Episode 232 - Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey

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Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey

Episode 232 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Good House – Tananarive Due (CW)
Food Person – Adam Roberts (EF) release date 5/20/2025

– Just Read –
Happy Land – Dolan Perkins-Valdez (CW)
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling – Matthew Dicks (EF) (audiobook)
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport (CW) (audiobook)
The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits – Jennifer Weiner (EF)
Old New York – Edith Wharton (CW)
Black Woods Blue Sky – Eowyn Ivey (EF)
The North Mail by Amelia B. Edwards from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
LOVE IS FOR ALL OF US: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends co-edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock, illustrated by Lisa Congdon.
Learn more James Crews here.

Watch our conversation with James Crews over on BookTube.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt via the Mark Twain House to hear Ethan Rutherford in conversation with Amity Gaige about her novel Heartwood. Ethan’s novel is North Sun, or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther.

Chris participated in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours.

Chris joined the Zoom conversation for Colleen’s Cather reading challenge  where they discussed by Willa Cather and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On April 16, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to Bank Square Books to see Maura Casey discuss her memoir Saving Ellen. Check out our conversation with Maura here.

On April 23rd Chris and Emily will be attending Matthew Goodman’s event at the Guilford Free Library. His new book is Paris Undercover. Matthew was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 95 discussing his book The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team.

On May 4th Emily will be attending Matthew Dick’s one man show Shovel at the Hartford Theater works. You can purchase tickets here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn J. Atwood (CW) release date 5/8/2025
Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal – Matthew Goodman (EF)(audiobook)
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (EF)
Anne Brontë Nightwalker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Signal Man by Charles Dickens. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey –
We talk with Eowyn about her book Black Woods Blue Sky.
Learn more about Eowyn here.
Take a tour of Eowyn’s writing cottage.

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd Quarter Book –
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.

The 2nd Quarter Readalong and our Episode 230 Giveaway is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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 Guncle by Steven Rowley
The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy
Robert Elsmere by Mary Augusta Ward
Also by Eowyn: The Snow Child and To The Bright Edge of the World
True Grit by Charles Portis
The film An American Werewolf in London
Author Annie Dillard
Author Robin Wall Kimmerer
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Booktuber Melinda at A Web of Stories
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Odyssey by Homer

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 231 - Author Spotlight with Ruth Franklin

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Author Spotlight with Ruth Franklin

Episode 231 Show Notes

Head over to BookTube to watch our conversation with poet James Crews about his new anthology LOVE IS FOR ALL OF US: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends co-edited with his husband Brad Peacock, illustrated by Lisa Congdon.

– Currently Reading –
Swim Home to the Vanished – Brendan Shay Basham (EF)
Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare’s Mathematical Life and Times – Rob Eastaway (CW)
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling – Matthew Dicks (EF) (audiobook)
Fine Books & Collections Magazine (Issue Spring 2025), Library Shines in Frick Renovation – (CW)

– Just Read –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) (audiobook) (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Care and Feeding: A Memoir – Laurie Woolever (EF) (audiobook)
The Stolen Queen – Fiona Davis (CW)
The Cliffs – J. Courtney Sullivan (EF) (audiobook)
The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF)
The article we talk about: “Why Are There So Many Female Ghosts?” by Nathaniel Scharping
The Many Lives of Anne Frank – Ruth Franklin (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a Zoom conversation with Robin, and the group reading Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. They will be reading the second book, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, in 2026.

Emily attended the virtual conversation of the All CT Reads 2025 Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood author of How to Read a Book. There is a video available here. Find current and passed reading lists here.

Emily saw the film The Penguin Lessons based on the novel The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird by Tom Michell.

– Episode Sponsor –
Time Enough by Lise Mayne.
Learn more about Lise here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On April 9, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt via the Mark Twain House to hear Amy Bloom in conversation with Amity Gaige about her novel Heartwood. You can register for this in-person event here.

On April 16, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to Bank Square Books to see Maura Casey discuss her memoir Saving Ellen. Check out our conversation with Maura here.

Chris and Emily have purchased in-person tickets for Selected Shorts: Classics with a Twist with Meg Wolitzer and Friends taking place on April 30th. There are virtual tickets available.

April 12th Emily will be attending the Cherry Bombe Jubilee, volunteering to help shepherd cookbook authors.  

Newburyport Literary Festival is April 25-27, 2025. The festival is free and there are virtual events. Check out the schedule.

May 2-4, 2025 is Booktopia at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT. Learn more here. 

