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!

Episode 241 - The Yellow Wallpaper

Episode 241 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Wedding People – Alison Espach (EF) (audiobook)
The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President – Eden Collinsworth (CW) release date 9/2/2025
Hotel Silence – Auđur Ava Ólafsdóttir (translated by Brian Fitzgibbon) (EF)

– Just Read –
Working – Robert Caro (CW) (audiobook)
Until Alison – Kate Russo (EF)
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine (CW)(EF)
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman (CW)(EF) (audiobook) Gilman’s essay “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” originally published in 1913
Wreck – Catherine Newman (EF) release date 10/28/25
Follow Catherine on Crone Sandwich
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   
Fonseca – Jessica Francis Kane (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily took a joint jaunt to the main branch of the New York Public Library so Chris could work in the archives while Emily spent time in the Rose Reading Room. They also took a browse through The Drama Book Shop.

The next day they drove to Boston to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Chris had a Zoom conversation with the reading group working through Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall.

Emily attended an event with Janice Nimura in conversation with Jessica Francis Kane about her new novel Fonseca at RJ Julia Booksellers.

Chris took a road trip where she did a drive-by of the Piper City Public Library in Illinois and browsed Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee. She also spent time visiting Huntsville, Alabama and enjoyed touring the city’s historic districts which includes some markers honoring women’s institutions and suffragists.

Emily met Aunt Ellen in NYC where they went to see a production of Call Me Izzy starring Jean Smart.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are planning an upcoming trip to the first Horror Bookstore in NYC – The Twisted Spine. They also have plans for a joint jaunt to

Emily is excited to attend the book launch party for Lara Ehrlich’s new novel Bind Me Tighter Still via Bank Square Books on Friday, September 12th. Learn more and register here.

– Upcoming Reads –
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) 
Bind Me Tighter Still – Lara Ehrlich (EF) release date
The Rarest Fruit – Gaëlle Bélem (EF)
Cat and Bird: A Memoir – Kyoko Mori (EF)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (CW)
Chris is participating in a reading challenge Framed in September co-hosted by Hannah’s Books. Learn more about the challenge here.  
The Club: Where American Women Artists Found Refuge in Belle Époque Paris – Jennifer Dasal (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
Turn Every Page: Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb documentary
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Garden by Clare Beams
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Joan Didion archives at the New York Public Library
The Doctors Blackwell by Janice Nimura
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
Hermione Lee: Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life and Tom Stoppard: A Life
Animal Life by Lara Ehrlich

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 240 - The Nightmare Touch

Episode 240 Show Notes

– Giveaway! –
In celebration of another 10th episode we’re giving away a copy of Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner. The winner will be chosen on August 25th, to be entered to win subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

– Currently Reading –
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (EF) (audiobook)
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Sesame: Global Recipes & Stories of an Ancient Seed – Rachel Simons (EF)
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine (CW)

– Just Read –
Nightmare-Touch by Lafcadio Hearn from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman (CW)
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans (EF) recently nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
The El – Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (CW)
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch (EF)
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Into the Shallows Darkly by Robin Cannon

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily enjoyed a conversation with their Patreon Community via the monthly reading salon. The theme was feminist literature.

Emily went to Madison, WI where she visited the main branch of the Madison Public Library and was excited to find a makerspace – The Bubbler – that was featuring a fake cake making activity.  She also stopped at Mystery to Me bookstore where the booksellers suggested two books: A Murderous Business: A Harriman & Mancini Mystery by Cathy Pegau (pub date 9/16/25) and Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake.

Chris had a browse through Kindred Thoughts Bookstore in Bridgeport, CT. Her book haul included Kindred by Octavia Butler, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. The bookseller/owner mentioned his love of Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray.

