsass in conversation with Dorie Greenspan about her new cookbook Dorie’s Anytime Cakes.

November 20 at Harvard Bookstore, Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Boston to see Hanna Halperin in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new novel Cursed Daughters.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, November 23rd.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Bone Thief – Vanessa Lillie (EF)
The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward (EF)
Leaf Town Forever – Kathleen and Beth Rooney with illustrations by Betsy Bowen (EF)
The Black Wolf – Louise Penny (CW)
The Lady of Pentlands – Elizabeth Jordan (CW)
The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware (CW)
“Afterword” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– Out Now –
Wreck – Catherine Newman
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay
Ladies in Waiting: Jane Austen’s Unsung Heroes – introduction by Adriana Trigiani

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 4th Quarter Book –
The 4th Quarter Readalong is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, November 9th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading. Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Also Mentioned –
"The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe (audiobook)
Canada Reads American Style podcast
Booktuber Melinda at A Web of Stories
Also by Anne Brontë: Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Belt Publishing
A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke
The Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin
A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak
84, Charring Cross Road by Helen Hanff
The film, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Man Overboard by Kathleen Rooney release date 7/7/2026
Also by Ruth Ware: The Woman in Cabin 10, In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading edited by John P. Muller and William J. Richardson
Watch Chris’s video conversation with Shawn Breathes Books where they discuss Edith Wharton’s Old New York.

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 245 - Henry James is dead (to us)

Episode 245 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay (EF) release date 10/28/2025
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon – Sara Catterall (CW)
Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being – Mary Beth Albright (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
“The Jolly Corner” by Henry James from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (CW)
The Last Resort – Erin Entrada Kelly (EF)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (CW) (audiobook)
The Dogs of Venice – Steven Rowley (CW)
Aftertaste – Daria LaVelle (EF)
Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë (CW)
“The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier from the new collection After Midnight: Thirteen Tales for the Dark Hours – (CW)(EF)
Read the Guardian article by Stephen King.

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily rewatched Becoming, the documentary that follows Michelle Obama as she goes on book tour with her memoir Becoming.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to see a performance of Spunk at the Yale Repertory Club based on Zora Neale Hurston’s short story Spunk. Read the NY Times article here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The Brontë Parsonage Museum is presenting a four-part read-along of Shirley by Charlotte Brontë. Learn more here.

On November 25, the Smithsonian is offering a seminar, Margaret Fuller: An Extraordinary Transcendentalist Woman. Learn more here.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, October 26th.

Emily is heading to Colorado and is looking forward to visiting White River Books.

Chris and Emily have upcoming Couch Biblio Adventures including The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock and an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw starring the actress, Michelle Dockery.

– Upcoming Reads –
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me – Patrick Bringley (EF)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (CW)(EF)
Gothic Tales – Elizabeth Gaskell (CW)
Play Nice – Rachel Harrison (CW)
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– Out Now –
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 4th Quarter Book –
The 4th Quarter Readalong is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, November 9th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025. There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Also Mentioned –
Kindred Thoughts Bookstore
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
A New Lease on Death: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery by Olivia Blacke

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 244 - Spooky Stories with Our Mystery Man

Episode 244 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (CW)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (CW) (audiobook)
Backstage: Stories of a Writing Life – Donna Leon (CW)
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England – Brock Clarke (EF)
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay (EF) release date 10/28/2025
Watch our conversation with Jenn McKinlay and the rest of the Jungle Red Writers

– Just Read –
‘The Moonlit Road’ by Ambrose Bierce from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
A House With Good Bones – T. Kingfisher (EF)
107 Days – Kamala Harris (CW)
Sunny Side Up – Katie Sturino (EF)
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Death at the White Hart – Chris Chibnall (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily went to NYC where they met Aunt Ellen and visited The Twisted Spine, the new horror bookstore in Brooklyn. Chris’s book haul included Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle, The Night Library of Sternendach by Jessica Lévai, and (Don’t) Call Mum by Matt Wesolowski. Emily picked up a copy of Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete by James and Kimberly Dean.

Emily is back from her trip to Cape Cod where she browsed many little free libraries, including this one with beautiful mosaic detail. She made stops at Provincetown Bookshop where she picked up a copy of Typhoid Mary by Anthony Bourdain; Tim’s Used Books where her haul included Crash Diet by Jill McCorkle; Titcomb’s Bookshop where the Gentleman Caller picked up a copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker and she noticed an upcoming book event on October 15th with her new release All This Could Be Yours. Sadly, she was unable to catch a browse through Annie’s Books & Gifts. She also stopped at Provincetown Public Library, the Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Eldredge Public Library in Chatham Library, and South Chatham Library.

Chris met a friend at the book-themed Osteria Accademia in New York City. After dinner, she got caught in Grand Central Station’s power outage, which made her worry about Dementors and rats.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
October 15th, Chris and Emily have tickets for Spunk at the Yale Repertory Club.

October 27th, Emily is registered for an event with Virginia Evans, author of The Correspondent, in conversation with Mel Rosenthal at RJ Julia’s. The event is free, register here.

