Episode 196 - Trying Not To Go Viral

Book Cougars Episode 196

Episode One Hundred Ninety Six Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Patreon Giveaway –
House of Caravans by Shilpi Suneja
Become a member of our Patreon Community by December 15th to be automatically entered to win.

– Currently Reading – [1:50]
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America – Heather Cox Richardson (CW)(audiobook)
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea – Debra Magpie Earling (EF)
Librarians Guide to Online Research – Christopher C. Brown (CW)
Tenderheart: A Cookbook about Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds – Hettie Lui McKinnon (CW)

– Just Read – [6:23]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester (EF)(audiobook)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (CW)
Sea Change – Frank Viva (EF)
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin (CW) (audiobook)
The Last Love Note – Emma Grey (EF)
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism – Megan Marshall (CW)
Grief is for People – Sloane Crosley (EF) release date 2/27/2024
The Bookbinder – Pip Williams (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [47:36]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Emily chose an audiobook: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey narrated by Leeanna Walsman. Chris chose a hard cover: The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak.
Use code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [56:41]
Chris had a Zoom conversation with her fellow buddy readers of The Paradiso by Dante Alighieri.

Emily went to the Guilford Library to hear Adres Dubus III discuss his new novel Such Kindness. Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [01:01:07]
Chris and Emily are heading to Drama Works Theater to see Laura Thoma’s play “Miss Margaret’s Barton Cottage Christmas Surprise.” The show runs from December 15-17. Tickets are available here.   

Chris is joining an online event via the Harry Ransom Center titled “Lost Books: The Dark Matter of the Early Modern English Book Trade” featuring Alan B. Farmer. The video is available here.

Chris is attending a virtual Author Talk via the Boston Athenaeum, “Robert Darnton: The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1790.” Online tickets are available here.

Emily is looking forward to watching the third season of Slow Horses on Apple TV based on the Slough House series by Mick Herron. This season is based on the third novel, Real Tigers.

Emily is planning to see Ileana Douglas at the Durham Public Library discussing her new book Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia.

– Upcoming Reads – [01:05:35]
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)
If you are interested in joining The Iliad buddy read, send an email or get in touch via Instagram.
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (EF)
Are You Somebody – Nuala O’Faolain (EF)

– Out Now – [01:09:29]
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac: Stories – Louise Kennedy

– Also Mentioned –
Milkweed Editions
Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize
I Was Told There’d Be Cake – Sloane Crosley
Dirty Love – Andre Dubus III
Jane Austen
Nothing Good Can Come From This: Essays – Kristi Coulter

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 193 - Book Club Fundamentals with Davina Morgan-Witts Founder & Publisher of BookBrowse

Davina Morgan-Witts Founder & Publisher of BookBrowse

Episode One Hundred Ninety Three Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Currently Reading – [:38]
Land of Milk and Honey – C. Pam Zhang (EF)
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
Country Place – Ann Petry (EF)

– Just Read – [3:58]
Country Place – Ann Petry (CW)
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez (EF)
My Roommate Is a Vampire – Jenna Levine (CW)
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth – Elizabeth Rush (EF)The Purgatorio – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Goth House Experiment – SJ Sindu (CW)

– Biblio Adventures – [25:50]
Emily went to Maine where she got to stop in at two different public libraries. The Curtis Library in Brunswick had a Robert McCloskey exhibit featuring his books Blueberries for Sal, Time of Wonder, One Morning in Maine, and Burt Dow Deep-Water Man, and Make Way for Ducklings. She also browsed the Wiscasset Public Library where there was a permanent exhibit featuring local artist Bernard Langlais.

Chris had a few Couch Biblio Adventures. She watched Eye of the Needle via Kanopy, it is an adaptation of the Ken Follett novel of the same name; the first episode of Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus; and The Fall of the House of Usher inspired by the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [39:29]
Chris is attending a live reading of her wife’s play in New York City! On Monday, October 30th at 6:30 pm (ET), The Bechdel Group will feature Writer’s Block by Laura Thoma and Literary Girls Obsessed with Death by Libby Heily. Both plays will be read by professional actors and there will be a discussion afterwards You can reserve a free ticket here.

Chris and Emily will be going to The Vintage Bookclub where they will discuss Country Place by Ann Petry.

– Upcoming Reads – [41:00]
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride (EF)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (EF)
The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century – Josh Cook (CW)
The Tattooed Woman – Marian Engel (CW)
Blackouts – Justin Torres (CW)

– Out Now – [45:04]
The Best American Short Stories 2023 – edited by Heidi Pitlor and Min Jin Lee
Death Valley – Melissa Broder

– Guest Spotlight with Davina Morgan-Witts – [45:22]
We chat with Davina Morgan-Witts Founder & Publisher of BookBrowse.
Learn more about how to become a member and subscribe to the free newsletter.
Learn more about BookBrowse for libraries.
Take a look at the book club research reports, blog posts based on the findings, and the book club health check.

Davina recommends North Woods by Daniel Mason and Julia by Sandra Newman inspired by George Orwell’s 1984.

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Also Mentioned –
How Much of These Hills Is Gold – C. Pam Zhang
The Inferno of Dante – Dante Alighieri
The Street – Ann Petry
Cleat Cute – Meryl Wilsner
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore – Elizabeth Rush
Mystic Seaport Museum
Ulysses – James Joyce
May Massee children’s book editor
The movie Hidden Figures based on the novel by Margot Lee Shetterly
Other shows by Mike Flanagan: Midnight Mass  and The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
The Color of Water – James McBride
Porter Square Books
Author Laura Sims
Author Paul Tremblay
Central Booking with John Valeri
We the Animals – Justin Torres
Books by Paul Gallico: The Man Who Was Magic and Snow Goose
The Phantom Toll Booth – Norton Juster
The Complete Little World of Don Camillo – Giovanni Guareschi
Author Judy Blume

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.