Next up on Emily’s Midwest trip was a stop in Minneapolis, MN where she saw a lot of little free libraries and learned that the founder of Littlefreelibrary.org and visited Wild Rumpus Books where they had a host of live animals that live at the store and a great selection of merchandise from Out of Print and Comma, a bookshop where she purchased The Night Owl Sings: And Other Stories of Old Age by Judy McConnell; both of the stores are in the Linden Hill neighborhood. Last stop was at the Minneapolis airport where she took a browse through Open Books where they featured a selection of Milkweed Editions.

Emily attended a virtual conversation with Claire Messud and Geraldine Brooks about her memoir Memorial Days. Geraldine announced that she collaborated with Kamala Harris on the forthcoming 107 Days (pub date 9/23/25). You can watch the video here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is heading on a road trip and is excited to have time for some audiobook listening.

Chris is interested in the release of Outlander: Blood of My Blood premiering August 8 on Starz.  

On August 15, Emily is hoping to get to Wilcox Park in Westerly, Rhode Island to hear Marguerite Holloway talk about her book Take to the Trees: A Story of Hope, Science, and Self-Discovery in America's Imperiled Forests. The event is sponsored by Bank Square Books, learn more here.   

– Upcoming Reads –
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Wreck – Catherine Newman (EF) release date 10/28/25
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine (EF)
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman (CW)
Haunted North Alabama – Jessica Penot (CW)

– Out Now –
A Dog in Georgia – Lauren Grodstein
Dracula’s Brunch Club – Brian Gonsar, illustrated by Keenan Gaybba

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 –
Also by Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book and Riki Tiki Tavi
Author Kathleen Rooney
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Robert W. Service
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
The Personal Librarian by Victoria Christopher Murray
The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Rain Taxi Review of Books who sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival on November 8, 2025
Sandwich by Catherine Newman

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 239 - Playwright Spotlight with Laura Thoma

Episode 239 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories – Clare Beams (EF)
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman (CW)
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans (EF) recently nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

– Just Read –
At the End of the Passage by Rudyard Kipling from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan (EF) (release date 9/2/2025)
Summer on the Lakes from Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Nanaville – Anna Quindlen (EF)
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn J Atwood (CW)
How to Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair (EF) (audiobook)
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (EF)
Join Emily’s buddy read over on Goodreads.

– Biblio Adventures –
Follow along with Chris’s Margaret Fuller Reading Schedule.

Emily finished reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and watched the 1940 movie adaptation.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to the New Haven Public Library for the launch of the New Haven Memory Lab.

Chris spent time at the New York Public Library’s main branch working in the archives.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is heading to Madison, WI and Minneapolis, MN to celebrate The Gentleman Caller’s birthday. She’s hopping to stop at three bookstores: Mystery to Me, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, and Wild Rumpus Books.

Chris and Emily are heading to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on August 13th.

Emily registered for an event with Janice Nimura in conversation with Jessica Francis Kane about her new novel Fonseca at RJ Julia Booksellers on August 14th. Learn more about it here.

Chris is heading back to the New York Public Library for more time in the archives and will meet Kate at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station to discuss their buddy read of Silas Marner by George Eliot

– Upcoming Reads –
Nightmare-Touch by Lafcadio Hearn from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
All the World Can Hold – Jung Yun (CW) release date 3/10/2026 
Listen to our conversations with Jung on Episode 104 and Episode 142
Fonseca – Jessica Francis Kane release date 8/12/2026
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (EF)
Ladies in Waiting: Jane Austen’s Unsung Characters – with an introduction by Adriana Trigiani (CW)

– Playwright Spotlight with Laura Thoma –
Laura talks about her play-in-progress Letter to My Soul which will premiere at the GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival on August 10. Find out more here. 
Learn more about Laura’s other work here.

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Garden by Clare Beams
Books by Ann Patchett: Bel Canto and State of Wonder
Also by Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book and Riki Tiki Tavi
“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath
Also by Daphne du Maurier: The Birds and My Cousin Rachel
Birchbark Books
Also by George Eliot: Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss
Also by Jung Yun: Shelter and O Beautiful

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 238 - Author Spotlight with Clare Beams

Episode 238 Show Notes

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
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.

