Episode 251 - Top Ten Reads of 2025 with Russell of Ink and Paper Blog

Episode 251 Show Notes

Please take the Listener Top Ten Books of 2025 poll by January 15th: http://bit.ly/ListenerTopTen2025

– Russell’s Top Ten –
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (audiobook)
The Savage Nobel Death of Babs Dionne – Ron Currie
A Truce That Is Not Peace – Miriam Toews (audiobook)
Run for the Hills – Kevin Wilson
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong
Some Bright Nowhere – Ann Packer (audiobook)
Minor Black Figures – Brandon Taylor
Flashlight – Susan Choi (audiobook)
Heart the Lover – Lily King
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans
Audition – Katie Kitamura

– Chris’s Top Ten –
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World – Matthew Goodman
After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart – Megan Marshall
Listen to our conversation with Megan on Episode 227
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend – Rebecca Romney
Happy Land – Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Militia House – John Milas
The Award – Matthew Pearl
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fascist Icon – Sara Catterall
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them – Timothy Egan (audiobook)
Beth is Dead – Katie Bernet
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn Atwood
Old New York – Edith Wharton
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White

– Emily’s Top Ten –
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (audiobook)
Leaving – Roxana Robinson
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (audiobook)
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir – Tessa Hulls
Buckeye – Patrick Ryan (audiobook)
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch
The Upstairs House – Julia Fine
Wreck – Catherine Newman
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck – Sophie Elmhirst
The Road to Tender Hearts – Annie Hartnett (audiobook)

– Favorite Biblio Adventures of 2025 –
Russell moved to Portland where he enjoys exploring all three locations of Powell’s Books.

Chris’s had a standout trip to Nebraska with Colleen where they visited the Eisenhower Museum and Library, went to the Willa Cather Conference, explored Red Cloud, and other fun sites.

Emily enjoyed two events hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers. A conversation with Virginia Evans, author of The Correspondent and another event with Dorie Greenspan in conversation with Casey Elsass about Dorie’s Anytime Cakes and What Can I Bring? Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life. Emily has spent a lot of time baking with Dorie’s Cookies.

Another favorite was everything Isabella Stewart Gardner: visiting the museum, reading Chasing Beauty, and featuring Natalie Dykstra in an Author Spotlight on Episode 248.

– Books We’re Looking Forward to in 2026 –
Kin – Tayari Jones release date 2/24/2026
All the World Can Hold – Jung Yun release date 3/10/2026
True Crime: A Memoir – Patricia Cornwell release date 5/5/2026
Man Overboard – Katherine Rooney release date 7/7/2026
Hunger and Thirst – Claire Fuller release date 6/2/2026

– Also Mentioned –
Remarkably Bright Creatures movie
Check out Megan Marshall’s full list of books
Georgia O’Keefe: A Life by Roxana Robinson
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Also by Miriam Toews: All My Puny Sorrows and Women Talking
Also by Geraldine Brooks: Horse and March
Also by Kevin Wilson: The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here
Also by Dolen Perkins-Valdez: Wench and Take My Hand
So Far Gone by Jess Walter, also a great audiobook
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Also by Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Author Elizabeth Strout
Euphoria by Lily King
Also by Katie Kitamura: A Separation and Intimacies
Also by Tayari Jones: Silver Sparrow and An American Marriage

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Purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.
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Episode 243 - Ghosts, Ghosts, and More Ghosts

Episode 243 Show Notes

– Books We Considered for the Q4 Readalong –
The Shining – Stephen King
Hell House – Richard Matheson
A House With Good Bones – T. Kingfisher
Beloved – Toni Morrison
The Whistler – Nick Medina
The Sentence – Louise Erdrich
A Haunting on the Hill – Elizabeth Hand
Ghost Story – Peter Straub

If you want to hear us talk more about these books head over to BookTube.

– Currently Reading –
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) – co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (CW)
Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Restaurant – Amanda Cohen, Ryan Dunlavey, Grady Hendrix (EF)

– Just Read –
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton – Edith Wharton (CW)
The Rarest Fruit – Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Hildegarde Serle (EF)
To Catch a Thief – David Dodge (CW)
A New Lease on Death: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke (EF)
‘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 (EF) release date 3/10/2026
Jung has been featured in Author Spotlights on Episode 104 and Episode 142

– Episode Sponsor –
Playback by Carla Malden
Learn more about Carla and her writing.

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily hopped the rails to New York City where Chris worked in the archives at Barnard College. While she was working Emily and Aunt Ellen visited Book Culture, Columbia University Bookstore, and stopped at The Hungarian Pastry Shop. Read more about this café where writers go to work – and eat cake. 

Through a recommendation by a student at her library, Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching The Gorge which features The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going back to NYC to meet Aunt Ellen to visit The Twisted Spine, the new horror bookstore in Brooklyn.

Emily is heading to Cape Cod where she hopes to visit Titcomb’s Bookshop and Annie’s Books & Gifts. She is also taking a large stack of books to read including The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner and Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, September 28th.

– Upcoming Reads –
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Black (EF) release date 10/21/2025
A House With Good Bones – T. Kingfisher
Swimming Studies – Leanne Shapton (EF)
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather (CW)
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (CW)
Christ in Concrete – Pietro di Donato (CW)
Backstage: Stories of a Writing Life – Donna Leon (CW)
Capote in Kansas – Kim Powers (CW)
The Doll Who Ate His Mother – Ramsey Campbell (CW)
‘The Moonlit Road’ by Ambrose Bierce from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
Upcoming Short Story Buddy Read with Our Mystery Man:
"The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde

– Out Now –
The Secret of Secrets – Dan Brown

– 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 –
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Also by Nick Medina: Indian Burial Ground and Sisters of the Lost Nation
Never Whistle At Night  edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
To Catch a Thief movie
The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood
Learn more about Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti series
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The September House by Carissa Orlando

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 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!