Episode 206 - Author Spotlight with Rebecca Rego Barry

Episode 206 Show Notes

– 2nd Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts.  Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, June 2nd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join The Awakening Goodreads Discussion anytime and we’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Currently Reading –  
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW)
How to Read – Monica Wood (EF) release date 5/7/2024
Spoon River Anthology – Edgar Lee Masters (EF)
Bless Your Heart – Lindy Ryan (CW)
The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America – Sara B. Franklin (EF) release date 5/28/2024

– Just Read –
Piglet – Lottie Hazell (EF)
The Stolen Child – Ann Hood release date 5/7/2024
Reflections in a Golden Eye – Carson McCullers (CW)(EF)
Emily also read two other short stories:
“Touchless Bidet” by Omar El Akkad from the collection Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Stories edited by Hannah Tinti
“A Simple Question” from the collection Old Crimes: And Other Stories by Jill McCorkle

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily went on a Biblio Adventure to New York City but were re-routed due to an earthquake and ended up visiting the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library in New Haven where they saw current exhibits featuring James Baldwin, Frederick Douglas, and Ollie Harrington. Check out the video with highlights of our day here.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Nyack, NY to meet their friend Kate and visit the home of Carson McCullers. They discussed the short story “Reflections in a Golden Eye” and the new Mary Dearborn biography Carson McCullers: A Life over lunch at the Art Cafe. They stopped at the Nyack Library and it’s book sale where Chris picked up a copy of Old Filth by Jane Gardam and Kate snagged a copy of All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. They visited Oak Hill Cemetery to pay respects to Carson McCullers. On the way back to town they found a little free library, then visited both Big Red Books and Pickwick Bookshop.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily look forward to seeing Caroline Leavitt discuss her new book Days of Wonder at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT on Wednesday, April 24th at 6:00 pm.

Chris is registered for a virtual event featuring Kacy Dowd Tillman discussing her book Stripped and Script: Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution via the Congregational Library & Archives.

Emily plans to attend a showing of the film Enchanted April at Madison Theatre based on the novel The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim.

– Upcoming Reads –
A Chance Meeting: American Encounters – Rachel Cohen (CW)
Pride and Preston Lin – Christina Hwang Dudley (EF)

– Out Now –
Honor the Dead – Amy Tector
check out our Friday Reads video with Amy
Weird Black Girls: Stories – Elwin Cotman
Dear Wendy – Ann Zhao
The Paris Novel – Ruth Reichl
Days of Wonder – Caroline Leavitt

– Author Spotlight with Rebecca Rego Barry –
We chat with Rebecca about her book The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells.
You can learn more about Rebecca and her books here.

– Also Mentioned –
Hoopla now offers bingepasses!
The One-In-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood
Newburyport Literary Festival
Also by Carson McCullers: The Member of the Wedding and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary Dearborn
Kurt Vonnegut
“Carson McCullers” by Charles Bukowski
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center
Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT
Third State Books
“A Penitential Week” by Carolyn Wells
FineBooks and Collections Magazine
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Murder in the Bookshop by Carolyn Wells

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!

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Episode 205 - Author Spotlight with Yulin Kuang

Episode 205 Show Notes

– Giveaways –
Patreon: Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan. You have until April 14th to become a Patreon member.

Newsletter Winner: Congratulations to Calloway, who won The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts.

– 2nd Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts. 

Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, June 2nd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join The Awakening Goodreads Discussion anytime and we’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Currently Reading –  
Chris dnf’d The Maiden – Kate Foster (CW)
Emily dnf’d Interesting Facts about Space – Emily Austin (EF)
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW)
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World – edited by Ada Limón (EF)
Emily read the poem “Canine Superpowers” by Michael Kleber-Diggs
Boats for Women – Sandra Yannone (CW)
Chris read “Providence April 14, 1998”
Piglet – Lottie Hazell (EF)
The Highest Apple: Sappho and the Lesbian Poetic Tradition – Judy Grahn (CW)
Break the Cycle: A Guide to Breaking Intergenerational Trauma – Dr. Mariel Buqué (EF)(audiobook)
Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential – Tiago Forte (CW)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stuart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
This episode is sponsored by Clitapalooza: Her flower blooms power by Billie Best.
You can learn more about Billie here.