– Currently Reading –
Summer on the Lakes from Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan (EF) (release date 9/2/2025)
A True History of the United States: Indigenous Genocide, Racialized Slavery, Hyper-Capitalism, Militarist Imperialism and Other Overlooked Aspects of American Exceptionalism – Daniel Sjursen (CW) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
Feeding Ghosts – Tessa Hulls (EF)
Silas Marner – George Eliot (CW)
Beautyland – Mary Helene-Bertino (EF)
Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   
The Garden – Clare Beams (CW)(EF)
Join the buddy read. We will be discussing the novel on Episode 238. You can also join the online conversation over on Goodreads.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris enjoyed "Writers on Writing" a conversation between Carmen Maria Machado and Megan Stielstra via The Newberry's YouTube channel. Read Megan Stielstra’s essay Channel B.

Emily found a copy of The God of the Woods by Liz Moore in a little free library in Colorado but had to leave it there since her suitcase was too heavy. Once home in Guilford, she did a bike ride with The Gentleman Caller to check her favorite little free libraries around town. 

Chris watched the 1997 adaptation of The Shining.

Emily recaps her two writing seminars, one with Betsy Lerner focused on first sentences and titles and the other was with Shuly Cawood about the list essay. Find Shuly’s upcoming classes.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On Wednesday, July 9th Chris and Emily are heading to the New Haven Public Library for the launch of the New Haven Memory Lab. Learn more here.

Emily is kicking off her buddy read of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. She is also listening to the audiobook narrated by Alexandra O’Karma and plans to watch the 1940 movie adaptation.

– Upcoming Reads –
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (EF)
Join Emily’s buddy read over on Goodreads.
How to Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair (EF) (audiobook)
Nanaville – Anna Quindlen (EF)
Not Quite a Ghost – Anne Ursu (EF)
Dracula’s Brunch Club – Brian Gonsar, illustrated by Keenan Gaybba (CW) (release date 8/12/2025)

– Author Spotlight with Clare Beams –
Clare joins us to discuss her novel The Garden.
Clare also wrote the novel The Illness Lesson and the short story collection We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories.  
Learn more about Clare here.

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 –
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
Author Edith Wharton
The Shining by Stephen King
Finding a New Normal: Living Your Best Life with Chronic Illness by Suzan L. Jackson
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

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!

Episode 237 - From Connecticut to Carbondale

Episode 237 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Garden – Clare Beams (EF)
Join the buddy read. We will be discussing the novel on Episode 238. You can also join the online conversation over on Goodreads.
Silas Marner – George Eliot (CW)
Cooking in Real Life: Delicious & Doable Recipes for Every Day – Lidey Heuck (EF)

– Just Read –
The Shining – Stephen King (CW)
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (EF) (audiobook)
So Far Gone – Jess Walter (EF)(audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended the Bloomsday celebration at the Guilford Free Library.

Emily took a trip to Princeton, NJ but didn’t get any time for Biblio Adventuring, but she did have a nice stop at the Montclair Public Library in New Jersey.

Chris watched the 1980 movie adaptation of The Shining.

Emily attended the 2025 Aspen Food & Wine Classic where she was hoping to run into Mashama Bailey, author of Black, White, and The Grey and recent cover model on The Power Issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine, although she didn’t see Mashama, she had a fan girl moment when she walked past pastry chef Nancy Silverton, author of The Cookie That Changed My Life. Head to Ingredient One to hear Emily’s thought’s on Nancy Silverton. 

We had a wonderful conversation about short books during our monthly Reading Salon with Patreon supporters (the flip side of last month’s big books).

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is planning to watch the 1997 adaptation of The Shining.

Chris and Emily are hoping to go on a fun Biblio Adventure together and Emily is hoping to spend an upcoming day in her hammock.

Emily plans to watch the recording of Amy Bloom’s book launch of I’ll Be Right Here via Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, NY.