– Upcoming Reads –
Old New York – Edith Wharton (CW)
Black Woods, Blue Sky – Eowyn Ivey (EF)
Stone Yard Devotional – Charlotte Wood (EF)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The North Mail by Amelia B. Edwards. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Episode Sponsor –
Fun: Essays on a Life Embraced by Aline Weiller
Learn more about Aline here.

– Out Now –
Heartwood - Amity Gaige
Swept Away – Beth O’ Leary

– Author Spotlight with Ruth Franklin –
We talk with Ruth about her books The Many Lives of Anne Frank and Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life.
Learn more about Ruth here. Subscribe to her Substack Ghost Stories.

Ruth tells a story about her time writing at The Dora Maar House. Read her Substack post On Biography and ghosts, where she shares this experience.

Enjoy this conversation via BIO: How to Read Biography Like a Writer - Ruth Franklin + Anne Boyd Rioux

A recent article in Hadassah Magazine: “The Enduring Mythology of Anne Frank” by Ruth Franklin

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd Quarter Book –
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.

The 2nd Quarter Readalong is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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 –
Schlesinger Library – Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Emily Dickinson Collection at the Houghton Library
Other poetry collections edited by James Crews: A Boxful of Poetry
White River Books in Carbondale, CO
SpeakUp Storytelling
Live Lit Chicago
Learn more about The Moth
Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever
Frick Museum Art Library
Also by Fiona Davis: The Magnolia Palace and The Lions of Fifth Avenue
A Haunted History of Invisible Women by Andrea Janes and Leanna Renee Heiber
Anne Boyd Rioux was a guest on Episode 57 featuring her book Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alavarez
Read Chris’s blog post about her six top reads of Q1 2025
The Anne Frank House

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 230: "Come for the Skiing, Stay for the Library"

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Book Cougars Episode 230

Episode 230 Show Notes

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd Quarter Book – 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.

The 2nd Quarter Readalong and our Episode 230 Giveaway is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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.

– Currently Reading –
The Cliffs – J. Courtney Sullivan (EF)
The Many Lives of Anne Frank – Ruth Franklin (CW)
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) (audiobook) (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends – Edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock, illustrated Lisa Congdon (EF)

– Just Read –
The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain – Annie Murphy Paul (CW)
Murder Under Her Skin: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery – Stephen Spotswood (EF)
Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel – Claire Kohda (CW)
Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout (EF)
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism – Sarah Wynn-Williams (CW)
The Ghostwriter – Julie Clark (EF) release date 6/3/2025
Tilda is Visible – Jane Tara (EF)
The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain by Lytton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a conversation with Shawn Breathes Books about Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

Emily went on a trip to Colorado. She shopped at White River Books in Carbondale, CO where she picked up a copy of Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham. Next stop was Alpenglow Books and Gifts in Glenwood Springs, where she grabbed a copy of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr, illustrated by Eric Carle. On the way home she shopped at several outposts of Barbara’s Bookstore in O’Hare airport.

Emily started watching the series Long Bright River based on the novel by Liz Moore.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily registered for the All CT Reads 2025 Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood author of How to Read a Book on March 27th at 2pm (ET).

Chris mentioned an Author Talk with Jonathan Losos author of The Cat’s Meow: How Cat’s Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa at the Yale Peabody Museum on Thursday, March 27 at 6:30 pm (ET).

Chris will be attending the Willa Cather Spring Conference in Red Cloud, Nebraska June 4-7, 2024

– Upcoming Reads –
Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World – Anne-Laure Le Cunff (CW)
Your Brain on Altruism: The Power of Connection and Community During Times of Crisis – Nicole Karlis (EF)
Raising Hare: A Memoir – Chloe Dalton
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Out Now –
Hot Air – Marcy Dermansky

– Also Mentioned –
Why Are There So Many Female Ghosts? By Nathaniel Scharping
Schlesinger Library – Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Other poetry collections edited by James Crews: A Boxful of Poetry
Author Cal Newport
Fortune Favors the Dead: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood
Author Louise Penny
River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, CT
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 229 - Announcing our 2nd Quarter Readalong in our year of reading Ghost Stories

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Episode 229 Show Notes

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd Quarter Book – 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.