– Just Read –
Wake Up With Purpose! What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years – Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (CW)(audiobook)
You can read Chris’s review here.
Intimacies – Katie Kitamura
Deprog: Volume 1 – Tina Horn, Gab Contreras, Dani Strips, and Lisa Sterle – (CW)
A Baker’s Year: Twelve Months of Baking and Living the Simple Life at the Smoke Signals Bakery – Tara Jensen (EF)
Chris read a preview of River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure
When Cicadas Cry – Caroline Cleveland (EF) release date 5/7/2024

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to RJ Julia’s Bookseller to see Rachel Slade discussing her new book Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How It Got That Way).

Chris had a lovely conversation with a student at the library about The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Emily watched the movie Adaptation, about a screenwriter trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris has purchased a ticket for the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair taking place April 4-7.

Thank you to a listener who called in to tell us about the movie Shirley a biopic about the author Shirley Jackson, Chris and Emily are both planning to watch it.

Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Nyack, NY to see the home of Carson McCullers. They are also planning to read the short story “Reflections in a Golden Eye” and the new Mary Dearborn biography Carson McCullers: A Life.

– Upcoming Reads –
Bride – Ali Hazelwood (CW)
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon (CW)
The Twilight Garden – Sara Nisha Adams (EF)

– Out Now –
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza
The Husbands – Holly Gramazio
Victory Parade – Leela Corman
A Killing on the Hill: A Thriller – Robert Dugoni

– Author Spotlight with Yulin Kuang –
We chat with Yulin about her new novel How to End a Love Story.
You can learn more about Yulin here and here, and be sure to check out her book tour.

– Also Mentioned –
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Gracy Hendrix
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs
The Glass Studio by Sandra Yannone
Salmon Poetry Press
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Flour Power: The Practice and Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread by Tara Jensen
Tara Jensen
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro by Rachel Slade
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
NaNoWriMo
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
North & South Elizabeth Gaskill adaptation with Richard Armitage

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!

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Episode 204 - Author Spotlight with Allison Pataki

Episode 204 Show Notes

– 2nd Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts.  The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, June 2nd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join The Awakening Goodreads Discussion anytime and we’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Currently Reading –  
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW) send an email if you want to join the buddy read
The Women – Kristin Hannah (EF) (audiobook)
The Maiden – Kate Foster (CW)
Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution – Roxana Jullapat (EF)
Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out – Shannon Reed (CW)
Wake Up With Purpose! What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years – Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (CW)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
Emily read two short stories: “Lot” by Bryan Washington from the story collection Lot: Stories and “Postcards from Heaven” from Reunion Beach: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank.
Chris read the short story “Consequences” by Willa Cather from the story collection Uncle Valentine and Other Stories. Learn more about the Willa Cather short story project.  
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon (EF)
We Got the Beat – Jenna Miller (CW)
Jenna was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 174 talking about her debut novel Out of Character.
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis by Greg Wrenn.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching Mary, Queen of Scots starring Vanessa Redgrave and Mary Queen of Scots starring Saoirse Ronan based on John Guy's biography Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart.

Emily took a trip to Wilmington, NC where she tried unsuccessfully to shop at Papercuts Bookshop because it was closed for inventory. She did find two little free libraries where she found Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, and Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

Emily went to the North Haven public library where she purchased Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington and Who’s Irish?: Stories by Gish Jen from the Friends of the Library sale and attended a presentation with Linda Civitello author of Baking Powder Wars: The Cutthroat Food Fight That Revolutionized Cooking.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris has purchased a ticket for the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair taking place April 4-7.

