Episode 265 - In the grip of JAWS

Book Cougars Episode 265
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak

Episode 265 Show Notes

Chris gives an update on the praying mantis sculpture that has been relocated from Old Saybrook’s Acton Public Library to the Pandemonium Rainforest Project in Deep River, CT. If you would like to see what the sculpture looks like, check out this video from a Biblio Adventure we took to Old Saybrook back in 2021 when the sculpture was still located in front of the library.

– Currently Reading –
The Secret of Snow – Tina Harnesk, translated by Alice Menzies (EF) (audiobook)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family – Alex Haley (CW)
It Will Come Back to You – Sigrid Nunez (EF)

– Just Read –
The Man – Laura Sims (CW)(EF)
Jaws – Peter Benchley (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
Man Overboard! – Kathleen Rooney (CW)
When the Stammer Came to Stay – Maggie O’Farrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini
The Card-File System of Note-Taking – Jacques Goutor (CW)
Unnatural Exposure – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thorpe (EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched Jaws based on the novel by Peter Benchley.

Chris watched a conversation with Ellen Carol DuBois, author of the biography Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life. This was a joint event between the Lewes Public Library, Browseabout Books and the History Book Festival.

Emily started watching Margo’s Got Money Troubles, based on the novel by Rufi Thorpe.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
July 22, Chris and Emily are registered for an event at Mystic Seaport featuring Christopher Shaw Myers: “Robert Shaw: The Misunderstood Genius behind JAWS.” You can register for the event here. Learn more about Chris’s book, Robert Shaw: An Actor’s Life on the set of JAWS and Beyond.

Emily is heading to Rhode Island and hopes to visit Ink Fish Books and riffraff bookstore.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Reconstruction Diary of Francis Anne Rollin – Jennifer Putzi (CW)(EF)
The Complete Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi (CW)(EF)
Wake Now in the Fire – Jarret Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo (CW)(EF)
Motherhood Discounted: Care Work in America Before and After Roe – Carolyn McConnell (EF)
Sunrise – Téa Obreht (EF) release date 8/11/2026
Mary Queen of Scots – Antonia Fraser (CW)

– Q3 Readalong –
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Anjali Singh.
Learn more about the film here.
Companion read: Wake Now in the Fire by Jarret Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo.

Join the Goodreads conversation.

The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 16 at 7pm (ET).
Please send an email if you would like to join us.

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.

– Also Mentioned –
Also by Laura Sims: How Can I Help You and Looker
Shark Week 2026 on the Discovery Channel
Widow’s Bay
Midnight Mass
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford


Help support the Book Cougars:
1. Via our affiliates:
Purchase books via Bookshop.org.
Purchase audiobooks via Libro.fm use promo code: bookcougars.
2. Become a Patreon member
3. Donate directly, send an email for instructions.
4. Sponsor an episode of the podcast or the newsletter.

Other ways to be part of the Book Cougars community:
1. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter.
2. Join the Goodreads Group.
3. Check out our BookTube Channel, and be sure to subscribe.

Episode 264 - Author Spotlight with Claire Fuller

Book Cougars Episode 264
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak
Author Claire Fuller

Episode 264 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Roots: The Saga of an American Family – Alex Haley (CW)
Jaws – Peter Benchley (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
Jaws – Peter Benchley (CW)
Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thorpe (EF) (audiobook)
Hunger and Thirst – Claire Fuller (CW)(EF)
The Land and Its People – David Sedaris (EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris watched Jaws based on the novel by Peter Benchley.

Emily attended an event at RJ Julia Bookseller with Soon Wiley, author of Cece Downings Start Over Summer, in conversation with Patricia Santomasso, the audiobook narrator of the novel.

Chris visited Pandemonium Rainforest Project in Deep River, CT.

Chris had buddy read conversations with friends about 11/22/63 by Stephen King and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith and the movie based on the novel.

Chris had a great workday in the archives of the New York Public Library, and she has started bingeing Widow’s Bay.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is planning to start watching Margo’s Got Money Troubles, based on the novel by Rufi Thorpe.

July 14, Chris is registered for a conversation with Ellen Carol DuBois, author of the biography Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life. There is an in-person or virtual option, register here.  

– Upcoming Reads –
Man Overboard! – Kathleen Rooney (CW)
The Man – Laura Sims (CW)
The Godfather – Mario Puzo (CW)
A Year of Marvelous Ways – Sarah Winman (EF)
The Foursome – Christina Baker Kline (EF)
The Reconstruction Diary of Francis Anne Rollin – Jennifer Putzi (CW)(EF)

– Q3 Readalong –
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Anjali Singh.
Learn more about the film here.
Companion read: Wake Now in the Fire by Jarret Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo.
Join the Goodreads conversation.

