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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Episode 237 - From Connecticut to Carbondale

Episode 237 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Garden – Clare Beams (EF)
Join the buddy read. We will be discussing the novel on Episode 238. You can also join the online conversation over on Goodreads.
Silas Marner – George Eliot (CW)
Cooking in Real Life: Delicious & Doable Recipes for Every Day – Lidey Heuck (EF)

– Just Read –
The Shining – Stephen King (CW)
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (EF) (audiobook)
So Far Gone – Jess Walter (EF)(audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended the Bloomsday celebration at the Guilford Free Library.

Emily took a trip to Princeton, NJ but didn’t get any time for Biblio Adventuring, but she did have a nice stop at the Montclair Public Library in New Jersey.

Chris watched the 1980 movie adaptation of The Shining.

Emily attended the 2025 Aspen Food & Wine Classic where she was hoping to run into Mashama Bailey, author of Black, White, and The Grey and recent cover model on The Power Issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine, although she didn’t see Mashama, she had a fan girl moment when she walked past pastry chef Nancy Silverton, author of The Cookie That Changed My Life. Head to Ingredient One to hear Emily’s thought’s on Nancy Silverton. 

We had a wonderful conversation about short books during our monthly Reading Salon with Patreon supporters (the flip side of last month’s big books).

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is planning to watch the 1997 adaptation of The Shining.

Chris and Emily are hoping to go on a fun Biblio Adventure together and Emily is hoping to spend an upcoming day in her hammock.

Emily plans to watch the recording of Amy Bloom’s book launch of I’ll Be Right Here via Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, NY.

The next Patreon Salon takes place on July 27th at 7PM (ET). Our topic is TBD.

– Upcoming Reads –
Summer on the Lakes from Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
A Lost Lady – Willa Cather (CW)
Beautyland – Marie-Helene Bertino (EF)
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier (EF) Join Emily’s buddy read over on Goodreads.
Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)   

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 –
Also by Geraldine Brooks: March, People of the Book, and Horse
Also by Jess Walter: The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins
Family Week by Sarah Bloom
White Houses by Amy Bloom

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Episode 236 - From Nyack to Nebraska

Episode 236 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks (EF) (audiobook)
The Shining – Stephen King (CW)

– Just Read –
Finding Grace – Loretta Rothschild (EF) release date 7/8/2025
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather (CW) (audiobook)
The Bookstore Family – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life – Dani Shapiro (CW) (audiobook)
The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong (EF) (audiobook)

– Episode Sponsor –
Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness by Deb Miller
Learn more about Deb and her writing here.

– Biblio Adventures –
When Chris was in Pittsburgh, she drove by the McClung house in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood where Cather lived for about 5 years with the McClung family. Here’s a photo of the house.

Emily went to Middletown, CT to participate in a Pride Month Celebration, where she attended Drag Storytime at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore.

Chris and Colleen met up in Omaha and drove to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home in Abilene, KS. In the gift shop she purchased a book: Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet. Then they headed back to Nebraska where they attended the 70th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference which included a tour of important sites around Red Cloud that were important in Cather’s life. Next stop was Omaha where they toured the city and stopped by Bess Streeter Aldrich House in Elmwood, NE.

Emily went to Nyack, NY and took a browse through Big Red Books where she purchased a copy of Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos and Poems of Parenting by Loryn Brantz. Next stop was the Nyack Public Library which has a small used bookshop, she purchased Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports by Temple Grandin and American Knees by Shawn Wong.

Chris shopped at the bookstore in the National Willa Cather Center, her haul included: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Miss Morissa: Doctor of the Gold Trail by Mari Sandoz, Chrysalis: Willa Cather in Pittsburgh 1896-1906 by Kathleen and Richard Byrne, and The Collected Short Fiction of Willa Cather.

We had a great Zoom conversation with a group of listeners about our Q2 readalong, The Good House by Tananarive Due.

– Episode Sponsor –
All This Can Be True by Jen Michalski
Learn more about Jen and her writing here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is attending a Bloomsbury event on June 16th at the Guilford Free Library and is registered to for an event through the New York Public Library, “Super Gay Poems with Stephanie Burt and Special Guests.” Register for the in-person or livestream event.

Emily is heading to Princeton, NJ and hopes to find time for some bookish fun.

Middletown Pages Book Festival takes place on Saturday, June 21st and has a great line-up of authors and activities. Learn more here.

The June Patreon Salon takes place on June 22nd at 7PM (ET). Our topic will be "small" books -- short books of 200 pages or less. Fiction or nonfiction.

– Upcoming Reads –
Silas Marner – George Eliot (CW)
The Weight of Ink – Rachel Kadish (CW)
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writings (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall (CW)
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah (EF)
So Far Gone – Jess Walter (EF)

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 3rd Quarter Book –
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.

The 3rd Quarter Readalong is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, August 17 at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread. We are also planning a companion read of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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 –
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard (audiobook)
Also by Geraldine Brooks: People of the Book and Horse
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Stoner by John Williams
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Soldier’s Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet.
Ashley Olson, Executive Director of the Willa Cather Foundation was a guest on Episode 97
Author Carson McCullers
Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner
Author Jane Smiley
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Markus Books
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

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!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.