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:
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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!

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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 203 - Romance Readalong with INDIGO by Beverly Jenkins

Episode 203 Show Notes

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Patreon Giveaway –
If you are a member of our Patreon Community by March 15th you will be automatically entered to win a copy of The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louise Kennedy.

– Currently Reading –  
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon (EF)
We Got the Beat – Jenna Miller (CW)
The Cookie that Changed My Life: And More Than 100 Other Classic Cakes, Cookies, Muffins, and Pies That Will Change Yours: A Cookbook – Nancy Silverton and Carolynn Carreno (EF)

– Just Read –
The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells – Rebecca Rego Barry (CW) (audiobook)
Emily read three short stories: “Itinerary” by Lucia Berlin in Evening in Paradise and “Los Angeles” and “Office Hours” by Ling Ma in Bliss Montage: Stories.  
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton (CW)
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad (EF) (audiobook)
Summer – Edith Wharton (CW)
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice – Elle Cosimano (EF)
Indigo – Beverly Jenkins (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris took a trip to Washington DC and visited The Library of Congress where she purchased a copy of American Libraries 1730-1950 by Kenneth Breisch.

Over on Ingredient One, Emily had a conversation with Louise Miller author of The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living and The Late Bloomer’s Club. You can listen to the conversation, find a copy of the recipe for Burnt Sugar Cake with Maple Icing, and more.

Emily attended a virtual retreat with Katherine May author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times and Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age. Learn more about her Substack at The Clearing.

Emily watched a conversation via Live Talks Los Angeles between Jennifer Garner and Adam Grant about his new book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Unfortunately, Chris is a little under the weather, she and Emily were supposed to go on a joint jaunt to An Unlikely Story to meet Jenna Miller author of the new novel We Got the Beat in conversation with Alecia Dow, Jennifer Dugan, and Jenny L. Howe, but had to cancel.

Chris was also supposed to attend an event at Mystic Seaport Museum with Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos about her book The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd.

Emily is heading to Wilmington, NC and hopes to visit independent bookstores.

– Upcoming Reads –
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW) send an email if you want to join the buddy read
Women of the Anarchy – Sharon Bennett Connolly (CW)
Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes – Chantha Nguon and Kim Green (EF)

– Out Now –
After Annie – Anna Quindlen
Becoming Madam Secretary – Stephanie Dray
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels – Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans

– Also Mentioned –
Trespasses – Louise Kennedy
The Women’s Prize for fiction longlist / nonfiction longlist
New publisher: Author’s Equity
The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
Emily’s substack is Ingredient One
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Severance by Ling Ma
The film American Symphony
Learn more about Elle Cosimano. Other books in the series: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘em Dead, and Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun.

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 195 - Hooked by Nonfiction November & 2023 Holiday Gift Ideas

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

– Currently Reading – [:25]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals & Moments from the Lost Kitchen – Erin French (EF)(audiobook)
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism – Megan Marshall (CW)
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family – Rabia Chaudry (EF)
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America – Heather Cox Richardson (CW)(audiobook)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester (EF)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (CW)
Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior – Troy Swanson (CW)

Head over to our Booktube channel to hear about our Nonfiction November reads.

– Just Read – [16:22]
After Annie – Anna Quindlen (EF) release date 3/12/24
Moby-Dick Hidden Treasures found poetry – discovered by Stephen Durkee (CW)
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden – Camille T. Dungy (EF) (audiobook)
“Like a Winding Sheet” a short story within Miss Muriel and Other Stories – Ann Petry (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [28:34]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Emily chose an audiobook: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey narrated by Leeanna Walsman
Chris chose a hard cover: The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak
Use the code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [30:36]
Emily went to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT to see Sigrid Nunez discuss her newest novel, The Vulnerables, with Willard Spiegelman whose most recent book is Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt.

Chris had a lovely visit to Mystic Seaport Museum where she walked aboard The Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in the world. She’s considering a re-read of Moby Dick.

Emily took a jaunt to RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT to see Michael Cunningham discuss his new novel, Day, with Amy Bloom. On Episode 153, we spoke with Bloom about her memoir In Love.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [40:45]
Chris is heading into New York City to see a play and is hoping to renew her NYPL library card.  

Emily plans to attend an event at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT on Tuesday, November 28th at 6PM (ET).  Lauren Acampora will be in conversation with Mona Awad discussing her new novel, Rouge.

– Upcoming Reads – [42:24]
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac: Stories – Louise Kennedy (EF) release date 12/5/2023
The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading about Eating, and Eating While Reading – Dwight Garner (EF)
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin

– Episode Sponsor – [45:02]
Liv Macy, author of the Infinites Universe Novels. Learn more about Macy and her series here.

– 2023 Holiday Gift Ideas – [45:42]
Head over to our Booktube channel to see visual representations of some of these gift ideas
🎁 A Bookbrowse Gift Membership
🎁 North American Reciprocal Museum Association Membership
🎁 Book Letters derived from vintage books
🎁 Reading Headlights. Emily has a Petzl from LL Bean and Chris has a Glocusent
🎁 Decorate paper and transcribe a poem or quote upon it
🎁 The 2023 New York Public Library Holiday Gift Catalog
🎁 Literary Board game: Really Loud Librarians
🎁 Book Embosser
🎁 Author Bobblehead (Bram Stoker) and custom bobbleheads via Bobble for a Cause
🎁 Custom Family Recipe Tea Towels
🎁 Create a Biblio Adventure Car Kit

– 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 –
Finding Freedom – Erin French
The Old Manse
Mystic Seaport Museum
Adnan’s Story – Rabia Chaudry
Undisclosed podcast
Also by Sigrid Nunez: The Friend and What Are You Going Through
The Hours – Michael Cunningham
Trespasses – Louise Kennedy

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.