Episode 170 - 2022 Holiday Gift Ideas and Author Spotlight with Malinda Lo

Author Malinda Lo

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

– Giveaways! –
Episode 170 marks our SIXTH ANNIVERSARY! It’s also another 10th episode which means it's GIVEAWAY time! Become a subscriber to our free monthly newsletter by December 15th to be automatically entered to win a copy of My Brilliant Life by Ae-Ran Kim and Death on a Winter Stroll by Francine Mathews. 

We host a monthly book giveaway for our Patreon supporters. If you join our Patreon Community by December 15th you will be automatically entered to win a copy of The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger.

– Currently Reading – [2:38]
The Foulest Things: A Dominion Archives Mystery – Amy Tector (CW)
Learn more about Amy here.
The Light We Carry – Michelle Obama (EF)(audio)

– Just Read – [5:00]
Take What You Need – Idra Novey (EF) release date 3/14/2023
No, N-O-E, No: The Cicero Riot Story – H.M. Edwards (CW)
Foster – Claire Keegan (EF)
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (CW)
“Rape Fantasies” – Margaret Atwood (CW)
The Collected Regrets of Clover –Mikki Brammer (EF) release date 5/9/2023
You Could Make this Place Beautiful: A Memoir – Maggie Smith (EF) release date 4/11/2023

– Biblio Adventures – [33:43]
Chris and Emily drove up to Amherst, MA and went on a tour of the newly renovated Emily Dickinson Museum. Afterword they browsed Amherst Books where Chris found a copy of Alcuin: A Fierce and Elegant Plea for the Rights of Women by Charles Brockden Brown. In the evening they attended a screening of the pop opera Emily & Sue at Amherst College.

While in Colorado, Emily visited the Basalt Regional Library, the Carbondale Public Library where she picked up a copy of The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, and White River Books where she got a copy of How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope by James Crews.

Emily is watching From Scratch on Netflix based on the novel by Tembi Locke.

Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching Spirited based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

– Upcoming Reads – [54:38]
A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny (CW)

– 2022 Holiday Gift Ideas – [55:52]
· Buy Author Swag – for example Louise Penny items at Brom Lake Books
· Simply Julia Cookbook paired with her online Sundays with Julia Cooking Classes
· Biblio Adventure to an Author Home – for example Emily Dickinson Museum or National Steinbeck Center
· Book Gift Subscriptions – for example Trust Me You’ll Love It from the Bookworm of Edwards, CO
· A Donation to an Organization: for example BINC, EveryLibrary, and DiverseBooks.org
· Make a Bookmark that highlights the titles in a book series or favorite author’s entire booklist
· The Remarkable Life Deck created by Debbie Millman
· Record an Audiobook or Short Story
· Subscription to Libro.fm or a set of audiobook Gift Bundles
· Act as technical support, helping someone learn to better utilize their smart phone or tablet
· Book Pairings, for example: Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change and the companion Keep Moving: The Journal by Maggie Smith, The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy by Ross Gay, Finding Freedom paired with the new issue of Cherry Bombe featuring Erin French on the cover.
· A signed copy or first edition of a book

– Author Spotlight with Malinda Lo – [01:07:22]
We had a great time chatting with Malinda about her new book A Scatter of Light and Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Malinda has a fantastic website.

– Also Mentioned –
The Camille DeRose Story – Camille DeRose
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
Susan Orlean
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change – Maggie Smith
The Overstory – Richard Powers
Three Pines – the television series based on the novels by Louise Penny

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow
this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click
HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can
DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our
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Episode 168 - Author Spotlight with Blair Braverman

Author Blair Braverman

Episode One Hundred Sixty Eight Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.

Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, December 4th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Currently Reading – [3:12]
Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics – Marion Nestle (EF)
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (CW)
On Writing: A Memoir Of the Craft – Stephen King (EF)
A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo (EF)
Sweet Thursday (Cannery Row #2) – John Steinbeck (CW)

– Just Read – [10:56]
The Midcoast – Adam White (EF)
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake – Tiya Miles (CW)
Flight – Lynn Steger Strong (EF)
The Bookstore Sisters – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Eric Hermannson’s Soul – Willa Cather (CW)
You can join the Willa Cather short story project on Chris’s blog.

– Biblio Adventures – [31:24]
Chris and Emily visited The Mount in Lenox, MA. In preparation for our visit we read three ghost stories from Wharton’s New England: Seven Stories and Ethan Frome: The Triumph of Night, Bewitched, and All Souls. Chris purchased a copy of The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton in The Mount’s gift shop.
You can view the video we took of her library on our YouTube channel.
We also visited the The Bookstore & Get Lit Wine Bar in Lenox, MA that was featured in the documentary. Hello Bookstore.

Emily made a tip to Maine and visited Elements Books Coffee Beer in Biddeford and Longfellow Books in Portland.

Chris stopped at Barbara’s Bookstore when she was walking through O’Hare airport in Chicago.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [46:51]
Emily is looking forward to watching the series From Scratch based on the book by Tembe Locke that was one of her top reads of 2020. Emily talked about the book on Episode 97 and Episode 120.

Chris is headed to Loyola University’s Library at the Lakeshore Campus to do some archival research.

– Upcoming Reads – [48:31]
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon (CW)(EF)
The Seas – Samantha Hunt (EF)
Guarded by Dragons: Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People – Rick Gekoski (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Blair Braverman – [51:20]
We talk with Blair about her debut novel Small Game.
You can learn more about Blair here.
Here’s the link to the Outside Magazine article that Blair wrote about her experience on Naked and Afraid.
You can keep up with Blair and her BraverMountain mushing team on Twitter. If you are interested in supporting her team financially, check out her Patreon page.

– Also Mentioned –
Librovox public domain audiobooks
Bookshop.org gift cards
University of California Press
Last Night at the Telegraph Club – Malinda Lo
A Thin Ghost and Others – M R James
In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
Henry James
Theodore Roosevelt
The Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde
Herman Melville’s Arrowhead
Honest Dog Books
Parnassus Books
The Concord Bookshop
Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow
this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click
HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can
DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our
Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out
here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our
email newsletter.