Episode 39 - Surprise! A Roadside Meetup with Michael Kindness

The Book Cougars chat with Michael Kindness - Sales Rep for Penguin Random House

The Book Cougars chat with Michael Kindness - Sales Rep for Penguin Random House

Episode Thirty Nine Show Notes

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Recommendations from Michael Kindness –
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (audio – narrated by Will Wheaton)
More about the movie here

Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain – Peter Shankman

Need to Know – Karen Cleveland

Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (release date: February 20, 2018)

Anatomy of a Miracle – Jonathan Miles (release date: March 13, 2018)

Neverworld Wake – Marisha Pessl (release date: June 5, 2018)

Check out this cool cover! Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (release date: February 20, 2018)

Check out this cool cover! Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (release date: February 20, 2018)

Episode 38 - A Cookbook Recall - Who Knew?!

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to hear Patrick Lynch speak about the Long Island Sound and his book A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife.  

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to hear Patrick Lynch speak about the Long Island Sound and his book A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife.
 

Episode Thirty Eight Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

Information regarding the conversion problem with Sweet by Yotem Ottolenghi and Helen Goh can be found here.

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Detonator – Vincent Zandri
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality – Pema Chodron (EF)(audio)
Labor Day – Joyce Maynard (EF)(audio)
Man’s Search for Meaning  - Victor Frankel (CW)

– Just Read –
The Arrangement – Sarah Dunn (EF)
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) – Jane Harper (CW)
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye (EF)(audio)
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW) -- Chris watched the movie Smilla’s Sense of Snow
American Housewife – Helen Ellis (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
On January 25, 2018 we had the honor of being in conversation with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, at RJ Julia’s Booksellers. The evening was recorded and will appear on an upcoming episode of Just the Right Book Podcast.
Check out Min Jin Lee’s website to follow her paperback tour and various speaking events.

Chris and Emily with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko.

Chris and Emily with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko.

Emily and Chris went on a joint jaunt to hear Patrick Lynch speak about the Long Island Sound and his book A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife.

Emily visited Burgundy Books in Westbrook, CT

Emily went to a SpeakUp Storytelling event at Infinity Hall in Hartford, CT.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
February 11th Chris is heading to see a musical in Jaffrey, New Hampshire: “Kindness & Cruelty: Willa Cather in Jaffrey”

Future joint jaunt on February 18 to Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Stony Creek to see Amy Bloom speaking about her new book White Houses.

Emily is going with Aunt Ellen to see Eve Ensler’s new play In The Body of the World

February 21st at Guilford Library Chris will be attending the bookclub for the Witness Stones Project

Join Chris on April 19th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT for the quarterly Willa Cather book club discussion of The Song of the Lark.

– Upcoming Reads –
White Houses – Amy Bloom (EF)
Kindred – Octavia Butler (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Connecticut Library Consortium – Cookbook Book Club
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
Worst Bestsellers Podcast
Yum’s the Word Show
Live Lit Story Club
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism – Joan Acocella
Ink and Paper Blog
She Reads
Booktopia – May 4-5,2018 at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT – author line up and registration can be found here.

Episode 37 - Boyne, Cather, Harper, Hoeg, Patel and a Joint Jaunt Re-enactment

Chris discussing My Antonia at Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT.

Chris discussing My Antonia at Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT.

Episode Thirty Seven Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

The 2018 Edgar Awards were announced. Check out the list here – your TBR is about to grow!

Chris and Emily - joint jaunting at Whitlock’s Book Barn in Bethany, CT.

Chris and Emily - joint jaunting at Whitlock’s Book Barn in Bethany, CT.

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) – Jane Harper (CW)
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye (EF)(audio)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook – Ina Garten (EF)
Ingredienti : Marcella’s Guide to the Market – Marcella and Victor Hazan (EF)

– Just Read –
My Friend Fear: Finding Magic in the Unknown – Meera Lee Patel (EF)
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne (EF)
My Ántonia – Willa Cather (CW) (100 year anniversary!)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris kicked-off the Willa Cather Book Club at the Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT.
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Whitlock’s Book Barn in Bethany, CT. Chris wrote about it on her blog.
                Chris bought two Peter Hoeg books:
                History of Danish Dreams
                Borderliners

Chris put in another volunteer day at the Institute Library in New Haven, CT.
Feb 17-18 – Pequot Library Mid-Winter Booksale

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 25, 2018 - Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, will be at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in conversation with the Book Cougars!
February 7, 2018 – Emily is taking her gentleman caller to Wesleyan RJ Julia to see Jeffers Lennox discuss his book Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1763.
Join Chris on April 19th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT for the quarterly Willa Cather book club discussion of The Song of the Lark.