The 2nd Quarter Readalong is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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 is available on the Ghost Stories 2025 tab on the website.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) (audiobook)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Tilda is Visible – Jane Tara (EF)
The Song of the Lark – Willa Cather (CW)
Learn more about Colleen’s Cather reading challenger here and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/.
The Wrong Way to Save Your Life – Megan Stielstra (EF)

– Just Read –
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF) (audiobook)
A Web of Obsidian –Lydia M. Hawke (CW) (audiobook)
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (EF) (audiobook)
How Birds Sleep – David Obuchowski, illustrated by Sarah Pedry (CW)
The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest – Heather Lang, illustrated by Jana Christy  (CW)
The Fishwife Cookbook: Delightful Tinned Fish Recipes for Every Occasion – Becca Millstein and Vilda Gonzalez (EF)
The Hebridean Baker: At Home – Coinneach MacLeod (EF)
Check out Emily’s Ingredient One post about these two cookbooks
Swept Away – Beth O’Leary (EF) release date 4/1/25
What Was It? – Fitz-James O’Brien from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended a Buzz Books 2025 Horror panel with authors and editor in conversation. Including Ivy Pochoda and her editor Daphne Durham, Markus Redmond and his editor Leticia Gomez, Hester Steel with editor Alexandra Murphy, and Daphne Fama with editor Candice Coote. You can watch the video here.  

Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure with the Gentleman Caller watching the movie The Call of the Wild based on the book by Jack London.

Emily attended an event at Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT with Elissa Altman and her book Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create. She was in conversation with Kerri Arsenault, Author of Mill Town featured on Episode 123. The genesis of the book began with a guest post on Krista Tippett’s On-Being, read it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
March 19 at 6pm, Chris is registered for an event via American Ancestors. Megan Marshall will be sharing her new book After Lives, featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 227, in conversation with Janice Nimura, author of The Doctor’s Blackwell featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 139. Register for the event here.

April 3 at 4pm, Chris is registered to participate in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours. Register for the event here.  

April 9, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt via the Mark Twain House to hear Amy Bloom in conversation with Amity Gaige about her novel Heartwood. You can register for this in-person event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain by Lytton. If you would like to join us there is a schedule is available on the Ghost Stories 2025 tab on the website.
Bright Circle: Five Remarkable Women in the Age of Transcendentalism – Randall Fuller
Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo van Gogh – Joan Fernandez (EF)
Murder Under the Skin: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery – Stephen Spotswood (EF)
Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
A Tangle of Obsidian by Lydia M. Hawke
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Montana Women Homesteaders: A Field of One’s Own by Sarah Carter
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Poltergeist movie
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
March on the Moors: A Brontë Reading Event with Melinda of A Web of Stories
The Flatshare by Beth O’ Leary
Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls by Robert Thorson
Hannah’s Books
She Writes Press
Fortune Favors the Dead: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 228 - Q1 Readalong: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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Book Cougars Episode 228

Episode 228 Show Notes

Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Hungerstone – Kat Dunn (CW)
Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create – Elissa Altman (EF) release date 3/11/25
A Web of Obsidian –Lydia M. Hawke (CW) (audiobook)
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF) (audiobook)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin (EF)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the movie Lee starring Kate Winslet about photographer Lee Miller. It reminded Emily of reading Whitney Scharer’s novel The Age of Light. Whitney designed the Book Cougars logo and was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 130.

Chris watched Season One, Episode Four of Roar: The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin based on the Roar, a book of short stories by Cecelia Ahern.

Emily attended an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT. Kristan Higgins was in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel Good Dirt.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
March 19 at 6pm, Chris is registered for an event via American Ancestors. Megan Marshall will be sharing her new book After Lives, featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 227, in conversation with Janice Nimura, author of The Doctor’s Blackwell featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 139. You can watch a video of the event here.

April 3 at 4pm, Chris is registered to participate in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours. Register for the event here.   

March 1 at 5pm, Emily will be attending an event at Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT with Elissa Altman and her book Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create. She will be in conversation with Kerri Arsenault, Author of Mill Town featured on Episode 123.

– Upcoming Reads –
Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde – Thomas Wright (CW)
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America – Martin Duberman (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (EF)
Swept Away – Beth O’Leary (EF) release date 4/1/25

– Out Now –
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler

– Also Mentioned –
The Crone Wars by Lydia M. Hawke
Judy Blume Forever documentary
Forever by Judy Blume
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
The Militia House by John Milas
Adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House:
The Haunting (1963)
The Haunting (1999)
The Haunting of Hill House serialized (2018)
On the Road with Penguin Classics: The Haunting of Hill House
On the Road with Penguin Classics: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Flatshare by Beth O’ Leary
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 225 - Top Ten Books of 2024 with Russell from Ink and Paper Blog

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Top Ten Books of 2024 with Russell Gray from Ink and Paper Blog

Episode 225 Show Notes

Top Ten Reads of 2024 with Russell from Ink and Paper Blog

– Russell’s Books –
The Most – Jessica Anthony
Sipsworth – Simon Van Booy
Real Americans – Rachel Khong
Hombrecito – Santiago Jose Sanchez
The Safekeep – Yael Van Der Wouden
Our Evenings – Alan Hollinghurst
Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout
Universality -Natasha Brown
Intermezzo – Sally Rooney
Small Rain – Garth Greenwell
James – Percival Everett

