Episode 270 - Talking about Empaths, Monsters, and Magic, oh my!

Book Cougars Episode 270
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak
Book Cougars Episode 270

Episode 270 Show Notes

– Another 10th Episode Giveaway! –
Practical Magic 2 – Alice Hoffman
The Dog Stars – Peter Heller
Girls Like Girls – Hayley Kiyoko

If you want to be entered to win, subscribe to our newsletter by October 15th when the winner will be chosen.

– Deb & Kate Desert Island Books –
The Stand – Stephen King
Tom’s Crossing – Mark Z. Danielewski
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
The Sparrow – Mary Doria Russell
Devotions – Mary Oliver
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
The Power Broker – Robert Caro
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

– Currently Reading –
Black Notice – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People – Judith Orloff (EF)
Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football – Rich Cohen (CW)

– Just Read –
The Pirate Queen – Ariel Lawhon (EF)
American Hagwon – Min Jin Lee (CW)
From Hell, With Love – Bryce Oakley (CW) (audiobook)
I’ve Tried Being Nice – Ann Leary (EF)
Gibbons or One Bloody Thing After Another – James Morrison (CW)
Consider the Oyster – MFK Fisher (EF)
When the Emperor was Divine – Julia Otsuka (EF)
Chris dnf’d The Last Vampire – Romina Garber (CW) (audiobook)
Social Animals – Camille Perri (EF)
Good Girls Die Bored – Elizabeth Little (CW)
Food is a Feeling: Recipes & Stories, with Love – Carla Lalli (EF)
The Ridiculously Simple Guide to Trello – Scott La Counte (CW)
Supercharging Productivity with Trello – Brittany Joiner (CW)
Mother Daughter Sister Stranger – Hank Phillipi Ryan (EF)
Winter’s Bone – Daniel Woodrell (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Motherhood, and the Places Between by Jacqueline Kolosov

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended a virtual event via Honest Dog Books with Dr. Jen Golbeck and her book Think Like a Dog: How Positive Psychology Can Help Your Dog Thrive. She was in conversation with Blair Braverman, who was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 168 with her debut novel Small Game.

Emily went to An Unlikely Story Bookstore to see Laura Zigman in conversation with Alice Hoffman about her new novel The Witches of Cambridge.

Chris attended a virtual event via The National Willa Cather Center with Richard Norton Smith discussing My Mortal Enemy.

Emily took a browse through the Niantic Book Barn and picked up a copy of How to Cook a Moose by Kate Christensen and The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett.

Chris watched All the President’s Men based on the novel by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to see Terry Tempest Williams. The event was sponsored by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library on the Yale University campus.

Chris attended a virtual event with a 19th Century Women’s Writers group that was focusing on The Reconstruction Diary of Frances Anne Rollin by Jennifer Putzi, who was a guest on Episode 266.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to see “Silent Springs, Windswept Seas: Rachel Carson’s Environmental Vision” at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Emily plans to watch the 1973 film Don’t Look Now based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier and Winter’s Bone based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell.

Emily plans to see the exhibit “Cooking Up Change: Women’s Agency and Community Building Through Cookbooks,” at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute Schlesinger Library.

Learn more about Uncovered, a new author talk series that is a partnership between the Association of University Presses and PBS Books.

– Upcoming Reads –
Carrie – Stephen King (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
We’re doing a buddy read and will discuss the book on Episode 271.
Learn more about the new adaptation.
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State – Jill LePore (CW)
Embracing Hope: On Freedom, Responsibility & the Meaning of Life – Victor Frankl (CW)
All the Love You Can Use: The Letters of Carson McCullers – Carson McCullers, edited by Carlos Dews (CW)
Read both of Chris’s blog posts:
All the Love You Can Use
Carson McCullers’ Home in Nyack

– Q4 Readalong –
Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko and the film adaptation. The Zoom conversation will take place on December 6th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation on Goodreads.

– Also Mentioned –
LibraryThing is launching an app that includes a dating app!
“My dad was a Monster!” article in The Guardian
Also by Julie Otsuka: The Buddha in the Attic and The Swimmers
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

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Subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Join our Goodreads Group!
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Episode 267 - Author Spotlight with Susan Gregg Gilmore

Book Cougars Episode 267
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak

Episode 267 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. Learn more about how to play the bingo card by watching this video. Tina let us know about reading “Don’t Look Now” the second story in the collection After Midnight by Daphne du Maurier.

– Currently Reading –
American Hagwon – Min Jin Lee (EF) release date 9/29/2026
Point of Origin: Scarpetta #9 – Patricia Cornwell (CW)

– Just Read –
All We Hide – Robyn Gigl (CW) (audiobook)
The Witches of Cambridge – Alice Hoffman (EF) release date 9/8/2026
The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush – Susan Gregg Gilmore (CW)
The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture – Jimmy Carter (CW)
The Complete Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi, translated by Anjali Singh (CW)(EF)
Wake Now in the Fire – Jarrett Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Social Animals by Camille Perri
Learn more about Camille.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris took a trip south where she visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum where she purchased a Passport to Presidential Libraries, Parnassus Books at the Nashville airport, Virginia Highland Books where she purchased a beautiful bookmark featuring art by Evelyn Edmeades, she drove past the Margaret Mitchell House author of Gone With the Wind run by the Atlanta History Center, Horton’s Books and Gifts where she purchased Cinder House by Freya Marske, and Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest in Vestavia, AL.

Chris and Emily hosted the Q3 readalong discussion of  The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Anjali Singh, the film, and the companion read Wake Now in the Fire by Jarrett Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo.

– Episode Sponsor –
Greta Garbo and the Rise of the Modern Woman by Scott Reisfield
Learn more about Scott.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Our Mystery John Valeri have a planned buddy read discussion of Point of Origin: Scarpetta #9 by Patricia Cornwell.

Chris and Emily will be hosting the August Patreon Salon where the conversation topic is the three books you would bring if stuck on a desert island. Please send us an email with your three choices.

September 22, Chris and Emily have tickets to see Laura Zigman in conversation with Alice Hoffman about her new novel The Witches of Cambridge at The Unlikely Bookstore. This is a ticketed event, learn more here.  

– Upcoming Reads –
American Hagwon – Min Jin Lee (CW) release date 9/29/2026
Cookbooking: A Fan’s Guide – Debbie Berne (EF)
The Ninth Circle – James Benn (CW) release date 9/1/2026
Awake Awake – Fiona Mozley (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Susan Gregg Gilmore –
We talk with Susan about winning the Willie Morris Award for her novel The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush.
Other books by Susan:
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
The Funeral Dress

Follow Susan on Instagram.

Susan recommends participating in Darnell Arnoult’s “Mining the Motherlode” drop-in, online prompt writing sessions. Learn more here.

– Also Mentioned –
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The Orchid Whisperer: Expert Secrets for Growing Beautiful Orchids by Bruce Rogers
The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age by Steven R. Gundry, MD
The Curious Cat Bookshop
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
Emma Bell Miles

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