– Upcoming Reads –
Free Food for Millionaires – Min Jin Lee (CW)
The Versions of Us – Laura Barnett (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – Anna Jeffers
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear – Elizabeth Gilbert
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) – Stieg Larsson
The Absolutist – John Boyne

Episode 36 - Chris and Emily Discuss Their Reading Goals for 2018

Emily reading to her kids, Rachel and Jacob, circa 1996.

Emily reading to her kids, Rachel and Jacob, circa 1996.

Episode Thirty Six Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

Willa Cather Bookclub:
Join Chris on January 18th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT where she is kicking off a quarterly Willa Cather book club starting with My Antonia.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Reading Goals for 2018 –
Emily
1. 52 book reading challenge on Goodreads
2. Read “book of shame” on bookshelf : Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
3. Clean up Currently Reading shelf on Goodreads
4. Establish a volunteer relationship with a literary organization – read to kids!
5. Read excerpts from the many short story collections on the bookshelf
6. Send cards/letters once/week
7. Work on joint podcasts with authors, other literary podcasts, etc.
8. Go on an epic book related adventure

Chris
1. 52 book reading challenge on Goodreads
2. TBR 2018 reading challenge – hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader
          Chris blogged about her 12 books here
3. Australian Women Writers Reading Challenge 2018
          Chris blogged about her anticipated reading here 
4. Willa Cather quarterly book club at Bookclub Bookstore & More
5. One book challenge – Anna in April – reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
          Sponsored by Amanda of Fig and Thistle Books.
6. Write and submit work

– Currently Reading/Listening –
My Ántonia – Willa Cather (CW) (100 year anniversary!)
Sweet – Yotem Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (EF)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne (EF)

– Just Read –
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (CW)
Someone – Alice McDermott (EF)
Sweetgirl – Travis Mulhauser (EF)
Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook – Alice Waters (EF)
The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays & Stories – Marina Keegan edited by Anne Fadiman(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily had at home adventures watching the movie Mudbound based on the novel, Mudbound, by Hilary Jordan and starting the series Good Behavior based on the Letty Dobesh Chronicles by Blake Crouch.

We discuss the passing of Sue Grafton author of the Kinsey Millhone series.

Chris adventured to NYC to hunt for a copy of Maurice. She walked and came upon a sign: Melville Square, she wrote about the adventure on her blog. Read about it here.

Chris ventured to the North Haven Memorial Library to pick up movies and books. Tragedy struck and her dog ate two of the books:
    The Woman on the Stairs – Bernard Schlink
    Laureates of Connecticut – edited by Ginny Lowe Connors

December 30, 2017 - Chris met “Our Mystery Man” John Valeri at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore for a final shop of 2017.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 11, 2018 – Chris and Emily are finally taking a jaunt to the Noah Webster House in West Hartford, CT.

Chris's dog, Buddy, ate two of her library books!

Chris's dog, Buddy, ate two of her library books!

January 25, 2018 - Min Jin Lee will be at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in conversation with the Book Cougars!

– Upcoming Reads –
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW)
Free Food for Millionaires – Min Jin Lee (CW)
Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) – Gretchen Rubin (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures – Anne Fadiman
Inside the Wave – Helen Dunmore
Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
Harry Dresden Series – Jim Butcher
The Reader – Bernard Schlink
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

Episode 35 - Chris & Emily Discuss Their Top Reads Of 2017

The Book Cougars recording Episode 35

The Book Cougars recording Episode 35

Episode Thirty Five Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

– Just Read –
Chris DNF’d a book: Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay
The Rules of Magic – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival – Velma Wallis (CW)
Cove – Cynan Jones (EF)
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II – Liza Mundy (CW) (audio)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Someone – Alice McDermott (EF)
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky – Lesley Nneka Arimah (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to both the Guilford Library and the Glastonbury Welles Turner Library
Chris is volunteering and spending time at the Institute Library in New Haven

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is heading to RJ Julia in Madison to see Paul Kix discuss his book The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France’s Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando
Savoy Bookshop & Café has a New Year’s Day sale with 25% off everything
Jan 8 – Kelly Corrigan in Conversation with Ariel Levy at the 92nd St Y

