Episode 232 - Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey

Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey

Episode 232 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Good House – Tananarive Due (CW)
Food Person – Adam Roberts (EF) release date 5/20/2025

– Just Read –
Happy Land – Dolan Perkins-Valdez (CW)
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling – Matthew Dicks (EF) (audiobook)
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport (CW) (audiobook)
The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits – Jennifer Weiner (EF)
Old New York – Edith Wharton (CW)
Black Woods Blue Sky – Eowyn Ivey (EF)
The North Mail by Amelia B. Edwards from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
LOVE IS FOR ALL OF US: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends co-edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock, illustrated by Lisa Congdon.
Learn more James Crews here.

Watch our conversation with James Crews over on BookTube.

– Biblio Adventures –

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt via the Mark Twain House to hear Ethan Rutherford in conversation with Amity Gaige about her novel Heartwood. Ethan’s novel is North Sun, or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther.

Chris participated in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours.

Chris joined the Zoom conversation for Colleen’s Cather reading challenge  where they discussed by Willa Cather and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On April 16, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to Bank Square Books to see Maura Casey discuss her memoir Saving Ellen. Check out our conversation with Maura here.

On April 23rd Chris and Emily will be attending Matthew Goodman’s event at the Guilford Free Library. His new book is Paris Undercover. Matthew was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 95 discussing his book The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team.

On May 4th Emily will be attending Matthew Dick’s one man show Shovel at the Hartford Theater works. You can purchase tickets here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Belgian Girls – Kathryn J. Atwood (CW) release date 5/8/2025
Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal – Matthew Goodman (EF)(audiobook)
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (EF)
Anne Brontë Nightwalker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle – Gea Haff (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Signal Man by Charles Dickens. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Author Spotlight with Eowyn Ivey –
We talk with Eowyn about her book Black Woods Blue Sky.
Learn more about Eowyn here.
Take a tour of Eowyn’s writing cottage.

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd 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 2nd Quarter Readalong and our Episode 230 Giveaway is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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 Guncle by Steven Rowley
The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy
Robert Elsmere by Mary Augusta Ward
Also by Eowyn: The Snow Child and To The Bright Edge of the World
True Grit by Charles Portis
The film An American Werewolf in London
Author Annie Dillard
Author Robin Wall Kimmerer
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Booktuber Melinda at A Web of Stories
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Odyssey by Homer

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 230: "Come for the Skiing, Stay for the Library"

Book Cougars Episode 230

Episode 230 Show Notes

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd 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 2nd Quarter Readalong and our Episode 230 Giveaway is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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.

– Currently Reading –
The Cliffs – J. Courtney Sullivan (EF)
The Many Lives of Anne Frank – Ruth Franklin (CW)
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) (audiobook) (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends – Edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock, illustrated Lisa Congdon (EF)

– Just Read –
The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain – Annie Murphy Paul (CW)
Murder Under Her Skin: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery – Stephen Spotswood (EF)
Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel – Claire Kohda (CW)
Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout (EF)
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism – Sarah Wynn-Williams (CW)
The Ghostwriter – Julie Clark (EF) release date 6/3/2025
Tilda is Visible – Jane Tara (EF)
The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain by Lytton from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris had a conversation with Shawn Breathes Books about Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

Emily went on a trip to Colorado. She shopped at White River Books in Carbondale, CO where she picked up a copy of Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham. Next stop was Alpenglow Books and Gifts in Glenwood Springs, where she grabbed a copy of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr, illustrated by Eric Carle. On the way home she shopped at several outposts of Barbara’s Bookstore in O’Hare airport.

Emily started watching the series Long Bright River based on the novel by Liz Moore.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily registered for the All CT Reads 2025 Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood author of How to Read a Book on March 27th at 2pm (ET).

Chris mentioned an Author Talk with Jonathan Losos author of The Cat’s Meow: How Cat’s Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa at the Yale Peabody Museum on Thursday, March 27 at 6:30 pm (ET).

Chris will be attending the Willa Cather Spring Conference in Red Cloud, Nebraska June 4-7, 2024

– Upcoming Reads –
Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World – Anne-Laure Le Cunff (CW)
Your Brain on Altruism: The Power of Connection and Community During Times of Crisis – Nicole Karlis (EF)
Raising Hare: A Memoir – Chloe Dalton
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Out Now –
Hot Air – Marcy Dermansky

– Also Mentioned –
Why Are There So Many Female Ghosts? By Nathaniel Scharping
Schlesinger Library – Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Other poetry collections edited by James Crews: A Boxful of Poetry
Author Cal Newport
Fortune Favors the Dead: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood
Author Louise Penny
River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, CT
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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 229 - Announcing our 2nd Quarter Readalong in our year of reading Ghost Stories

Episode 229 Show Notes

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 2nd 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 2nd Quarter Readalong is The Good House by Tananarive Due. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

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 is available on the Ghost Stories 2025 tab on the website.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) (audiobook)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Tilda is Visible – Jane Tara (EF)
The Song of the Lark – Willa Cather (CW)
Learn more about Colleen’s Cather reading challenger here and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/.
The Wrong Way to Save Your Life – Megan Stielstra (EF)

– Just Read –
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF) (audiobook)
A Web of Obsidian –Lydia M. Hawke (CW) (audiobook)
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (EF) (audiobook)
How Birds Sleep – David Obuchowski, illustrated by Sarah Pedry (CW)
The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest – Heather Lang, illustrated by Jana Christy  (CW)
The Fishwife Cookbook: Delightful Tinned Fish Recipes for Every Occasion – Becca Millstein and Vilda Gonzalez (EF)
The Hebridean Baker: At Home – Coinneach MacLeod (EF)
Check out Emily’s Ingredient One post about these two cookbooks
Swept Away – Beth O’Leary (EF) release date 4/1/25
What Was It? – Fitz-James O’Brien from The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended a Buzz Books 2025 Horror panel with authors and editor in conversation. Including Ivy Pochoda and her editor Daphne Durham, Markus Redmond and his editor Leticia Gomez, Hester Steel with editor Alexandra Murphy, and Daphne Fama with editor Candice Coote. You can watch the video here.  

Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure with the Gentleman Caller watching the movie The Call of the Wild based on the book by Jack London.

Emily attended an event at Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT with Elissa Altman and her book Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create. She was in conversation with Kerri Arsenault, Author of Mill Town featured on Episode 123. The genesis of the book began with a guest post on Krista Tippett’s On-Being, read it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
March 19 at 6pm, Chris is registered for an event via American Ancestors. Megan Marshall will be sharing her new book After Lives, featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 227, in conversation with Janice Nimura, author of The Doctor’s Blackwell featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 139. Register for the event here.

April 3 at 4pm, Chris is registered to participate in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours. Register for the event here.  

April 9, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt via the Mark Twain House to hear Amy Bloom in conversation with Amity Gaige about her novel Heartwood. You can register for this in-person event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain by Lytton. If you would like to join us there is a schedule is available on the Ghost Stories 2025 tab on the website.
Bright Circle: Five Remarkable Women in the Age of Transcendentalism – Randall Fuller
Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo van Gogh – Joan Fernandez (EF)
Murder Under the Skin: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery – Stephen Spotswood (EF)
Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
A Tangle of Obsidian by Lydia M. Hawke
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Montana Women Homesteaders: A Field of One’s Own by Sarah Carter
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Poltergeist movie
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
March on the Moors: A Brontë Reading Event with Melinda of A Web of Stories
The Flatshare by Beth O’ Leary
Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls by Robert Thorson
Hannah’s Books
She Writes Press
Fortune Favors the Dead: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood

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.