Episode 272 - Author Spotlight with Mary Lisa Gavenas

November 03, 2026 by Emily Fine in Author Interview, Author Spotlight, Biblio Adventure, Book Cougars Podcast, Podcast Episode

Episode 272 Show Notes

– Nonfiction November –
We each put together a stack of our hopeful nonfiction reads for November, watch the video.

– Currently Reading –
Next of Kin – Gabrielle Hamilton (EF)
Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football – Rich Cohen (CW)

– Just Read –
Procrastinators Get Stuff Done: How to Go from Overwhelmed to Finished – Dana K White (CW) (audiobook)
Dolly All the Time – Annabel Monaghan (EF)
Black Notice – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People – Judith Orloff (EF) (audiobook)
The Last Precinct – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Good House – Ann Leary (EF) (audiobook)
Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay – Mary Lisa Gavenas (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
The Love Operation by Melissa Collings

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily attended the opening reception of the Children’s Book Illustration Show at Stony Creek Willoughby Wallace Library.

Emily watched three page-to-screen adaptations: Practical Magic 2, Winter’s Bone, and The Good House

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Wells College and Seneca Falls.

Emily is going to NYC where she plans to visit Wild Sorrell Cookbooks.

Chris and Emily are planning to start the new Carrie mini-series based on the novel by Stephen King.

– Upcoming Reads –
Miss Wolcott’s Ghost – Louise Penny (CW)
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State – Jill LePore (CW)
Wells College – Tiffany Raymond and Daniel G. Renfrow (CW)
A Bowl of Goodness: Nourishing Poems with a Side of Soup, Celebrating Community, Friendship, and Resilience – edited by Major Jackson and illustrated by Hélène Blanc (EF)
Cookbooking: A Fan's Guide – Debbie Berne (EF)
Upstate – Kim van Alkemade (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Mary Lisa Gavenas –
We speak with Mary Lisa about her new biography Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay.

Learn more about Mary Lisa.

– 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 –
Blood, Bones, & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
I’ve Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary
The Animals Would Not Sleep! by Sara Levine
R. Michelson Galleries
Watercress by Andrea Wang, featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 158

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Episode 271 - To Carrie or Not to Carrie, that is the question

October 20, 2026 by Emily Fine in Biblio Adventure, Book Cougars Podcast, Podcast Episode

Episode 271 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Oyster Society: Adventures with the Shellfishly Motivated – Virginia Shaffer (EF)
Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay – Mary Lisa Gavenas (CW)(EF)|
Practical Magic 2 (or Rules of Magic) – Alice Hoffman (EF)(audiobook)
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman – Deesha Philyaw (EF)

– Just Read –
Mystery Play – Elizabeth Kostova (CW)
Carrie – Stephen King (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Episode Sponsor –
Bad Girls Go Everywhere by Ellen Sherman

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure via Untapped Cities, featuring Nona Footz author of the book A Mansion of Her Own: The Mysterious Life of Heiress Alice Delamar. You can watch the video here.

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

Emily had a trip to Maine where she stopped at Elements Books Coffee and Beer in Biddeford, Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops, attended an event with Min Jin Lee in conversation with Richard Russo, and Royal River Books in Yarmouth.

Emily watched the first episode of the new adaptation of East of Eden based on the novel by John Steinbeck.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily plans to watch several adaptaions: Don’t Look Now, Carrie 1976 movie and the new mini-series, Winter’s Bone, and the remaining episodes of East of Eden.

November 19, Emily is registered for an event with Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein in conversation about their book The Two Saddest Kitchens. The event is in partnership with RJ Julia Booksellers and Wesleyan University; it is free, but registration is required.

Emily plans to attend the opening reception of a Children’s Book Illustration Show at Stony Creek Willoughby Wallace Library. The exhibit runs through November 1.

– Upcoming Reads –
Classic Starts(r) Dracula – Bram Stoker and Tania Zamorsky (CW)
The People vs. Frankenstein – Nicola Cuti and Kevin M. Glover (CW)
The Vampire Tapestry – Suzy McKee Charnas (CW)
The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary – Terry Tempest Williams (EF)

Send an email with your mailing address if you would like to receive the copy of Just a Girl: A Memoir by Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Sean Fitz-Gerald.

– 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 –
Consider the Oyster by MFK Fisher
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
On Writing: A Memoir of Craft by Stephen King
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
|Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

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Episode 263 - Author Spotlight with Denise Kiernan

June 30, 2026 by Emily Fine in Author Interview, Author Spotlight, Biblio Adventure, Book Cougars Podcast, Podcast Episode, Readalong

Episode 263 Show Notes

– 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 Jarrett Dapier with illustrations AJ Dungo.

Listen to this interview with Marjane Satrapi.

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

Join the online conversation on Goodreads.

– Currently Reading –
Hunger and Thirst – Claire Fuller (CW)(EF)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – Seth Graham-Smith (CW) (audiobook)
Margo’s Got Money Trouble – Rufi Thorpe (EF) (audiobook)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family – Alex Haley (CW)

– Just Read –
Table 4 at the River Café: Conversations about Food and Life – Ruthie Rogers (EF)
11/22/63 – Stephen King (CW)
Land – Maggie O’Farrell (EF) (audiobook)
“The Summer People” in the collection Dark Tales – Shirley Jackson (CW)
When She Was Ours – Anna Nordberg (EF) release date 8/1/2026
Cause of Death: Scarpetta #7 – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
Whistler – Ann Patchett (EF) (audiobook)
Listen to the conversation between Emma Straub and Ann Patchett.
“My Three Fathers” essay by Ann Patchett in The New Yorker.
Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution – Denise Kiernan (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris took a swing through Mystic, CT. Her first stop was the Mystic Seaport Museum where she browsed the Maritime Bookshop and picked up a copy of Jaws by Peter Benchley. Then she went to Bank Square Books, No Other Book Like This, and Alice’s Little Haunted Bookshop where she enjoyed reading the children’s book Vampire Jam Sandwich by Casey Lyall and purchased a copy of The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas.

Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure and watched the movie Foe based on the novel of the same name by Iain Reid.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
June 25, Emily will attend event at RJ Julia Bookseller with Soon Wiley, author of Cece Downings Start Over Summer.

June 30, Emily is registered for The Rumpus Book Club with Debbie Millman in conversation with Ann Patchett.

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

– Upcoming Reads –
When the Stammer Came to Stay – Maggie O’Farrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (EF)
Jaws – Peter Benchley (CW)(EF)
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century – Timothy Snyder (EF)
On Tyranny Graphic Edition: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century – Timothy Snyder, illustrated by Nora Krug (EF)
Charity & Sylvia – Tilly Walden (CW)
Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay – Mary Lisa Gavenas (CW)(EF)
Conversation with Mary Lisa Gavenas on Drafting the Past podcast.

– Author Spotlight with Denise Kiernan –
We talk with Denise about Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution. Denise narrated the audiobook.

Check out the website to learn more about Denise and follow her book tour.

– Also Mentioned –
Novels and film adaptations by Kazuo Ishiguro:
The Remains of the Day; and the movie
Never Let Me Go; and the movie
Klara and the Sun; and the movie
Foreword Magazine – Magi book
Alice Henderson Alex Carter series
Charter Books in Newport, Rhode Island
Also by Ann Patchett: Bell Canto, Run, State of Wonder, Tom Lake, and The Dutch House
The Frugal Muse
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise
Fresh Air Interview with Maggie O’Farrell
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

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!