The next Patreon Salon takes place on July 27th at 7PM (ET). Our topic is TBD.

– Upcoming Reads –
Summer on the Lakes from Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
A Lost Lady – Willa Cather (CW)
Beautyland – Marie-Helene Bertino (EF)
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier (EF) Join Emily’s buddy read over on Goodreads.
Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 –
Also by Geraldine Brooks: March, People of the Book, and Horse
Also by Jess Walter: The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins
Family Week by Sarah Bloom
White Houses by Amy Bloom

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 236 - From Nyack to Nebraska

Episode 236 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (EF) (audiobook)
The Shining – Stephen King (CW)

– Just Read –
Finding Grace – Loretta Rothschild (EF) release date 7/8/2025
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather (CW) (audiobook)
The Bookstore Family – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life – Dani Shapiro (CW) (audiobook)
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong (EF) (audiobook)

– Episode Sponsor –
Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness by Deb Miller
Learn more about Deb and her writing here.

– Biblio Adventures –
When Chris was in Pittsburgh, she drove by the McClung house in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood where Cather lived for about 5 years with the McClung family. Here’s a photo of the house.

Emily went to Middletown, CT to participate in a Pride Month Celebration, where she attended Drag Storytime at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore.

Chris and Colleen met up in Omaha and drove to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home in Abilene, KS. In the gift shop she purchased a book: Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet. Then they headed back to Nebraska where they attended the 70th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference which included a tour of important sites around Red Cloud that were important in Cather’s life. Next stop was Omaha where they toured the city and stopped by Bess Streeter Aldrich House in Elmwood, NE.

Emily went to Nyack, NY and took a browse through Big Red Books where she purchased a copy of Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos and Poems of Parenting by Loryn Brantz. Next stop was the Nyack Public Library which has a small used bookshop, she purchased Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports by Temple Grandin and American Knees by Shawn Wong.

Chris shopped at the bookstore in the National Willa Cather Center, her haul included: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Miss Morissa: Doctor of the Gold Trail by Mari Sandoz, Chrysalis: Willa Cather in Pittsburgh 1896-1906 by Kathleen and Richard Byrne, and The Collected Short Fiction of Willa Cather.

We had a great Zoom conversation with a group of listeners about our Q2 readalong, The Good House by Tananarive Due.

– Episode Sponsor –
All This Can Be True by Jen Michalski
Learn more about Jen and her writing here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is attending a Bloomsbury event on June 16th at the Guilford Free Library and is registered to for an event through the New York Public Library, “Super Gay Poems with Stephanie Burt and Special Guests.” Register for the in-person or livestream event.

Emily is heading to Princeton, NJ and hopes to find time for some bookish fun.

Middletown Pages Book Festival takes place on Saturday, June 21st and has a great line-up of authors and activities. Learn more here.

The June Patreon Salon takes place on June 22nd at 7PM (ET). Our topic will be "small" books -- short books of 200 pages or less. Fiction or nonfiction.

– Upcoming Reads –
Silas Marner – George Eliot (CW)
The Weight of Ink – Rachel Kadish (CW)
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah (EF)
So Far Gone – Jess Walter (EF)

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd 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 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17 at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 Writing Life by Annie Dillard (audiobook)
Also by Geraldine Brooks: People of the Book and Horse
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Stoner by John Williams
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Soldier’s Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet.
Ashley Olson, Executive Director of the Willa Cather Foundation was a guest on Episode 97
Author Carson McCullers
Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner
Author Jane Smiley
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Markus Books
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

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 235 - Hello, Pittsburgh Calling!

Episode 235 Show Notes

It’s time for the BIG BOOK SUMMER Reading Challenge 2025. Learn more about Sue and the Challenge on her blog or watch her kick-off video. This year Melinda, who is a BookTuber at A Web of Stories, is co-hosting the challenge. Find out more about what she is reading for Big Book Summer here.