– Upcoming Reads –
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (CW)
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality – Pema Chödrön (EF) (audio)

– Top Reads of 2017 –
Emily’s favorite reads:
Top Nonfiction
B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good – Ryan Honeyman (EF)
Favorite Memoirs
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (EF)
It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool, Too) – Nora McInerny Purmort (EF)
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (EF)
Favorite Fiction
The Mothers – Brit Bennett (EF)
News of the World – Paulette Jiles (EF)
Plainsong (Plainsong #1) – Kent Haruf (EF)

Chris’s favorite reads: See Her Blog Post On Gift Ideas
Mastering the Art of Self-Expression & More – Laura Thoma (CW)
Young Adult-ish
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World – Sarah Prager (CW)
Favorite Mysteries
The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) – Jane Harper (CW)
And Fire Came Down (Caleb Zelic #2) – Emma Viskic (CW)
New Haven Noir – edited by Amy Bloom (CW)
Favorite Fiction
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee (CW)
The Leavers – Lisa Ko (CW)
The Gypsy Moth Summer – Julia Fierro (CW)
Non-Fiction
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (CW)(audio)
Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (CW)
OSS Operation Black Mail: One Woman’s Covert War Against the Imperial Japanese Army – Ann Todd (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Libro.fm – audiobook subscription service
Zora Neale Hurston –  Barracoon // Their Eyes Were Watching God
Chicago Review of Books
Velma Wallis – Bird Girl & the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska
Alice McDermott – The Ninth Hour: A Novel  // Charming Billy
Road to Success with Laura Thoma
Dave Eggers – What is the What
Jennifer Egan – Manhattan Beach

Episode 34 - Holiday Gift Ideas and Our 3rd Readalong

Willa Cather's Birthday Party at BookClub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT

Willa Cather's Birthday Party at BookClub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT

Episode Thirty Four Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

– Just Read –
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (CW)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Rules of Magic – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II – Liza Mundy (CW) (audio)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris celebrated Willa Cather’s birthday on December 7 at Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT. She is kicking off a quarterly Willa Cather book club starting with My Antonia to be discussed on January 18th at 2:00 at the same bookstore.

Emily visited Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, VT

She also saw the movie Call Me By Your Name based on the novel by André Aciman
book info here  /  movie info here

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Min Jin Lee will be at RJ Julia’s Booksellers on January 25, 2018

– Gift Ideas –
Book Subscription Services like The Mysterious Bookshop Crime Clubs
Bundle Monster Booklight Clip
A subscription to Magazines or Literary JournalsGift Cards to Independent Bookstores
Leather Weighted Bookmark
Buy some literary swag from Out of Print
Gift of a literary activity
Gift of Poetry - Devotions by Mary Oliver / New Collected Poems by Wendell Berry
Gift baskets with books and associated literary items
Complete Stories – Kurt Vonnegut
Complete Stories – Flannery O’ Connor paired with A Good Hard Look – Ann Napolitano

– Also Mentioned –
Disappearances – Howard Frank Mosher
Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space – Margot Lee Shetterly
The movie Lady Bird
Alice Hoffman book tour
Kelly Corrigan book tour
Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg

____________________________________________
 

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


-Wendell Berry

Episode 33 - Bookshops Galore!

Crow Bookshop in Burlington, VT

Crow Bookshop in Burlington, VT

Episode Thirty Three Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have two upcoming read-along’s:
December – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
    Send in questions or comments by Dec 7th – we will discuss on December 12th episode.
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

– National Book Award Winners –
You can watch the entire 2017 broadcast here.
Young People’s Literature: Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Poetry: Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart
Nonfiction: The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
Fiction: Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward

– Just Read –
Plainsong – Kent Haruf (EF)
The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) – Jane Harper (CW)
Hunter Killer: The War with China – The Battle for the Central Pacific (Dan Lenson Novels) – David Poyer (CW)
Cove – Cynan Jones (CW)
Ten Days in a Mad-House – Nellie Bly (CW) (audio)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy – David Fleming and edited by Shaun Chamberlin (EF)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily visited:
The Berry Center and it’s fantastic, neighboring bookstore
Crow Bookshop in Burlington, VT
Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, VT (where she purchased The Great Santini by Pat Conroy)
Librairie Gourmande in the Jean-Talon Market in Montreal – a cookbook store!
Nahum Gelber Law Library at McGill University

