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 246 - A Flock of Words

Episode 246 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Anne Brontë Night Walker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (CW)
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me – Patrick Bringley (EF)
Check out the tours available via Patrick’s website.
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon – Sara Catterall (CW)
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke (EF)
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
Read “The Secret Meaning of Ghost Stories” by Hephzibah Anderson.
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck – Sophie Elmhirst (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Epic and Lovely by Mo Daviau

– Episode Sponsor –
Paper Roses by Debby Show

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a browse at Grey Matter Books in New Haven where she picked up a copy of Willa Cather and the Culture of Belief: A Collection of Essays edited by John J. Murphy.

Emily watched the 2018 adaptation of A Star is Born co-written by Bradley Cooper. She was surprised to learn that Dorothy Parker co-wrote the 1954 screenplay starring Judy Garland, and Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne did the same for the 1976 version starring Barbara Streisand.

Chris spent a day in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library archives at the Butler Library on Columbia University’s campus where she came across an Edgar Allan Poe exhibit that included a Daguerreotype portrait and the mantelpiece in which he wrote the poem, “The Raven.”  There was also an interesting book arts exhibit where an artist made balls out of strips of books with the balls representing the size of the books; Moby Dick was quite large!

Emily went to the Country Day School for a conversation between Mel Rosenthal and Virginia Evans about her debut novel The Correspondent.

Chris and Emily both watched The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on the short story “The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier.

Chris watched an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw starring Michelle Dockery and Dan Stephens.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
November 4 at Bank Square Books in Mystic, Luanne Rice in conversation with Vanessa Lillie about her novel The Bone Thief.

November 13 at Country Day School via RJ Julia’s Booksellers, Casey Elsass in conversation with Dorie Greenspan about her new cookbook Dorie’s Anytime Cakes.

November 20 at Harvard Bookstore, Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Boston to see Hanna Halperin in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new novel Cursed Daughters.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, November 23rd.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Bone Thief – Vanessa Lillie (EF)
The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward (EF)
Leaf Town Forever – Kathleen and Beth Rooney with illustrations by Betsy Bowen (EF)
The Black Wolf – Louise Penny (CW)
The Lady of Pentlands – Elizabeth Jordan (CW)
The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware (CW)
“Afterword” by Edith Wharton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– Out Now –
Wreck – Catherine Newman
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay
Ladies in Waiting: Jane Austen’s Unsung Heroes – introduction by Adriana Trigiani

– 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 –
"The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe (audiobook)
Canada Reads American Style podcast
Booktuber Melinda at A Web of Stories
Also by Anne Brontë: Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Belt Publishing
A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke
The Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin
A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak
84, Charring Cross Road by Helen Hanff
The film, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Man Overboard by Kathleen Rooney release date 7/7/2026
Also by Ruth Ware: The Woman in Cabin 10, In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading edited by John P. Muller and William J. Richardson
Watch Chris’s video conversation with Shawn Breathes Books where they discuss Edith Wharton’s Old New York.

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 245 - Henry James is dead (to us)

Episode 245 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Witches of Dubious Origin – Jenn McKinlay (EF) release date 10/28/2025
Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon – Sara Catterall (CW)
Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being – Mary Beth Albright (EF) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
“The Jolly Corner” by Henry James from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (CW)
The Last Resort – Erin Entrada Kelly (EF)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (CW) (audiobook)
The Dogs of Venice – Steven Rowley (CW)
Aftertaste – Daria LaVelle (EF)
Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë (CW)
“The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier from the new collection After Midnight: Thirteen Tales for the Dark Hours – (CW)(EF)
Read the Guardian article by Stephen King.

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily rewatched Becoming, the documentary that follows Michelle Obama as she goes on book tour with her memoir Becoming.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to see a performance of Spunk at the Yale Repertory Club based on Zora Neale Hurston’s short story Spunk. Read the NY Times article here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The Brontë Parsonage Museum is presenting a four-part read-along of Shirley by Charlotte Brontë. Learn more here.

On November 25, the Smithsonian is offering a seminar, Margaret Fuller: An Extraordinary Transcendentalist Woman. Learn more here.

The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on Sunday, October 26th.

Emily is heading to Colorado and is looking forward to visiting White River Books.

Chris and Emily have upcoming Couch Biblio Adventures including The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock and an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw starring the actress, Michelle Dockery.

– Upcoming Reads –
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me – Patrick Bringley (EF)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (CW)(EF)
Gothic Tales – Elizabeth Gaskell (CW)
Play Nice – Rachel Harrison (CW)
“The Readjustment” by Mary Austin from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook) 

– Out Now –
Death at the Door: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery – Olivia Blacke

– 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 –
Kindred Thoughts Bookstore
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
A New Lease on Death: A Ruby and Cordelia Mystery by Olivia Blacke

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!