– Currently Reading –
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong (EF) (audiobook)
Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life – Dani Shapiro (CW) (audiobook)
Feeding Ghosts – Tessa Hulls (EF)
These Too Were Here: Louise Homer and Willa Cather – Elizabeth Moorhead (CW)
Love is a Pink Cake: Irresistible Bakes for Morning, Noon, and Night – Claire Ptak (EF)

– Just Read –
Renegade Girls: A Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing  – Nora Neus, illustrated by Julie Robine (CW)
The Good House – Tananarive Due (EF) (audiobook)       
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Clan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them – Timothy Egan (CW) (audiobook)
A Dog in Georgia – Lauren Grodstein (EF) release date 8/5/2025
The Great Gatsby at 100 – Sheila Liming (CW)
The Writing Life – Annie Dillard (CW) (audiobook)
The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House by Harriet Beecher Stowe from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– Episode Sponsor –
The Baker of Lost Memories by Shirley Russak Wachtel
Learn more about Shirley and her writing here.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris drove from Connecticut to Illinois and made a couple of fun stops along the way including a visit with Linda Johnson, the Book Cougars Librarian. They met at The Brumback Library in Van Wert, Ohio known as the first tax-supported county library in the United States. She picked up a book that explains the history of the library: The County Library the Pioneer County Library (the Brumback Library, of Van Wert County, Ohio) And the County, Library Movement in the United States by Saida Brumback Antrim.

Emily had an unexpected Biblio Adventure at the Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown, CT involving the children’s book Dear Bookstore by Emily Arrow, illustrated by Geneviève Godbout. Follow Emily Arrow on YouTube.

On her way back from Illinois, Chris stopped at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, PA and took a browse through Caliban Bookshop.

Chris and Emily had the opportunity to meet up with Deanna, one of our listeners who was on a tour of New England. She brought us wonderful gifts including two books: Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill and Edith Wharton: An Extraordinary Life by Eleanor Dwight.

We had our monthly Reading Salon where we talked about Big Books – books over 400 pages. Some mentions: Beach Music and The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy and The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro.  

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is heading to Nebraska to attend the 70th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference and visit the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home.

Emily is heading to Princeton, NJ and hopes to do something bookish.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Weight of Ink – Rachel Kadish (CW)
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather (CW) (audiobook)
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (EF) Join Emily’s buddy read over on Goodreads.
The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah (EF)

– Out Now –
The Ghostwriter – Julie Clark

– 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 –
Author Pema Chödrön
Author Cal Newport
Author Elissa Altman
Author Maura Casey
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Yiddish Book Center
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

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 234 - Author Spotlight with Elissa Altman

Episode 234 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
One of Ours – Willa Cather (CW)
Feeding Ghosts – Tessa Hulls (EF)
Renegade Girls: A Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing  – Nora Neus, illustrated by Julie Robine (CW)
The Good House – Tananarive Due (EF) (audiobook)        
The Forest for the Trees – Betsy Lerner (EF)

– Just Read –
The Good House – Tananarive Due (CW)
Leaving – Roxana Robinson (EF)
When I Was Straight – Julie Marie Wade (CW)
Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create – Elissa Altman (EF) (audiobook)
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend – Rebecca Romney (CW)
Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu by Charles Dickens from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– Episode Sponsor –
True Home by Janet Clare
Learn more about Janet and her writing here.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to NYC to visit Aunt Ellen. Stops included the Belle de Costa Green exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum and the Selected Shorts: Classics with a Twist with Meg Wolitzer and Friends at Symphony Space.

Emily went to Hartford Theater Works to attending Matthew Dick’s one man show Shovel.

Chris met a friend for coffee at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown, CT then she strolled Wesleyan University’s campus and discovered another outpost of RJ’s bookstore, unfortunately it was closed.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is heading on a trip to Chicago to visit her mom and has some fun stops planned on the drive.