– Chris’s Books –
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary
Summer – Edith Wharton
We Got the Beat – Jenna Miller
A Little Bit Country – Brian D. Kennedy
Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall (audiobook)
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard
The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany – Pamela D. Toler
The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells – Rebecca Rego Barry
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki
Trial by Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham – Marcia Clark
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White
The Gathering – C.J. Tudor
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë

– Emily’s Books –
An Exact Relica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon
The Women – Kristin Hannah
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle  – Matt Cain  (audiobook)
How to Read a Book – Monica Wood
The One-In-A-Million Boy – Monica Wood
Sandwich – Catherine Newman
We All Want Impossible Things – Catherine Newman
The Cookie That Changed My Life: And More Than 100 Other Classic Cakes, Cookies, Muffins, and Pies That Will Change Yours: A Cookbook – Nancy Silverton and Carolynn Carreno
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension – Hanif Abdurraqib

Listener Top Tens! We would love to hear about your favorite reads of the year. You can find the form here fill it out by January 15, 2025.

– Also Mentioned –
Powell’s Books
Read By Ryan on Instagram
American Symphony documentary
Shawn Breathes Books
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Pulitzer Prize Winner) by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
The Ghost Writer – Phillip Roth
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Author Agatha Christie
Find all of the novels by Elizabeth Strout here
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (Loa #388) by Margaret Fuller, edited by Noelle A. Baker and Megan Marshall
Normal People by Sally Rooney
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Armadale – Wilkie Collins
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
My Ántonia – Willa Cather

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 223 - Author Spotlight with Brian D. Kennedy

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Author Brian D. Kennedy

Episode 223 Show Notes

ALLOWABLES by Nikki Giovanni

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
I don’t think
I’m allowed
To kill something
Because I am
Frightened

– Currently Reading –
All Fours – Miranda July (EF)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Bronte (CW)
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom – Ilyon Woo (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
The God of the Woods – Liz Moore (CW)
Into the Uncut Grass – Trevor Noah, illustrated by Sabina Hahn (EF)
Hanukkah Pajamakkahs – Dara Henry, illustrated by Olga & Aleksey Ivanov (CW)
Momma’s Going to March – Jennifer Maruno, illustrated by Vivian Rosas (CW)

Emily read short stories:
“A First-Rate Material” by Sayaka Murata from Life Ceremony: Stories translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
“The Christmas Book Hunt” by Jenny Colgan

A Little Bit Country – Brian D. Kennedy (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris was in Chicago and had a browse at the Frugal Muse Books where she snagged a copy of Studies in Classic American Literature by D.H. Lawrence. She also spotted a little free library in Downer’ Grove that was designed, constructed, and installed by an elementary school class.

Emily and her granddaughter Neena had a great adventure traveling from Michigan to Connecticut via plane. Once in Connecticut, they visited the West Hartford, Cromwell, and Wallingford Public Libraries.

Chris and Emily enjoyed the 4th quarter readalong discussion with listeners and readers about A Little Bit Country.

Chris was a guest on Shawn Breathe’s Books about DNF’ing books. You can watch the video here.

Emily DNF’d the new serialized version of Like Water for Chocolate based on the novel by Laura Esquivel.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are planning to attend a conversation between Juliet Grames and Luanne Rice at the Essex Public Library talking about their books The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia and If Anything Happens to Me.

The next Reading Salon will be on Sunday, December 22 at 7PM (ET), we will be chatting about our favorite reads of 2024. You can join our Patreon Community here.

Chris and Emily are both excited to see Laura Thoma’s play Miss Margaret Barton’s Cottage Christmas Surprise. The show runs from December 13-21, you can purchase tickets here.  

– Upcoming Reads –
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin (CW)(EF)
“The Inn” short story from the collection The Necklace and Other Tales – Guy de Maupassant (CW)
Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey – Ngozi Ukazu (EF)
“In the Stacks” by Robin Sloan from the Hingston & Olsen Short Story Advent Calendar (EF)

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 1st Quarter Book –
Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories!
The 1st Quarter Readalong is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
We will also be doing a companion read of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin.

Please join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

– Author Spotlight with Brian D. Kennedy –
We talk with Brian about his debut novel A Little Bit Country.
Check out Brian’s website.

– Also Mentioned –
The Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Also by Jennifer Colgan: The Bookshop on the Corner and Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Stevenson
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
Chocolat by Joanne Harris and the movie starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche
Montgomery and Taggert Bookstore
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli and the movie Love, Simon
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
My Fair Brady by Brian D. Jenkins
Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan

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