Emily plans to attend an event with Anna Quindlen, author of After Annie, in conversation with Beatriz Williams hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers on Tuesday, March 26th at 7:00 pm. Tickets are available here.

– Upcoming Reads –
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World – edited by Ada Limón (EF)
Filthy Rich Vampire – Geneva Lee (CW)
Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration – Brenda Mitchell-Powell (CW)
Mary Queen of Scots – Antonia Fraser (CW)

– Out Now –
James – Percival Everett
Memory Piece – Lisa Ko
Next Stop: A Graphic Novel – Debbie Fong

– Author Spotlight with Allison Pataki –
We chat with Allison about her new novel Finding Margaret Fuller.
You can learn more about Allison’s books here.

– Also Mentioned –
Also by Kristin Hannah: Firefly Lane and The Nightingale
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024
New England Quarterly Margaret Fuller Prize for New England Literary Studies
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work - Susan Cheever
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Books written by Margaret Fuller include: Summer on the Lakes and Woman in the Nineteenth Century
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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 202 - Author & Editor Spotlight with Jessica Pryde

Episode 202 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –  
The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells – Rebecca Rego Barry (CW) (audiobook)
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad (EF) (audiobook)
Indigo – Beverly Jenkins (CW) (audiobook)
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters – Jessica P. Pryde (CW)(EF)

– Just Read –
Emily tried to read two short stories but accidentally read a chapter from the novel That Old Ace in the Hole and the short story “Referential” by Lorrie Moore in The Best American Short Stories 2013 guest edited by Elizabeth Strout.
Vampires of El Norte – Isabel Cañas (CW) (audiobook)
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls (EF)
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki (CW) release date 3/19/2024
How To End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang (EF) release date 4/9/2024

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily stopped at Breakwater Books expecting to pick up a book for the Gentleman Caller and was surprised to receive a copy of Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly.

Chris spent a day in Manhattan at the New York Society Library doing research in the archives and searching for books by Sophia Belzer Engstrand. She couldn’t find Wilma Rogers but there was a well-loved copy of Miss Munday. There were also books on the shelf by her husband Stuart Engstrand including The Sling and the Arrow. A highlight of the day was finding a first edition of Emily Dickinson Face to Face.

Chris and Emily had two joint jaunts the first was in Book Cougars HQ chatting with Booktuber Melinda Ott. The second was a trip to Chester, CT to see Chris’s wife, Laura Thoma, read from her work-in-progress at the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend.   

Chris participated in a virtual event with Rebecca Rego Barry about her new book The Vanishing of Caroline Wells : Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author sponsored by The Ohio State University’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library. Rebecca recommended two favorite books by Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop and Vicky Van.

Emily is looking forward to watching a video with Roxane Gay (The Audacity Newsletter) in conversation with Sohla El-Waylly about her new cookbook Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook.

– Episode Sponsor –
If Her Love Was Enough by Catherine Oni

Catherine will be signing books at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT on Saturday, March 2nd from 1-3pm (ET).

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to An Unlikely Story to meet Jenna Miller author of the new novel We Got the Beat. Wednesday, March 6 at 7PM (ET). She will be in conversation with Alecia Dow, Jennifer Dugan, and Jenny L. Howe.

– Upcoming Reads –
Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Stories – edited by Hannah Tinti (EF)
Shark Heart: A Love Story – Emily Habeck (EF)
Church on the Screen – Julie Fitzpatrick (CW)
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW) send an email if you want to join the buddy read

– Out Now –
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story – Leslie Jamison
We Got the Beat – Jenna Miller
Grief Is for People – Sloane Crosley
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary
Summer at Squee – Andrea Wang  

– Editor Spotlight with Jessica Pryde –
We chat with Jess about Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters. She recommends the book Well-Read Black Girl edited by Gloria Edim.

Learn more about Jessica here. You can find her writing on Book Riot.

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. 

Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Indigo Goodreads discussion here. We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Also Mentioned –
Information about the remote control page turner shared by Sigrid (https://www.instagram.com/hatcherstacks):
This one works on the Kindle App, this one costs $10 more but works on the Kindle, Kobos, and more!
The movie American Symphony
Also by Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Carmilla Sheridan Le Fanu
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Ice Storm by Rick Moody
Also by Emily Henry: Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Also by Michael Fink (Episode ): The Stranger in the Woods and The Art Thief

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 201 - A Great Last Night with Luanne Rice

Episode 201 Show Notes

– GIVEAWAYS! –
Sign up for the monthly newsletter by February 15th be entered to win:
Last Seen in Havana – Teresa Dovalpage
A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny
Mother Country – Jacinda Townsend
The Refusal Camp – James R. Benn

Join our Patreon Community by February 15th  to be entered to win:
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  
Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Indigo Goodreads discussion here. We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Currently Reading –  
We Should Not Be Friends – Will Schwalbe (EF)(audiobook)
Vampires of El Norte – Isabel Cañas (CW)(audiobook)
Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories – Fanny Singer (EF)
Chris decided to DNF The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza (EF) release date 4/2/24
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard (CW)
Emily read two short stories: “The Irish Wedding” from the story collection The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken and “Such Fun” from the story collection Last Night by James Salter
Last Night – Luanne Rice (CW)(EF)
Blood Sisters – Vanessa Lillie (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Brooklyn ’76 by Anthony Ausiello

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily recorded with Luanne Rice at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and then attended Luanne’s book launch at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT and the after party at The Captain Daniel Packer Inne.

Emily saw American Fiction based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Chris put together new bookcases from IKEA and began filling the shelves via a stop at Barnes and Noble in Milford where she picked up The Major of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham, Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts, and First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent by Lorissa Rinehart and online shopping via Blackwell’s where she purchased Women of the Anarchy by Sharon Bennett Connolly and Stranger Within the Gates by Bertha Thomas.

Emily went to Charter Books in Newport, RI for the book launch of Float Up, Sing Down by Laird Hunt.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is registered for an event on February 15th at 2PM (ET) with Rebecca Rego Barry about her new book The Vanishing of Caroline Wells : Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author sponsored by The Ohio State University’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Emily is looking forward to watching a video with Roxane Gay in conversation with Sohla El-Waylly about her new cookbook Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook.

– Upcoming Reads –
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki (CW) release date 3/19/2024
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW) send an email if you want to join the buddy read
Indigo – Beverly Jenkins (CW)(EF)
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls (EF)
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters – Jessica P. Pryde (EF)

– Out Now –
The Fury – Alex Michaelides
No One Can Know – Kate Alice Marshall
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks – Crystal Wilkinson
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin
One Wrong Word – Hank Phillippi Ryan
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez

– Author Spotlight with Luanne Rice –
We had a chat with Luanne about her most recent novel Last Night.
Learn more about Luanne and her long backlist here.
Her upcoming young adult suspense novel is If Anything Happens to Me, publishing on 9/17/24.

– Also Mentioned –
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (audiobook)
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett (audiobook)
The Odyssey – Homer translated by Emily Wilson
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey – Candice Millard
Seating Arrangements – Maggie Shipstead
Author Jill McCorkle
Also by Luanne Rice: The Shadow Box and Last Day
Author Nevada Barr
Young Rich Widows by Vanessa Lillie, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Kimberly Belle
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream by Charles Spencer
Zorrie – Laird Hunt
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
Author Gustave Flaubert
Author Debra Goodrich Royce
The Ocean House Author’s Series
Artist Maureen McCabe
Artist Linden Frederick
Night Stories: Fifteen Paintings and the Stories they Inspired – Linden Frederick
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles – Dominick Dunne

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!