Emily signed up to attend a writing workshop with Betsy Lerner at the Willoughby Wallace Library and a List Essay Workshop with Shuly Cawood on May 28 from 2:30-5:30. 

Emily is registered for an event at RJ Julia Booksellers on Tuesday, May 20 at 6 pm (ET) to see Amy Bloom in conversation with her daughter Sarah Moon to discuss Sarah’s new novel Family Week.

– Upcoming Reads –
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch (EF)
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn J. Atwood (CW)
52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing – David A. Robertson (CW)
A Century of Queer Korean Fiction – Samuel Perry (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House by Harriet Beecher Stowe. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Out Now –
Speak to Me of Home – Jeannine Cummins
Food Person – Adam Roberts

– Author Spotlight with Elissa Altman –
We talk with Elissa about her writing life and her books including Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create. Learn more about Elissa here.

– 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 –
James by Percival Everett
Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
The English Patient by Michael Ondatjee
Killers of a Certain Age and Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn
Watch our conversation with Deanna on BookTube
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Author Bram Stoker
Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read but Probably Didn't by John Atkinson
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
SpeakUp storytelling
Kaweco pens
St. Louis Art Supply Company
Heaven’s Coast by Mark Doty
Saving Ellen: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery by Maura Casey

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 233 - Author Spotlight with Matthew Goodman

Episode 233 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Good House – Tananarive Due (CW)
Leaving – Roxana Robinson (EF)
The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen [A Cookbook] – Steve Sando, Julia Newberry (EF)

– Just Read –
Ephemera: A Memoir – Briana Loewinsohn (CW)
Food Person – Adam Roberts (EF) release date 5/20/2025
The Signal Man by Charles Dickens from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   
Two essays from The Portable Feminist Reader:
“Being Female” by Eileen Myles
“If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem
Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal – Matthew Goodman (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily went 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 also met with our friend Kate at the Mystic Noank Library where they discussed their buddy reads of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë and Old New York by Edith Wharton.

Chris and Emily attended Matthew Goodman’s event at the Guilford Free Library. His new book is Paris Undercover.

Joined by The Gentleman Caller, Chris and Emily celebrated Independent Bookstore Day by visiting Breakwater Books and RJ Julia Booksellers.  Purchases included: a couple of Indestructibles, The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back by Madiba K. Dennie, Peppa the Pig Loves to Bake, Pigeon Stationery, and a Leuchtturm notebook.  And they picked up the CT Book Trail Passport.

Emily attended Cherry Jubilee in NYC sponsored by Cherry Bombe. Asma Khan Monsoon owner The Darjeeling Express

Emily and Chris hosted the monthly Patreon Reading Salon on Zoom, the theme was poetry, and it was a lovely evening.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The next Patreon Reading Salon is on May 25th at 7 pm (ET). We will be discussing our plans for reading Big Books (over 400 pages) for Sue Jackson’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to NYC to visit Aunt Ellen. Stops include the Belle de Costa Green exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum and the Selected Shorts: Classics with a Twist with Meg Wolitzer and Friends at Symphony Space.

After picking up CT Book Trail Passport, Chris and Emily are planning to visit all 23 bookstores by Labor Day, September 1, 2025.

Emily is registered for an event at RJ Julia Booksellers on Tuesday, May 20 at 6 pm (ET) to see Amy Bloom in conversation with her daughter Sarah Moon to discuss Sarah’s new novel Family Week.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans (EF)
Feeding Ghosts – Tessa Hulls (EF)
Renegade Girls: A Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing  – Nora Neus, illustrated by Julie Robine (CW)
A Well Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy – Tia Levings (CW)
Check out Tia Levings interview on Heart of the Story podcast

– Out Now –
Little Great Island – Kate Woodworth
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

– Author Spotlight with Matthew Goodman –
Matthew was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 95 discussing his book The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team. His new book is Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal.

You can learn more about Matthew here.

– 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 –
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Author Fiona Davis
Author and Broadcast Journalist Noah Adams
The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin

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.