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 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 Doctors 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 Her 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.

Episode 228 - Q1 Readalong: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Episode 228 Show Notes

Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Hungerstone – Kat Dunn (CW)
Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create – Elissa Altman (EF) release date 3/11/25
A Web of Obsidian –Lydia M. Hawke (CW) (audiobook)
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF) (audiobook)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin (EF)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the movie Lee starring Kate Winslet about photographer Lee Miller. It reminded Emily of reading Whitney Scharer’s novel The Age of Light. Whitney designed the Book Cougars logo and was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 130.

Chris watched Season One, Episode Four of Roar: The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin based on the Roar, a book of short stories by Cecelia Ahern.

Emily attended an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT. Kristan Higgins was in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel Good Dirt.

– 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 Doctors Blackwell featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 139. You can watch a video of 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.   

March 1 at 5pm, Emily will be attending 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 will be in conversation with Kerri Arsenault, Author of Mill Town featured on Episode 123.

– Upcoming Reads –
Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde – Thomas Wright (CW)
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America – Martin Duberman (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (EF)
Swept Away – Beth O’Leary (EF) release date 4/1/25

– Out Now –
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler

– Also Mentioned –
The Crone Wars by Lydia M. Hawke
Judy Blume Forever documentary
Forever by Judy Blume
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
The Militia House by John Milas
Adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House:
The Haunting (1963)
The Haunting (1999)
The Haunting of Hill House serialized (2018)
On the Road with Penguin Classics: The Haunting of Hill House
On the Road with Penguin Classics: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Flatshare by Beth O’ Leary
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

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.