Episode 258 - Author Spotlight with Heather Harper Ellett

Book Cougars Episode 258
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak
Author Heather Harper Ellett

Episode 258 Show Notes

– Q2 Readalong –
The 2026 second quarter readalong is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It is the 35th anniversary of the film adaptation so it will be showing in theaters again on May 10, 2026. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 7 at 7pm (ET). Send an email if you would like to join. Join the Goodreads discussion thread.

All of the links below connect to our shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

You can also purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.

– Currently Reading –
Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King – Caroline Bicks (CW)
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan (EF) (audiobook)
The Body Farm: Scarpetta #5 – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
My Detachment – Tracy Kidder (EF) (audiobook)
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir (CW) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Reservation – Rebecca Kauffman (EF)
You can listen to Emily’s conversation with Rebecca over on Ingredient One.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King (CW)
The Golden Boy – Patricia Finn (EF)
True Crime: A Memoir – Patricia Cornwell (CW) release date 5/6/2026
Emily dnf’d Raising Hare – Chloe Dalton (EF) (audiobook)
Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa: Stories – W.P. Kinsella (CW)
Ain’t Nobody Nobody – Heather Harper Ellett (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily visited Papercuts Bookshop in Jamaica Plain, MA.

Chris watched the film Field of Dreams based on the short story Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa: Stories by W.P. Kinsella.

Emily strolled with Aunt Ellen along Orchard Street on the Lower East Side in New York City where they visited Sweet Pickle Books and P&T Knitwear Books.

Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt to West Hartford where they worked at the UConn Law Library then visited the new location of River Bend Bookshop. They also offer Mahjong lessons and games, visit the events calendar to learn more.

Chris watched the film Fried Green Tomatoes based on the novel by Fannie Flagg.

Chris had a word day at the Sterling Library on the Yale Campus. After working she visited Book Trader Cafe, Grey Matter Books, and Atticus Bookstore Cafe where she purchased Good Grief by Brianna Pastor and Hauntings by Vernon Lee.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
April 29, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to see Emily Franklin at RJ Julia’s Booksellers with her novel Love & Other Monsters. The event is free, you can register here.

April 30 – May 3, Chris and Emily are signed up to attend The Northshire Book Festival: A Weekend in Booktopia

CrimeConn will take place on May 16th at the Ferguson Library.

May 13th, Emily is registered to see Chloe Dalton, author of Raising Hare at RJ Julia’s Booksellers.

– Upcoming Reads –
Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution – Denise Kiernan (EF) pub date 6/23/2026
The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush – Susan Gregg Gilmore (EF)
Morning Baker – Roxana Jullapat (EF)
The Gardner Museum Café Cookbook – Lois McKitchen Conroy (EF)
The Death of a Joyce Scholar: A Peter McGarr Mystery – Bartholomew Gill (CW)
Winter People – Gráinne Murphy (CW)
Twilight Sleep – Edith Wharton (CW)
Manslaughter – Alice Duer Miller (CW) There is a film by the same name.
Adaptations From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films – Stephanie Harrison (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Heather Harper Ellett –
Heather’s book Ain’t Nobody Nobody is being republished with a new ending!
Learn more about Heather here.
Heather was also featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 92 and on our YouTube channel.

– Also Mentioned –
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Also by Tracy Kidder: Rough Sleepers and Mountains Beyond Mountains
True Grit by Charles Portis (audiobook)
The Martian by Andy Weir
Room by Emma Donoghue
Tilt by Emma Pattee
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Novels into Film: Adaptations and Interpretation
The Librarians movie
Also by Denise Kiernan: The Last Castle and The Girls of Atomic City
Her Life in Ink by Sharon M. Harris
Sharon was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 253

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Episode 199 - Our 2024 Reading Intentions

Book Cougars Episode 199
Emily Fine & Chris Wolaks
Book Cougars Episode 200

Episode One Hundred Ninety Nine Show Notes

– Listener Top Ten –
Let us know your Top Ten Books of 2023
Please fill the form out by January 22nd.

– 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.

– Chris and Emily 2024 Reading Intentions –
· Both Chris and Emily set their Goodreads Reading Challenge to 52 Books.
· Emily will continue to read books written by Maggie O’Farrell.
· Chris has eight stories left in the Willa Cather Short Story project.
· Emily has started a Monday morning short story project.
· Chris plans to focus on reading books when she wants, following the whim of her desires.
· Emily plans to read one new-to-her cookbook each month and cook one recipe from the book.
· Chris will read 19th Century literature including The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Silas Marner, and A Tale of Two Cities.
· Chris is planning to focus on reading books by Margaret Fuller starting with Summer on the Lakes.
· Emily is aiming to watch one book to film adaptation per month.
· Biblio Adventures wish list: Sarah Orne Jewett House in South Berwick, Maine; a trip to Long Island to visit the newly opened Barnes and Noble along with other indie bookstores and paying tribute to the place where Margaret Fuller perished; Omnivore Books on Food in San Francisco; Bold Fork Books and Politics and Prose in Washington DC.

– Currently Reading –  
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
The Hero of This Book – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America – Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst (CW)
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (EF)(audiobook)
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk (CW) release date 3/5/2024
The Boy Who Lost His Spark – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)
The Hand That First Held Mine – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
Emily read two short stories “The End of the World is a Cul de Sac” by Louise Kennedy and “Powder” by Tobias Wolff
Archives 101 – Lois Hamill
You can read Chris’s review of this book in the Volume 86, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2023 issue.
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai (EF) release date 2/13/2024
Emily Dickinson Face to Face – Martha Dickinson Bianchi (CW)
A Winter in New York – Josie Silver (EF)
Freegift – James R. Benn (CW)
The Book of Magic – Alice Hoffman (CW)
Comfort Food – Kate Jacobs (EF)
The Para Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life – Tiago Forte (CW)
The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez (EF) release date 2/13/2024
Last Night – Luanne Rice (CW) release date 2/1/2024
Family Lore – Elizabeth Acevedo (EF) (audiobook)
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food – Ann Hood (EF)
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese (EF)(audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum for 2024 Moby-Dick Marathon. She also visited the New Bedford Free Library.
Thanks to listener recommendations, Emily listened to two NPR Book of the Day podcasts:
· Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan
· Big Heart Little Stove by Erin French

Emily participated in Katherine May’s Book Club where she was in conversation with Diana Henry speaking about her cookbook Roast Figs Sugar Snow.

Chris watched The Martian based on the novel by Andy Weir. She also participated in a group discussion about The Iliad by Homer. Listen to translator Emily Wilson reading from The Iliad. If you would like to join the conversation, send an email.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On Saturday, January 20th Chris is participating in an online forum about craft via the Biography Lab. She’s particularly excited about a panel with Janice P. Nimura, “Nasty Women: Making a Good Story out of Bad Behavior.”

Emily is heading to Colorado to visit her son and attend an event via Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken.

– Upcoming Reads –
Erasure – Percival Everett
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki release date 3/19/2024
The Grey Wolf – Louise Penny

– Also Mentioned –
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World – Peter Wohlleben
Also by Louise Kennedy – Trespasses and The End of the World is a Cul de Sac
The Best American Short Stories 1997 series edited by Katrina Kenison, guest edited by E Annie Proulx
Fish Stories – Tobias Wolff
Trigger Warning Database
The Dictionary of the Book – Sidney E. Berger
The Friday Night Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez
Luanne Rice – Last Day and The Shadow Box
Laurie Colwin
American Prometheus – Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
James – Percival Everett
American Fiction movie

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.