Chris visited the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University – to see the exhibit Making the Medieval English Manuscript: The Takamiya Collection

Chris watched the new documentary about Joan Didion titled The Center Will Not Hold

On Small Business Saturday, Chris visited:
Breakwater Books in Guilford, CT
Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown, CT

– Upcoming Jaunts –
December 1 – Emily will be heading to Sterling College to attend the Surviving the Future symposium
December 7, 2pm – Join Chris for a Willa Cather birthday celebration at Bookclub Bookstore& More in Windsor, CT

– Upcoming Reads –
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) – Jane Harper (CW)
Sweetgirl – Travis Mulhauser (EF)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Eventide and Benediction and Our Souls at Night – Kent Haruf
Book blog – BookerTalk: Adventures with great novels around the world
The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery – Witold Pilecki. The movie is titled: The Death of Captain Pilecki

BINC: Book Industry Charitable Foundation – if you are looking for an organization to donate this is a good one!
 

 

Episode 32 - David Bowie, Espionage, Gravediggers, Willa Cather and more...

Entrance to the New York Society Library which is home to a WIlla Cather exhibity through August of 2018.

Entrance to the New York Society Library which is home to a WIlla Cather exhibity through August of 2018.

Episode Thirty Two Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have two upcoming read-along’s:
December – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
     Send in questions or comments by Dec 7th – we will discuss on December 12th episode.
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

United for the Troops – if you are interested in donating writing journals to this effort please email us at bookcougars@gmail.com and we will send you the mailing address.

– Just Read –
Death Comes: A Willa Cather and Edith Lewis Mystery – Sue Hallgrath (CW)
Mrs. Fletcher – Tom Perrotta (EF)
The Leader’s Bookshelf – James Stavridis, R Manning Ancell (CW)
The Bone Garden – Tess Gerritsen (EF)
Espionage and Covert Operations : A Global History (The Great Courses) – Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius (CW)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Sweet – Yotem Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (EF)
David Bowie Made Me Gay - Darryl L. Bullock (CW)
Great American Bestsellers: The Books That Shaped America (Great Courses, #2527) – Peter Conn (CW)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris went to The New York Society Library to see the New York World of Willa Cather exhibit running through August 31, 2018.
Joint Jaunt to Playhouse on Park to see an adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank
November 9 – Emily went to RJ Julia Booksellers to see David Lebovitz discuss his newest book L’Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making Paris My Home
    David Lebovitz blog
Chris went to the new movie adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express (written by Agatha Christie)

– Upcoming Jaunts –
November 14 – Emily is headed to New Castle, KY and will visit The Berry Center.
Bookstores in Montreal – email if you have recommendations!
December 7, 2pm – Join Chris for a Willa Cather birthday celebration at Bookclub Bookstore & More in Windsor, CT

– Upcoming Reads –
What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky – Lesley Nneka Arimah (EF)
Fodor’s Travel Montreal and Quebec City 2016 – Fodor’s Travel Publications Inc. (EF)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (EF) (CW)
Hunter Killer: The War with China – The Battle for the Central Pacific (Dan Lenson Novels) – David Poyer (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Yotem Ottolenghi article in NY Time: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/dining/yotam-ottolenghi-sweet-cookbook.html?_r=0

Episode 31 - Happy Halloween! Surprise, Chris reads some Icelandic Dracula...

Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, New Hampshire

Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, New Hampshire

Episode Thirty One Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page. 

We have two upcoming read-along’s:
December – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
       Send in questions or comments by Dec 7th – we will discuss on December 12th episode.
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

– Just Read –
Bluebird, Bluebird – Attica Locke (EF)
Lost Voyage – Pauline Rowson (CW)
The One Hundred Nights of Hero – Isabel Greenberg (CW)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
That Old Cape Magic – Richard Russo (EF) (audio)
Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula – Bram Stoker (CW)
How To Read Water: Clues, Signs & Patterns from Puddles to the Sea – Tristan Gooley (CW)
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World – Peter Wohlleben (CW)
The Leader’s Bookshelf – James Stavridis, R Manning Ancell

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris took friends to visit some of our local libraries:
Blackstone Library in Branford, CT
Sterling Memorial Library in New Haven, CT
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library in New Haven, CT
Chris has written reviews of the two Blackstone Libraries on her blog. She has also written about the Beinecke on her blog as well.