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Episode 197 - Author Spotlight with Pip Williams

Episode One Hundred Ninety Seven Show Notes
|KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Update on Chris and Emily’s 2023 Reading Intentions – [1:23]
· Both Chris and Emily set their Reading Challenge on Goodreads to 52 books. To date, Chris has read 62 and Emily has read 84.

· Emily’s 2023 year-to-date Cookbook List:
o   Cooking with Mushrooms – Andrea Gentl
o   Snacking Cakes – Yossy Arefi
o   The Wok – J. Kenji López-Alt
o   Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico – Rick Martínez
o   What’s for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People – Claire Saffitz
o   Budmo! Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen – Anna Voloshyna
o   Dark Rye & Honey Cake: Festival Baking from Belgium, The Heart of Low Countries – Regula Ysewjin
o   Yogurt & Whey: Recipes from an Iranian Immigrant Life – Homa Dashtaki
o   Bavel: Modern Recipes Inspired by the Middle East – Ori Menashe, Genevieve Gergis, and Lesley Sutter
o   Big Heart Little Stove – Erin French
o   Tenderheart: A Cookbook about Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds – Hetty McKinnon
o   Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul – Diana Henry

· Chris’s progress on Adam’s TBR challenge:
o   People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
o   The Warden – Anthony Trollope
o   A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay

· Find out more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project.
o   A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Willa Cather by Sheryl L. Meyering
o   Uncle Valentine and Other Stories by Willa Cather

· Check out the 2023 Reading Intentions Thread on Goodreads

– Currently Reading – [10:00]
The Hand That First Held Mine – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)
The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love – Rachel Feder (CW)
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (EF) release date 2/13/2024

– Just Read – [14:03]
The Helsinki Affair – Anna Pitoniak (CW)
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (EF)
Unnatural Death – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Maid – Nita Prose (EF)
The Bookbinder – Pip Williams (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [34:55]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Chris chose a hard cover: No One Can Know – Kate Alice Marshall release date 1/23/2024
Emily chose a hard cover: A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Use the code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [37:36]
Chis and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt in celebration of their seventh anniversary. They had lunch at Chez Ben Diner in Manchester, CT and went shopping at River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, CT. They also strolled through the newly renovated Welles-Turner Memorial Library.

Emily visited Bay Books in Suttons Bay, MI where she purchased a copy of The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman.

Chris attended a virtual Author Talk via the Boston Athenaeum, “Robert Darnton: The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1790.”

Chris is joining an online event via the Harry Ransom Center titled “Lost Books: The Dark Matter of the Early Modern English Book Trade” featuring Alan B. Farmer. The video is available here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [48:55]
Chris is planning a trip to NYC to visit the current exhibits, The Best-Read Army in the World and Whodunit? Key Books in Detective Fiction, at  The Grolier Club and to dig into more archival research at The New York Society Library.

Emily is planning to catch up on two virtual author interviews:
Crime Time with host Hank Phillippi Ryan interviewing Nita Prose about The Mystery Guest, the second book in the Molly Maid series. Watch it here.
Launch of Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island via the Glucksman Ireland House at New York University. Watch it here.

– Upcoming Reads – [51:10]
Good Taste: A Novel in Search of Great Food – Caroline Scott (EF)
Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science – Catherine McNeur (CW)

– Announcing our 2024 Readalong Theme – [56:22]
We are excited to share that our readalong theme for 2024 is ROMANCE!
Read the NY Times article about Nora Roberts here.

– Author Spotlight with Pip Williams – [01:01:45]
We had a chance to chat with Pip about her two companion novels The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder.
Learn more about Pip here.

The video referred to in the conversation: Oxford University Press and The Making of a Book.

– Also Mentioned –
Sapphira and the Slave Girl – Willa Cather
Maggie O’ Farrell
The Spinning Heart – Donal Ryan
Sue Grafton
The Mystery Guest – Nita Prose
Parnassus on Wheels – Christopher Morley
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman
Drafting the Past podcast
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine – Janice P. Nimura
Russell at Ink and Paper Blog
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester

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!