The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 16 at 7pm (ET).
Please send an email if you would like to join us.

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.

– Author Spotlight with Claire Fuller –
We talk with Claire about her most recent novel Hunger and Thirst. Learn more about Claire, her six books, and current book tour on her website.

The Guardian Article: “Claire Fuller: Dylan Thomas showed me that writing could make me feel everything”

– Also Mentioned –
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon by Sara Catterall
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Learn more about the forthcoming novel by Adriana Trigiani
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Bear by Marian Engel
Author Elizabeth Strout
Wildlife by Richard Ford
The Iceberg by Marion Coutts

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!

Episode 249 - It’s Our Ninth Anniversary!

Book Cougars Episode 249
Emily Fine & Chris Wolak
Book Cougars Episode 249

Episode 249 Show Notes

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!

Purchase a Bookshop.org gift card.

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.

** Reminder: email a picture of your Ghost Story Bingo Card by December 31st **

– Currently Reading –
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable – John Steele Gordon (CW)
The Last Witch – C.J. Cooke (EF)
The Award – Matthew Pearl (CW)
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace – Tamar Adler (EF)
Tamar’s Substack: The Kitchen Shrink is In

– Just Read –
The Chicken Sisters – KJ Dell’Antonia (EF) (audiobook)
Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America – Stephanie Gorton (CW)
Dream State – Eric Puchner (EF) (audiobook)
Fiend – Alma Katsu
What Can I Bring: Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life – Casey Elsass (EF)
More Than Enough – Anna Quindlen (EF) release date 2/24/2026
“Afterward” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
Our favorite short stories from the collection:
“What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien
“The Cold Embrace” by Mary E. Braddon
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
“The Jolly Corner” by Henry James
“The Wind in the Rose-Bush” by Mary Wilkins Freeman
“The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce
“The Old Nurses Story” by Elizabeth Gaskell

– Episode Sponsor –
Let the Willows Weep by Sherry Parnell
Learn more about Sherry.

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the first episode in The Chicken Sisters serialized television show based on the novel.

Chris and Emily watched the 1992 film adaptation of Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Emily enjoyed a conversation between Casey Elsass and Dorie Greenspan about her new cookbook Dorie’s Anytime Cakes; the book is illustrated by Nancy Pappas. Casey’s book is What Can I Bring: Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to the Harvard Bookstore to see Hanna Halperin in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new novel Cursed Daughters. While in Boston they visited the Houghton Library, Bob Slate Stationer, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, and the Harvard Art Museum where Chris purchased a copy of Pencil by Carol Beggy. They also made it to Flour Bakery + Cafe, which has been on Emily’s bucket list.  

Chris went on a road trip throughout Rhode Island and Cape Cod, MA searching for lighthouses and trolls created by Thomas Dambo. They passed by Inkfish Books in Warren, MA, browsed Tim’s Used Books in Provincetown, MA where she looked for a copy of Clover Adams by Natalie Dykstra, stopped in at the Wellfleet Marketplace where she saw a copy of Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman, and stopped at Highland Lighthouse in North Truro, MA memorialized by a plaque regarding a visit by “tourist” Henry David Thoreau. 

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily has purchased a virtual season pass to Aspen Winter Words. The three-part series includes authors Susan Orlean (Joyride), Lily King (Heart the Lover), and Tara Roberts (Written in the Waters).

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, December 28th. Our topic will be our favorite books of the year. Come prepared to talk about two books, but feel free to bring along your top ten so you can share more if time allows. 

– Upcoming Reads –
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
Beth is Dead – Katy Bernet (CW) release date 1/6/2026
Her Life in Ink – Sharon Harris (CW) release date 2/10/2026
Man Overboard! – Kathleen Rooney (CW) release date 7/7/2026
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 3/17/2026
Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit – Erika Council (EF)
Some Bright Nowhere – Ann Packer (EF)

– Announcing the 2026 Readalong Theme –
Books that have been made into film adaptations!
The 2026 first quarter readalong is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

– Also Mentioned –
The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl
Author Hank Phillipi Ryan
Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day by Tamar Adler
Author Laurie Colwin
Author M.F.K. Fisher
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson
Titcomb’s Bookshop
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Chris loved the audiobook)
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Swim Back to Me by Ann Packer
To Catch a Thief by David Dodge
The Birds and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier 

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!