Read about the grand opening of Gladys Books & Wine a Black lesbian-owned bookstore & wine lounge in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, October 26th.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Dogs of Venice – Steven Rowley (CW) release date 10/14/2025
The Last Witch – C.J. Cooke (EF) release date 10/14/2025
Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë (CW)
Anne Brontë Night Walker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
The Last Resort – Erin Entrada Kelly (EF)
“The Jolly Corner” by Henry James from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

– Buddy Read with Our Mystery Man –
We invited John Valeri to discuss two short stories that appear on the Ghost Story Bingo Card:
"The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe (audiobook)
"The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde (audiobook)

Also mentioned by John:
Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of Macabre by Levi Lionel Leland
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi
Watching Evil Dead: Unearthing the Radiant Artist Within by Josh Malerman
Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 4th Quarter Book –
The 4th Quarter Readalong is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, November 9th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Also Mentioned –
The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall
Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
The Strand Mystery Magazine

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 243 - Ghosts, Ghosts, and More Ghosts

Episode 243 Show Notes

– Books We Considered for the Q4 Readalong –
The Shining – Stephen King
Hell House – Richard Matheson
A House With Good Bones – T. Kingfisher
Beloved – Toni Morrison
The Whistler – Nick Medina
The Sentence – Louise Erdrich
A Haunting on the Hill – Elizabeth Hand
Ghost Story – Peter Straub

If you want to hear us talk more about these books head over to BookTube.

– Currently Reading –
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (CW)
Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Restaurant – Amanda Cohen, Ryan Dunlavey, Grady Hendrix (EF)

– Just Read –
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton – Edith Wharton (CW)
The Rarest Fruit – Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Hildegarde Serle (EF)
To Catch a Thief – David Dodge (CW)
A New Lease on Death: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke (EF)
‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ by M.R. James from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
All The World Can Hold – Jung Yun (EF) release date 3/10/2026
Jung has been featured in Author Spotlights on Episode 104 and Episode 142

– Episode Sponsor –
Playback by Carla Malden
Learn more about Carla and her writing.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily hopped the rails to New York City where Chris worked in the archives at Barnard College. While she was working Emily and Aunt Ellen visited Book Culture, Columbia University Bookstore, and stopped at The Hungarian Pastry Shop. Read more about this café where writers go to work – and eat cake. 

Through a recommendation by a student at her library, Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching The Gorge which features The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going back to NYC to meet Aunt Ellen to visit The Twisted Spine, the new horror bookstore in Brooklyn.

Emily is heading to Cape Cod where she hopes to visit Titcomb’s Bookshop and Annie’s Books & Gifts. She is also taking a large stack of books to read including The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner and Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, September 28th.

– Upcoming Reads –
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Black (EF) release date 10/21/2025
A House With Good Bones – T. Kingfisher
Swimming Studies – Leanne Shapton (EF)
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather (CW)
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (CW)
Christ in Concrete – Pietro di Donato (CW)
Backstage: Stories of a Writing Life – Donna Leon (CW)
Capote in Kansas – Kim Powers (CW)
The Doll Who Ate His Mother – Ramsey Campbell (CW)
‘The Moonlit Road’ by Ambrose Bierce from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
Upcoming Short Story Buddy Read with Our Mystery Man:
"The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde

– Out Now –
The Secret of Secrets – Dan Brown

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 4th Quarter Book –
The 4th Quarter Readalong is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, November 9th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Also Mentioned –
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Also by Nick Medina: Indian Burial Ground and Sisters of the Lost Nation
Never Whistle At Night  edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
To Catch a Thief movie
The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood
Learn more about Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti series
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The September House by Carissa Orlando

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Episode 242 - Announcing the Q4 Readalong!

Episode 242 Show Notes

– 2025 Big Book Summer Reading Challenge Recap –
Watch two videos over on BookTube:
· In June we posted about the books we hoped to read over the summer.
· In September we posted about the books we completed for the challenge.

Emily read:
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
The Peculiar Gift of July – Ashley Ream

Chris read:
The Shining – Stephen King
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them – Timothy Egan
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman

– Currently Reading –
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
The Weight of Ink – Rachel Kadish (CW)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (EF) (audiobook)
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (CW)
Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread – Leila Taylor (EF)

– Just Read –
Goodbye Without Leaving – Laurie Colwin (EF)
The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President – Eden Collinsworth (CW)
The Wedding People – Alison Espach (EF) (audiobook)
Hotel Silence – Auđur Ava Ólafsdóttir (translated by Brian Fitzgibbon) (EF)
“The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” and “The Eyes” from The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton – Edith Wharton (CW)
The Peculiar Gift of July – Ashley Ream (EF)
“Luella Miller” from Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffman to Hodgson – edited by Darryl Jones (CW)
“The Wind in the Rose-Bush” by Mary Wilkins Freeman from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily hosted the monthly Patreon Reading Salon where they discussed the topic: books you want to throw across the room. Emily regrets not talking about All Fours by Miranda July.

Chris and Emily took a joint jaunt to Kindred Thoughts Books in Bridgeport. Emily picked up a copy of Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being by Mary Beth Albright.

Emily watched a banned book club conversation about Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier via the Velshi Banned Book Club with guest Jennifer Egan; watch it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, September 28th. Learn more about becoming a Patreon member.

There is a new book club: America’s Book Club via CSPAN hosted by David M. Rubenstein.

Emily is registered for an Afternoon with Geraldine Brooks sponsored by River Bend Bookshop. The event will take place on Sunday, September 28 from 2-5 PM (ET). RSVP here.  

October 15th, Chris and Emily have tickets for Spunk at the Yale Repertory Club.

– Upcoming Reads –
‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ by M.R. James from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
All The World Can Hold – Jung Yun release date 3/10/2026

Upcoming Short Story Buddy Read with Our Mystery Man John Valeri. We’ve linked to the collections and the free online versions:
"The Mask of the Red Death the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe (read it online)
"The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde (read it online)

Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather (CW)

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 4th Quarter Book –
The 4th Quarter Readalong is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, November 9th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Also Mentioned –
Octavia Butler: Kindred and Fledgling
Losing Clementine by Ashley Ream
Tommy Orange: There There and Wandering Stars
Jennifer Egan: The Keep and A Visit from the Goon Squad
Grady Hendrix: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

Help support the Book Cougars, by becoming a Patreon member.
If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.
Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!