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Episode 194 - Author Spotlight with Sarah MacLean

Episode One Hundred Ninety Four Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

Emily read the poem “Only Love” by James Crews. The poem is available in the collection The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy. Follow this link to learn more about the collection and the poem.

– Currently Reading – [1:50]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century – Josh Cook (CW)
Family Lore – Elizabeth Acevedo (CW)
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire – Kerrelyn Sparks (CW)

– Just Read – [5:22]
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (EF)
Starling House – Alix E. Harrow (CW)
The Golden Gate – Amy Chua (EF)(audiobook narrated by Robb Moreira)
Country Place – Ann Petry (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [20:45]
Chris and Emily both had a Couch Biblio Adventure: Emily binged the second season of Slow Horses based on the novel Dead Lions by Mick Herron on Apple TV+. Chris watched Renfield loosely based on the classic Dracula story.

Emily went to see Killers of the Flower Moon based on the novel by David Grann. You can watch a conversation with the cast at the Cannes Film Festival. Two books that are written from the Osage point of view: A Pipe for February by Charles H. Red Corn and Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [32:27]
Chris is excited to attend some of the events celebrating Willa Cather’s 150th Birthday on December 7th. The Willa Cather Center has a list of events celebrating her sesquicentennial.

Emily is going to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT on Thursday, November 9th to see Sigrid Nunez in conversation about her new book, The Vulnerables.

– Upcoming Reads – [34:13]
Julia – Sandra Newman (EF)
Old Crimes – Jill McCorkle (EF) release date 1/9/2024
Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather – Benjamin Taylor (CW) release date 11/14/2023
A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers – edited by Joyce Carol Oates (CW)

– Out Now – [38:40]
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education – Stephanie Land
You can find the recent NY Times article about Stephanie’s experience in publishing here.

– Author Spotlight with Sarah MacLean – [39:15]
Learn more about Sarah MacLean here. Her newest book is Knockout: A Hell’s Belles Novel, the third book in the Hell’s Belle’s series. The first book is Bombshell, and the second is Heartbreaker.

Check out this vast list of recommended reading on Sarah’s website.

Sarah co-hosts the podcast Fated Mates with romance critic Jen Prokop.

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Also Mentioned –
John Valeri Central Booking
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
Other books by Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows, and Miss Muriel and Other Stories
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
Other books by Sarah Maclean: The Rogue Not Taken and Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Lee Child
Stephen King
John Irving

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Episode 192 - Author Spotlight with Fancy Feast

Episode One Hundred Ninety Two Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Currently Reading – [6:14]
The Purgatorio – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy – edited by James Crews (EF)
Emily reads “Turning” by Julie Cadwallader Staub
The Goth House Experiment – SJ Sindu (CW) (release date 10/17/2023)

– Just Read – [14:24]
Adversity for Sale – Jay Jeezy Jenkins (CW)
Wellness – Nathan Hill (EF)
Monsters: A Fans Dilemma – Claire Dederer (CW)
Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques – Fancy Feast (CW)(EF)
The September House – Carissa Orlando (CW)
When a Pet Dies – Fred Rogers (CW)
Stairway to Doom – Robert Quackenbush (CW)

– Biblio Adventures – [39:30]
To wrap up Scarlet Summer, Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Boston to visit Hawthorne-related sites including Brook Farm in West Roxbury, MA, the Boston Athenaeum, a meal at the Chipotle located at the site of the original Old Corner Bookstore, strolled down Pinckney Street to visit the sites where prominent 19th-centuryliterary figures lived throughout. We also got a chance to see The Embrace, a new bronze sculpture honoring Coretta Scott Kind and Martin Luther King Jr., located on Boston Common. Watch the slideshow of our day in Boston.

Emily went to Cape Cod and stopped at Herridge Bookstore in Wellfleet where she purchased The Book of Salt by Monique Truong, the Provincetown Bookshop, Tim’s Used Books, Provincetown Public Library where she grabbed a free copy of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken, and the Eldredge Public Library in Chatham, MA.