Panel from The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

Panel from The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

Chris ventured to Jaffrey, New Hampshire for a Willa Cather pilgrimage – she is buried there. Additionally, she browsed at Toadstool Bookshop at the Peterborough, NH location.
She came across two of her favorite childhood books, two Willa Cather novels and a Gwendolyn Brooks novel:
Saucy – Martha McKeen Welch (CW)
Cannonball Simp – John Burningham (CW)
A Lost Lady – Willa Cather (CW)
My Mortal Enemy – Willa Cather (CW)
Maud Martha – Gwendolyn Brooks (CW)

October 16 – Denise Kiernan author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home
October 19 – Anna Quindlen – West Hartford Reads at Town Hall
October 21 – Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Laura are heading to The New York Society Library to see the New York World of Willa Cather exhibit running October 24, 2017 – August 31, 2018.
November 9 – Emily is headed to RJ Julia Booksellers to see David Lebovitz discuss his newest book L’Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making Paris My Home.
November 14 – Emily is headed to New Castle, KY and will visit The Berry Center.

– Upcoming Reads –
Nightmare in Berlin – Hans Fallada (CW)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman (EF)
The Bees – Laline Paul (EF) (audio)
I Know a Secret (Rizzoli & Isles #12) – Tess Gerritsen (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Darktown – Thomas Mullen
Literary Atlanta Podcast
Ink and Paper Blog
The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas and Sweet Accompaniments  – David Lebovitz

Episode 30 - Our 3rd Giveaway and 3rd Read-along!

Aaron Mahnke host of the Lore podcast discussing his book The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures at the Yale Bookstore.

Aaron Mahnke host of the Lore podcast discussing his book The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures at the Yale Bookstore.

Episode Thirty Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have two upcoming read-along’s:
December – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
       Send in questions or comments by Dec 7th – we will discuss on December 12th episode
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster

GIVEAWAY for our 30th episode is a copy of each of the read-along books noted above.
Please email us at bookcougars@gmail.com to throw your hat in the ring.

– Just Read –
And Fire Came Down (Caleb Zelic #2) – Emma Viskic (CW)
The Last Chinese Chef – Nicole Mones (EF)
The Child Finder – Rene Denfeld (EF)
Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Death Comes: A Willa Cather and Edith Lewis Mystery – Sue Hallgrath (CW)
The Leader’s Bookshelf – James Stavridis, R Manning Ancell
Her Body and Other Parties – Carmen Maria Machado (EF)
Peregrine Island – Diane B. Saxton (EF)

 – Biblio Adventures –
Chris missed an event with Nelson Demille – his new book is The Cuban Affair
Chris went to the Yale Bookstore to see Aaron Mahnke discuss his new book The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures and his podcast Lore.
Emily has been working at the Noah P. Webster Library in West Hartford Library and got the chance to visit the Welles Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury.

The Pink Marine: One Boy's Journey Through Boot Camp to Manhood by Greg Cope White with approval from Buddy Fitzwilliam Tholak. 

The Pink Marine: One Boy's Journey Through Boot Camp to Manhood by Greg Cope White with approval from Buddy Fitzwilliam Tholak. 

– Upcoming Jaunts –
October 16 – Denise Kiernan author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home
October 17 – Gabrielle Zevin author of Young Jane Young at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
October 19 – Anna Quindlen – West Hartford Reads at Town Hall
October 21 – Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon
October 24 – Tisa Joy Wenger author of Religious Freedom: The Contested History of an American Ideal at Yale Bookstore

– Upcoming Reads –
Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula – Bram Stoker (CW)
The Pink Marine: One Boy’s Journey Through Boot Camp to Manhood – Greg Cope White (CW)
Bluebird, Bluebird – Attica Locke (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
2017 Connecticut Center for the Book awards
Fiction nominees are:
Back Lash by Chris Knopf
I’ll Take You There by Wally Lamb
Shadows of Paris by Eric D. Lehman
Cajun Waltz by Robert H. Patton
Beneath a Shooting Star by Susan Harrison Rashid

Literary Disco podcast – specifically the two-part poetry episode #112 and #113
Too Afraid to Cry – Ali Cobby Eckermann
Russell Gray – Inkandpaperblog.com
Salvage the Bones – Jesmyn Ward
Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon is coming up on October 21. Check out this hashtag – #30daysofreadathon

 

Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye

from The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. 
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.