Episode 255 - Q1 Readalong: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Episode 255 Show Notes

In celebration of our readalong theme for 2026, we have created a Page to Screen Bingo card. Enjoy filling it out over the course of the year and email a copy by 12/31/2026 to be entered to win a gift card to Bookshop.org.

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 –
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2 – Marcel Proust (CW)
The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love - edited by Alice Hoffman (EF)
Anderson in Bloom – Jennifer Dugan (CW)
This Book Made Me Think of You – Libby Page (EF)
Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books – Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan (CW) (audiobook)
Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging – Tara Roberts (EF) (audiobook)
Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge – Erica Armstrong Dunbar (CW)

– Just Read –
Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians – Lydia Marie Child (CW)
Awake in the Floating City – Susanna Kwan (EF) (audiobook)
All That Remains – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Reservation – Rebecca Kauffman (EF)
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text –Mary Shelley (CW) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily both watched Frankenstein directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Chris also watched Frankenstein: The Man Who Made a Monster starring Boris Karloff.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to the Schubert Theater in New Haven for a showing of The Librarians.

On the job at the library, Chris had a great conversation with a student about reading The Godfather by Mario Puza.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The next Patreon reading salon will take place on Sunday, March 22. The topic will be strategies for breaking a reading slump.

Chris and Emily are planning to watch more adaptations of Frankenstein including Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder and The Bride directed by Magie Gyllenhaal.

March 10, 2026 Emily is planning a trip to An Unlikely Story bookstore to see Alice Hoffman in conversation with Laura Zigman about The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love.

Chris is heading to the main branch of the New York Public Library to do some research and is hoping to have time for a browse at Kinokuniya or McNally Jackson Books.

– Upcoming Reads –
Cruel & Unusual – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
Dog Show by Billy Collins, illustrated by Pamela Sztybel (CW)
Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks (CW) release date 4/21/2026
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon – Sara Catterall (EF)
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore – Evan Friss (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Learn more about Project Semi Colon
Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People – Tiya Miles (EF) (audiobook)  
Northshire Book Festival: A Weekend in Booktopia is taking place May 1-3. You can learn more here.
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
Tilt by Emma Pattee
Tear by Erica McKeen
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm
audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
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 254 - Author Spotlight with Tiya Miles

Author Spotlight with Tiya Miles

Episode 254 Show Notes

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.

In celebration of our readalong theme for 2026, we have created a Page to Screen Bingo card. Enjoy filling it out over the course of the year and email a copy by 12/31/2026 to be entered to win a gift card to Bookshop.org.

– Currently Reading –
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2 – Marcel Proust (CW)
The Reservation – Rebecca Kauffman (EF)
Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing – co-authored by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper (EF)

– Just Read –
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text –Mary Shelley (CW) (audiobook)
Cece Downing’s Start Over Summer – Soon Wiley (EF) release date 6/16/2026
Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era – Tiya Miles (CW) (audiobook)
Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People – Tiya Miles (EF) (audiobook)  

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily recommends listening to an interview between Guillermo Del Toro, director of Frankenstein, and Terry Gross on Fresh Air; listen here.

Chris watched a movie inspired by Jane Austen called Sense, Sensibility, & Snowmen.

Emily binged season four of The Lincoln Lawyer based on the novel The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly.

Chris and Emily were dining at Fair Haven Oyster Co. where they noticed a delightful little free library. Chris stopped at one of her favorite little free libraries in Stony Creek, down the street from the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library.

Emily watched the second event in the Aspen Winter Words series with Lily King and her book Heart the Lover. She was in conversation with Mitzi Rapkin.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to the Schubert Theater in New Haven for a showing of The Librarians.

Emily has the third event in the Aspen Winter Words series with Tara Roberts and her book Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging.

Partners in Crime Bookshop has opened in Chicago.

– Upcoming Reads –
All That Remains – Patricia Cornwall (CW)
Awake in the Floating City – Susanna Kwan (EF)

– Out Now –
More Than Enough – Anna Quindlen
Kin – Tayari Jones

– Author Spotlight with Tiya Miles –
We had the opportunity to speak with Tiya Miles about her new book Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People.

You can learn more about Tiya and her writing on her website.

– Q1 Readalong –
The 2026 first quarter readalong is Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley.

The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, March 1 at 7pm (ET). Send an email if you would like to join.

Join the Goodreads discussion thread.

Here’s a Wikipedia page that includes a link of Frankenstein adaptations.

Frankenstein screen adaptations we plan to watch:
Frankenstein: The Man Who Made a Monster starring Boris Karloff
Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder
Frankenstein the most recent adaptation, directed by Guillermo del Torro
The Bride, forthcoming in March, directed by Magie Gyllenhaal

– Also Mentioned –
Her Life in Ink: Elizabeth Jordan, Journalist, Editor, and Mystery Author – Sharon M. Harris (CW)
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon by Sara Catterall
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
Harriet the movie

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm
audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars

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!