Chris appeared on Shawn the Book Maniac’s BookTube channel chatting about bookmarks from her childhood (that were made in Emily’s hometown!). You can watch it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [01:03:07]
Emily is heading to Maine and is hoping to do some bookstore browsing. She plans to watch Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus.

– Upcoming Reads – [01:04:14]
The Iliad – Homer translated by Emily Wilson (CW) If you would like to join Chris in a buddy read beginning in January 2024, send an email.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death – Amanda Flower (CW)
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez (EF)

– Out Now – [01:08:42]
Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir – Safiya Sinclair
Nothing is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly – Nicole Walters

– Author Spotlight with Fancy Feast– [01:09:06]
We chat with Fancy Feast about her essay collection Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques. You can learn more about Fancy on her website, via her Instagram feed and Facebook page. We encourage you to watch the documentary Fancy Feast – The Fat Burlesque Performer.

– Also Mentioned –
National Book Awards 2023
Chain Gang All Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Blackouts – Justin Torres
Also by SJ Sindu: Blue Skinned Gods and Marriage of a Thousand Lies
The Nix – Nathan Hill
The Second Shelf BookTube channel with Britta Böhler
The House Guest – Hank Phillipi Ryan
How Can I Help You – Laura Sims
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters

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.

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Episode 189 - Author Spotlight with Laurie Lico Albanese

Episode One Hundred Eighty Nine Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– 3rd Quarter Readalong our Scarlet Summer –
For more details and to download the Bingo card follow this link.
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne (July)
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese (August)
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman (September)
Send an email if you would like to join the Zoom conversation on Sunday, September 10th at 7pm (ET).

– Currently Reading – [1:58]
The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (CW)
Properties of Thirst – Marianne Wiggins (EF)

– Just Read – [4:38]
Deer Season – Erin Flanagan (CW) (audiobook narrated by Sarah Welborn)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches – Sangu Mandanna (EF)
The Red Garden – Alice Hoffman (CW)
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor – Bianca Marais (EF) (audiobook narrated by Amy Landon)
The Profile – Willa Cather (CW) (Learn more about the short story project.)
The Wehrwolf – Alma Katsu (CW)
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese (CW)(EF) (audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld)

– Episode Sponsor – [30:40]
The Brickworks by Lucy E.M. Black
Learn more about Lucy and her books here.

– Biblio Adventures – [31:30]
Chris and Emily spent two days in the Berkshires in Massachusetts where they followed in the footsteps of Nathaniel Hawthorn who lived there from 1850 - 1851.  They did a house tour of Edith Wharton’s estate, The Mount, spent time with librarian Nynke Dorhout, walked the grounds where there is currently an outdoor sculpture exhibit, and attended a conversation between Stacy Schiff and André Bernard. Schiff is known for her biographies including Cleopatra: A Life, The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem, and her most recent The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams. They also shopped at The Bookstore. (Watch the documentary about how the store survived the COVID pandemic.)  
Check out the video of our two-day adventure.

Emily had a couch biblio adventure watching Slow Horses on Apple TV based on the Slough House series by Mick Herron.

Chris went on a visit to Chicago where she stopped at Galena Book & Paper where she purchased A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen, and Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell. She also made a stop at The Book Cellar.

Emily was a guest on Shawn the Book Maniac’s Booktube channel where they talked about polygamous reading.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [52:34]
Chris and Emily are heading on a full day joint jaunt to Salem, MA where they will see The House of the Seven Gables, and other Nathaniel Hawthorne historic sites.

Chris and Emily are planning to attend Popular Romance Fiction: The Literature of Hope conference at Yale University September 8-9, 2023. Learn more and sign up here.

– Upcoming Reads – [54:34]
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman (CW)(EF)
September 10th at 7PM (ET) we will host our Scarlet Summer Zoom discussion. Send an email if you would like to join the conversation.

– Out Now – [55:33]
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth – Elizabeth Rush
Come with Me – Erin Flanagan
The Breakaway – Jennifer Weiner

– Author Spotlight with Laurie Lico Albanese – [55:57]
We chat with Laurie about her book Hester, the second book in our Scarlet Summer.
Learn more about Laurie and her books here.
Laurie will be on a panel at the Salem Literary Festival on September 8, 2023.

– Also Mentioned –
Evidence of Things Unseen – Marianne Wiggins
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Birthmark – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ulysses – James Joyce
The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Summer – Edith Wharton
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
The Library Book – Susan Orlean
Margaret Fuller
The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine – Rozsika Parker
House of Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Fellowship Point – Alice Elliott Dark
Euphoria – Lily King
Book cover designer Olga Grlc

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!

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Episode 188 - Author Spotlight with Erin Flanagan and Katrina Kittle

Episode One Hundred Eighty Eight Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

Become a member of our Patreon Community!

– Currently Reading – [1:42]
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese (CW)(EF) (audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches – Sangu Mandanna (EF)
The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (CW)
Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature’s 50 Greatest Hits – Jack Murnighan (CW)
Deer Season – Erin Flanagan (CW) (audiobook narrated by Sarah Welborn)

– Just Read – [11:58]
Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward (EF) release date 10/3/2023
The Vanity Fair article written by Jesmyn Ward: “On Witness and Repair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic”
A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay (CW)
The Last Ranger – Peter Heller (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [28:02]
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Boston where they worked at Simmon’s University Library. The day ended with an event at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA where Laura Sims (How Can I Help You) will be in conversation with Paul Tremblay (The Beast You Are: Stories).

Chris and Emily went on another joint jaunt closer to home in Old Saybrook where they lunched at the French bistro Cocotte located in the original James Pharmacy. Then they went across the street to the Hart House Museum to visit the exhibit “Family Matters: Inspiration and Insights from the Lives of Anna Louise James and Ann Petry.”

– Upcoming Jaunts – [39:31]
Chris and Emily are heading up to The Berkshires in Massachusetts for an overnight where they will be following in the footsteps of Nathaniel Hawthorn who lived there from 1850 - 1851.  They will visit Edith Wharton’s estate, The Mount to attend a conversation between Stacy Schiff and André Bernard. Schiff is known for her biographies including Cleopatra: A Life, The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem, and her most recent The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams.

On Sunday, August 27th at 7PM (ET) we are hosting a watch party of the 1934 movie adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. Please send an email if you would like to join and we will send you instructions on how to log-in and watch along.  

On September 10th at 7PM (ET) will be our Scarlet Summer Zoom discussion. Send an email if you would like to join the conversation.

– Upcoming Reads – [44:23]
Weyward – Emilia Hart
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor – Bianca Marais
Hour of the Witch – Chris Bohjalian
The Once and Future Witches – Alix E. Harrow
The Red Garden – Alice Hoffman
Tituba of Salem Village – Ann Petry

– Author Spotlight with writing duo Erin Flanagan and Katrina Kittle – [46:50]
We chat with Erin Flanagan and Katrina Kittle about their new book’s Come with Me (8/22) and Morning in this Broken World (9/1).  
Learn more about Erin and her upcoming events.
Learn more about Katrina and watch her Ted Talk Strong At Our Broken Places.

– 3rd Quarter Readalong our Scarlet Summer –
For more details and to download the Bingo card follow this link.
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne (July)
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese (August)
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman (September)
Send an email if you would like to join the Zoom conversation on Sunday, September 10th at 7pm (ET).

– Also Mentioned –
Writers Digest Magazine
Author Sharon Short (aka Jess Montgomery)
Ulysses – James Joyce
National Willa Cather Center
Books by Nicholas Evans: The Loop and The Horse Whisperer
The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow
Author Anne Tyler
Author Christina Consolino

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!

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.